Colorado Man Passes Away While Riding Whistler's Comfortably Numb Trail
A 54-year-old man has died while riding Comfortably Numb near Wedgemount on Sunday, October 27th, police have confirmed.
Whistler RCMP, Whistler Search and Rescue, and Emergency Health Services all responded to a call of a male suffering a cardiac arrest on Comfortably Numb at around 3:30pm. The man had also sustained an injury but it is not known if this is what triggered the arrest.
WSAR manager Brad Sills told Pique Magazine: "I can't really say whether the two are connected. I wasn't on the scene, but it was called in as a cardiac arrest." The man was attended by witnesses and first responders but passed away shortly after.
Comfortably Numb is a 19km, technical XC trail with 1,000m of climbing and descending. It is an IMBA Epic Ride and is described as a "classic, must-do, epic cross country ride in Whistler."
The man's death now marks the third in a tragic month for mountain bikers in the Sea to Sky corridor, following the passing of ski-cross racer Mikayla Martin in Squamish on the 2nd and then an as-yet-unnamed man on A-Line on the 16th.
This year marks the first time summer calls have outpaced winter calls for WSAR. Mountain biking was also responsible for 9 callouts between March 2018 and March 2019, making it the third most cited activity behind hiking (16 callouts), and out-of-bounds skiers (11).
Sills said: "In the past three years, it certainly is an increasing cause of our callouts, so something is happening when you look at the growth of the sport over that same period of time."
Our thoughts go out to the rider and his family and friends in this difficult time.
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We kept in contact over the years. Whenever I was in the market for a truck or bike I would take stock in his inventory, because he always had the best stuff, fair prices, and we shared similar tastes.
When I rode in Whistler for the first time he towed me into Clown Shoes, Canadian DH, all the goodies. I couldn't believe how fast he was for his age (fast for any age, but damn!). Those were some of the best runs of my life.
Canada 107,000 USD
USA 65,000 USD
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult
Again at least no one is going bankrupt over cancer.
How do you feel about that(medical debt) and try to stay on subject this time.
And not to make any assumptions regarding this particular case, but I've seen way too many people just huck themselves off of features without any regard for their safety. Progressing in skill is always going to involve taking risks, but they don't have to be stupid risks.
I also think it's difficult to gauge the sport's popularity based off sales or analytics because A) bikes are built to insanely high standards now and are prohibitively expensive- people are holding onto older bikes longer B) overall "wow" factor has dropped off as the sport has become more common over the last 20 years. As an example (no matter how bad of an example it is) look at YouTube channels like GMBN, Seth's Bike Hacks, or Skills With Phil, they've all blown up.
@bizutch: I couldn't agree more regarding the predictable interweb Monday morning QB discussions whenever tragedy strikes, biking, skiing, backcountry or anything else.
I understand people are curious to learn how to play smart and stay safe in the mountains. I get that. But it's silly to engage in self deception and rationalization ... X Y or Z probably can't happen to me because blah blah blah. Experienced passionate individuals with the highest levels of skill, fitness, knowledge and preparation, have more exposure because they spend more time doing and living. Everyone knows it can happen, even when you do everything right. Respect.
That said, when my time comes, this is how I would like to leave this life, and enter the next one. To steal the beautiful words of another avid biker following the untimely death of Jerry Myers (aka Travis Bickle and Legbacon) in Cumberland this past summer in similar circumstances:
“It seems strange to miss someone you never really met doesn’t it? But miss him I will. My condolences to his family and friends. I will say, and I’ve said it many times, if I die riding my bike, it’s ok to miss me, but don’t be sad because I died. I’ve watched too many relatives suffer long drawn out deaths in hospital beds. I can only hope all of his family and friends got the same speech from him, and that it’s some comfort to them.”
Yet another grim reminder that I need to read/listen to "Haywire Heart". I don't know if this Colorado fallen soul falls into this category or not but the death of super fit 50+ year olds from cardiac arrests following a life of intense cardio training, seems to be on the rise. For those of us on our bikes daily, best to learn sooner rather than later, how to take precautions from falling into this downward spiral.
That said. RIP to the athlete and my condolences to family. Hard to take, I am sure.
Stay safe out there guys.
Yup, you take risks every day no mater what you are doing. I was shoeing up a mountain this past winter, starting my decent when the branch I was holding onto broke (Very steep) I fell on my as and slid 10 or so feet and hit a tree, smacking my head. Everything went dark for a few seconds (seemed like minutes) and felt very nauseous. Lucky I after a short bit of time I felt ok and got down fine. Also was with my friend (I never shoe alone) so if it was worse he could have gone and got help.
Be smart, take your time. If you do not feel ready do not do it. Always ride with a friend on difficult trails...
Sounds like we lost a strong member of our community.
RIP and pour one out.
RIP, it sounds like the app probably wouldn't have helped this poor guy, but you never know what's around the corner... ride safe all!
shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-words
"Here's the thing... If the person's phone has a data connection - the web page can just send the geolocation directly back to the emergency services! No need to get a human to read it out, then another human to listen and type it in to a different system.
There is literally no need for W3W in this scenario. If you have a data connection, you can send your precise location without an intermediary."
The "Cultural Respect" argument is effin stupid though.
This is built into iPhones. Hold the power button down and i can call emergency services and text emergency contacts with your location. Also apple watch has fall detection. There was a story about a Mtbiker a few weeks ago that took a hard spill, triggered fall detection and called emergency services and texted emergency contacts
If someone has a data connection to translate their location and then send it, they can much more easily use the apps already built into the phone that can share the lat/long.
Thanks to @dakuan for the reading material
This is the weirdest thing about this sport. I can do the same trail 100 times fine but sometimes I just feel off, feel like I cant get my balance right. Not sure why this happens. Guess sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't
It's not so easy. Yes, being good on a bike will make you crash less frequently. But it also means you will be going much faster and off bigger features when you do crash. To be blunt, skills on the bike will make you less likely to bruise your knee but more likely to suffer a fatal injury.
What were you thinking??? Mountain biking and trail-building destroy wildlife habitat! Mountain biking is environmentally, socially, and medically destructive! There is no good reason to allow bicycles on any unpaved trail!
Bicycles should not be allowed in any natural area. They are inanimate objects and have no rights. There is also no right to mountain bike. That was settled in federal court in 1996: mjvande.info/mtb10.htm . It's dishonest of mountain bikers to say that they don't have access to trails closed to bikes. They have EXACTLY the same access as everyone else -- ON FOOT! Why isn't that good enough for mountain bikers? They are all capable of walking....
A favorite myth of mountain bikers is that mountain biking is no more harmful to wildlife, people, and the environment than hiking, and that science supports that view. Of course, it's not true. To settle the matter once and for all, I read all of the research they cited, and wrote a review of the research on mountain biking impacts (see mjvande.info/scb7.htm ). I found that of the seven studies they cited, (1) all were written by mountain bikers, and (2) in every case, the authors misinterpreted their own data, in order to come to the conclusion that they favored. They also studiously avoided mentioning another scientific study (Wisdom et al) which did not favor mountain biking, and came to the opposite conclusions.
Mountain bikers also love to build new trails - legally or illegally. Of course, trail-building destroys wildlife habitat - not just in the trail bed, but in a wide swath to both sides of the trail! E.g. grizzlies can hear a human from one mile away, and smell us from 5 miles away. Thus, a 10-mile trail represents 100 square miles of destroyed or degraded habitat, that animals are inhibited from using. Mountain biking, trail building, and trail maintenance all increase the number of people in the park, thereby preventing the animals' full use of their habitat. See mjvande.info/scb9.htm for details.
Mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates V-shaped ruts, kills small animals and plants on and next to the trail, drives wildlife and other trail users out of the area, and, worst of all, teaches kids that the rough treatment of nature is okay (it's NOT!). What's good about THAT?
To see exactly what harm mountain biking does to the land, watch this 5-minute video: vimeo.com/48784297.
In addition to all of this, it is extremely dangerous: mjvande.info/mtb_dangerous.htm .
For more information: mjvande.info/mtbfaq.htm .
The common thread among those who want more recreation in our parks is total ignorance about and disinterest in the wildlife whose homes these parks are. Yes, if humans are the only beings that matter, it is simply a conflict among humans (but even then, allowing bikes on trails harms the MAJORITY of park users -- hikers and equestrians -- who can no longer safely and peacefully enjoy their parks).
The parks aren't gymnasiums or racetracks or even human playgrounds. They are WILDLIFE HABITAT, which is precisely why they are attractive to humans. Activities such as mountain biking, that destroy habitat, violate the charter of the parks.
Even kayaking and rafting, which give humans access to the entirety of a water body, prevent the wildlife that live there from making full use of their habitat, and should not be allowed. Of course those who think that only humans matter won't understand what I am talking about -- an indication of the sad state of our culture and educational system."