I am sure this will be a touchy subject

[opus]

Do you think you adults with a spouse and/or children ought to ride more thoughtfully of them? Maybe a little less tearing up the hills?

I decided that all this playing wasnt worth leaving my wife and kids without a dad/husband. There are other reasons factored in as well.

I'm not saying give it up, but I am saying its pretty evident there is too much of this happening.

Oh well...just thinking out loud.

 

[dragon12]

You are right. I think of this everyday. I take my family with me riding and have thought a lot about the current conditions and have decided highmarking (while it is a great rush) is not worth the consequences. I am not confident in reading the snow on the hill, so I will stay away from the climbs. I took an avy class this fall and boy I put my family in a lot of bad areas last year. They sat on the ledge (shown in the Grand Lake avy pics) while I climbed that hill last year. I did't think it would slide over the ledge and down the second hill. I guess god does protect idiots and drunks. This year I cannot make the same excuse as I have better knowledge of what to look for.

Be safe, it isn't fun if you come home in a box.

 

[Ector]

I think about this every time I go out. That is why I always wear a beacon and other safety gear and have taken an avey course(I should take a few more). It’s also a matter of being smart by not going to the areas that are prone to avalanches and other dangers.

On the other side, a person has to live too. There are plenty of dangers riding trails as well and there is always a chance of being in a car accident every day on your way to work, but that doesn’t stop you from going, does it?

My philosophy is be educated, be prepared and have fun! I know I am a better husband/father if I get to have fun every now and then.

 

[tudizzle]

Odds are higher that you die on the way to church on Sunday morning with the family then on your snowmobile.


The real danger is when you start second guessing your abilities no matter what your doing.

 

[dragon12]

Knowledge is key.

 

[UtahEdge]

I think freak said it best when he said " The worst thing that I can think of is my kids at home crying because they dont have a daddy any more"

I certainly ride different now that I have kids and a wife at home. Loosing my life is not worth the biggest rush in the world. Im not saying that I just ride the roads and the meadows, I just ride smarter than I did when I was single.

 

[speeddemon]

after being in a coma for 5days and not having any short term memory for 4 years and have very little now puts life in check 4 me . yes u all see i ride a turbo and it has big power but the more i realize how much i love my family that slows me way way down on the hero pulls . i used to be the guy id do any crazy stunt if u dared me . now i know my limits if it dont feel right i dont do it . i may not look as impressive anymore but im stll alive thanx to god . i am about out of my 9 lives from all the other accidents and close calls . so now im taking a different approach on life !! live life to the fullest but stay alive for my son to have a father for a long long time !!!! he is my world !!!!
mike

 

[00buck]

I think about this every time I go out. That is why I always wear a beacon and other safety gear and have taken an avey course(I should take a few more). It’s also a matter of being smart by not going to the areas that are prone to avalanches and other dangers.

On the other side, a person has to live too. There are plenty of dangers riding trails as well and there is always a chance of being in a car accident every day on your way to work, but that doesn’t stop you from going, does it?

My philosophy is be educated, be prepared and have fun! I know I am a better husband/father if I get to have fun every now and then.

x2

 

[Oregongirl]

This is a good topic. Better understood by those of us with our own families, I think. The youth...without kids or partners, they still feel invincible I suspect. We have all been there!!

 

[switchback]

I think freak said it best when he said " The worst thing that I can think of is my kids at home crying because they dont have a daddy any more"

I certainly ride different now that I have kids and a wife at home. Loosing my life is not worth the biggest rush in the world. Im not saying that I just ride the roads and the meadows, I just ride smarter than I did when I was single.

Utah, you hit the nail on the head. I used to hit anything without a second thought. Then I got married and our 1st daughter arrived. Now we've got 3. Those 4 mean more than any adrenaline rush I've ever had, or could get. I think of them everytime I'm out.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Yeah, I'm with ya on that one. Love my son and I would hate to have him grow up without either parent! I still climb, but not the dangerous areas!

 

[weantright]

I think about this every time I go out. That is why I always wear a beacon and other safety gear and have taken an avey course(I should take a few more). It’s also a matter of being smart by not going to the areas that are prone to avalanches and other dangers.

On the other side, a person has to live too. There are plenty of dangers riding trails as well and there is always a chance of being in a car accident every day on your way to work, but that doesn’t stop you from going, does it?

My philosophy is be educated, be prepared and have fun! I know I am a better husband/father if I get to have fun every now and then.

Ditto!

Now look at the flip side, you’re the parent and now you're watching your child do crazy things. My son is 10 and has done some wild things on a bike and sled that I never dream of when I was his age. Teach them and yourself your safe limit and prepare for the worst. Use the equipment!

 

[Ski-Laxn]

This is a subject that I think about all the time in evrything I do. I like to play hard but also who is going to pay for all this if I over Play. So those of us with families have to think for more then just yourself. So we have to live vicariosly threw others and be there to provide for or others. SO PLAY HARD BUT SAFE.

 

[Jeff C]

FOr me it was a slow realization of what the potential danger really was.

Back in the late 80's when we started going out west, I was young and really didn't care, as I had the "it can't happen to me" stance.

But as time went by, and I got married and had kids, coupled with the fact that I got more educated on avalanches, and seeing peeps on here die from what seems as ever increasing events, I have scaled back the "hero pulls" to hills that are frankly pretty lame.

For me, the trip out west each year is more and more about meeting up with my good friends, being out in the mountains, and experiencing the outdoors.

My little boy is now 8. He asks me every year when he will be big enough to come out "west" with me. I keep telling him that once he can start his own sled, that is when I would start considering bringing him along. I figure he is about 4-5 years from that.........

Here is my fear. I get him hooked on the mountains, he does the young and stupid "hero pulls" on steep slopes, and he gets caught in a slide. I just don't think I could go on after that. So as he gets older, I will have to do some real soul searching "Do I really want him doing this?"


I really think part of the issue on the increasing frequency of these slides is two fold.
1. There are more and more people going out to the mountains that do not know what they are doing
2. Sled technology has gotten to the point, where only 10 years ago you would have struggled to get up a certain hill, now you can do it at 1/2 throttle. We are gettting higher and higher up the slopes where the hills are more fully loaded!

For me it just is not worth it anymore. I take all the precautions, beacon, probe, shovel, and we practice. But the days of blindly pulling impossively steep "hero pulls" are over.

I think this realization started several years ago when we were back in carrot basin and we ran across several guys sitting on their sleds. We stopped for a chat, and one of the guys told us they were there to recover his brothers sled after a deadly slide that took his life a few weeks earlier. We went with them to the site to lend a hand but could not find the sled. A few days later I ran across this same guy, and he told me that they found the sled 11 feet down. The look on that guys face that day will stay with me forever.

The realization was cemented after Animal died. A year before he died, he was staying with us in our cabin @ island park, then boom! he was taken.

I just don't ride the same anymore (Which is a good thing)...........


Whatever you do, don't get sucked in to a test of who's di(k is bigger and run up slopes that you know are questionable...........


Stay safe this year folks!!

 

[CatWoman]

Pete makes a good point.

But it's my hope that we can educate the *others* as well. Just because you don't have a spouse or children, doesn't mean that there won't be incredible heartbreak if you are killed in an avy. There are parents, siblings, grandparents, extended family, friends, etc. Those peeps have to live with the pain of this every day for the rest of their lives. I'm pretty sure most wouldn't do other things in their life to intentionally hurt these folks, yet some don't give a second thought to what they are doing while out riding.

We ALL need to be educated, have the proper gear, and treat life as the precious gift it is. We need to educate our own.

You can still go out and have fun, just that sometimes that fun might have to be in the form of staying down low away from the hills so that you can live to ride another day.

 

[Yamadoo04]

Well I don't have kids yet but I have seen it in my brother big time. It's good to see him thinking of the kids and wife back home. Sometimes I say he is a wuss but I know he is just thinking of his family. I am not saying that I am a dare devil by any means but I seem to do a little more than him still. We still stay away from those hills that are high danger for avy's though. Days like we had on New Years we just stay away from the big hills. It just not worth lossing your loved ones. We can have fun on the smaller hills and in the meadows. Play hard but Play SAFE!

 

[adrenaline junkey]

Ya had to go and do it with this topic I just picked up snowmobiling last year as a compromise with my self. I was an avid sport biker and rode often as i could. Then a confrontation with a deer changed all of that. after a lot of healing i was back on one then seemed like every time i went out something almost happened cars pulling out in front of you just a lot of close calls. I started thinking about my family and daughter what she would do without me how they all would feel and i decided time for a new hobby. That wreck changed me a lot and how i ride. I still have a lot of fun but I'm more conservative don't take a lot of risks and thoroughly think things threw. I believe that trusting your instincts is an important part of life just don't second guess them or try to analyze it. I would rather be a little safer than be dead or spend the rest of my life incapable of doing the things i love because of a bad choice

 

[XXL]

I have a grandkid whose dad died of cancer when he was less than a year old. he is seven now, It breaks your heart to hear him wonder out loud about his dad who he never knew. I can't imagine putting a kid in that spot if you don't have too. I think it's all about balance. Having fun but nothing too crazy.

 

[alrevedup]

Odds are higher that you die on the way to church on Sunday morning with the family then on your snowmobile.


The real danger is when you start second guessing your abilities no matter what your doing.

Knowledge is key.

Yeah, I'm with ya on that one. Love my son and I would hate to have him grow up without either parent! I still climb, but not the dangerous areas!

Good judgment and confidence are quaitities that serve us well in life.

I am a better husband and father because of the choices I make. As spouses, parents and bread winners our lives are not just our own.

I choose to go snowmobiling in the back country for my mental and physical health. I balance the joy of the snomobiling with my ability and responsibility. There are a number of hobbies at I dont endulge in for safety reasons. BUT I can not spend my life thinking about the "what ifs".

The example of a balanced life with priorities (family) is one of the many lessons I am teaching my children.

Fear is much more dangerous than any sport or hobbie.

 

[xrated]

So as he gets older, I will have to do some real soul searching "Do I really want him doing this?"

I know just what your saying, I have a 3 year old girl and one on the way. do I want to leave them early, hell know. Do I want them to leave before me, definitly not.

With that being said though(and it's kinda cleshea, sp) if my girls love sledding and going big to death and knwo they can get hurt but still want to, then by all means I will support them in any way I can and coach them to be safe. I guess I won't ever really know unless it really happened, but I think I would rather lose a child or have my child lose me to something we both loved doing and understood the risks of, vs losing my child to drugs or them losing me to drugs etc like happens so often.

I hope that made sense, it made sense to me in my head. Still I definitly think of my girls and wife when I go out and do anything, be it sledding, dirt biking, water skiing or even cutting down a tree. Doesn't mean I don't do stuff, just means I know that I have others, and I actually think just having that little thought in my mind may not stop me from doing something but it will make me more keen and aware of what exactly is going on. For example if there's a tree that needs to come down and it isn't exactly the easiet drop in the world, I'm not gonna not cut it, I'm just gonna plan and pray that much harder.