Dean Cummings went full-bore crazy

[buttahflake]

Hattrup as well i believe

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Just saw him a week or so ago in at Steamboat, he’s a Fischer Ski rep. He looks super-fit.

[grinch]

Just saw him a week or so ago in at Steamboat, he’s a Fischer Ski rep. He looks super-fit.

Cool. Always liked his turns the best

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[buttahflake]

Cool. Always liked his turns the best

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Same here

[ACH]

Same here

Me as well.

A one time alpentalic, I believe he is actually involved with Fisher skis product development.

[buttahflake]

Oh cool, that makes sense. I was out there for a ski test. He’s a wicked nice guy.

[raisingarizona13]

This is horribly sad regardless of the outcome. Even if it was self-defense, and he gets off, the fact that he was in this situation in the first place is really not good.

I have seen mental health issues in my own family. I don't have too much direct experience with schizophrenia, but we do have a family friend who has issues with it. It hit him in his 20's, he was a computer programmer when things went south. He was resistant to medication for many years, but luckily he finally acquiesced and agreed to get help. He has done better in recent years, but it can be a scary disease. Before he was medicated he used to do barn work, and occasionally yard work for my parents. My parents live in a rural part of the Hudson Valley, and they have a barn which often has a couple of stalls available. They don't tend to want money for them, just help with the barn from people they like in return for boarding. At one point we had a woman who boarded a horse there who had issues with him. It put my parents in a tough spot, because based on his behavior the woman was right to be concerned, he was dangerous. They eventually had to tell his mom, who my mom had grown up with, that they could not have him there if he was not going to get help, it was simply too dangerous. This was tough, but from what I have been told it was part of the motivation for him to actually get on a medication regimen. It was a tough situation, but in the end he has been doing better.

Dean Cummings was one of my heroes. In my mid and late teens, early 90's there were not too many ski heroes. There were Plake and Schmidt, Peterson and Pehota, Hattrup and some racers. When McConkey,, Kreitler, Seth, Cummings and all of those guys came around I was really pumped. We finally had a scene that was ours, the way surfers and snowboarders did. I will never forget my first time seeing MSP and TGR films. I remember lots of Cummings footage. I remember his segment in Sick Sense, set to the Pennwise song 'Wake Up.' It was a really great time to be a skier, we finally had guys ripping to punk rock, we were getting better equipment. It was as if the industry finally woke up and realized they should be marketing skiing as a punk rock sport, not as one for people who want to carve on groomers and listen to non-threatening music. And that is coming from a guy who has a analyzes data for a living, which is far from punk rock so to speak. In the mid-90s I was going to college in Santa Barbara. I went to Mammoth a couple of weekends a month, and spent most of my vacation days there. Among snowboarders who knew what was up, there was respect for those of us who were really into skiing, but among casual people you could not just be a skier. You were either a racer, or someone who skied, but you could not be a skier as your identity in the way that one could be a snowboarder or a surfer. Cummings and that generation changed that. By 96 things were starting to change, you could be a skier again in the way that you could be a snowboarder and a surfer. It was so awesome to finally have ski heroes and an industry. I will never forget seeing a segment from Continuum on tv in the fall of 96. It was on ESPN, they were focusing on action sports or something like that. They showed the segment of Kreitler in the Jackson backcountry set to 'Freedom Like a Shopping Cart' by NOFX. I was euphoric, I could finally watch skiers killing it to punk rock, somethings I had seen in surf videos for years. The McConkey/Kreitler/Gordy/Dean/Dav generation will always be special to me.

This is a horrible outcome, regardless of how it ends. I have no idea what the truth is regarding anything in this thread, but no one is winning regardless.

The mid to late 90's and the early 2000's were such a great time to be a skier. Fat skis were being developed and we were just discovering what they were capable of. Freeze Magazine may seem a little juvenile now was like the coolest thing ever back when I was younger.

[splat]

I think skiing really started to morph once the first world extremes hit the media waves. That put into motion so much of what skiing is today and what you guys say above is certainly true. I'm stoked I got to ski Valdez with Dean on skinny skis back then. He was always a uniquely different dude. It's as though I could never put my fnger on what it was with him, yet we got along great. He used to stay at my house back in the 90s and we were looking into a heli op in the Sierra, flying around, mapping descents, and finally giving up on it. Early on, he smoked dope nonstop. Maybe he was self-medicating. Later, he just quit. I'd see Dean at the ski shows and we'd chat briefly. Haven't kept up with the Valdez scene in a long time but if Quinner says Dean was a wife beating shitbag, I'll certainly take his word for it. Dean was friends with Val Kilmer, who was also from that area.
WTF is with that bloated look both of them have? Is that endemic to NM? Wouldn't be surprised if he hung himself in jail.

[gaijin]

It’s in the downfall of giants that I gain perspective. The last year has been shitty to me. I went huge and lost big. Some of you were there for me.

And so was my wife. I didn’t lose family.

Seeing this fall from the highlands of my own dream/landscape really helps me put my own situation into perspective.

I didn’t lose shit.

I applaud all of you who keep your shit together.

[Lupolicious]

Here's an updated story:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1428634/s...in-county.html

1st degree murder = a very, very long time in prison.

[Core Shot]

Here's an updated story:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1428634/s...in-county.html

1st degree murder = a very, very long time in prison.

Not the first to fall for an areola.

Bummer. Bear spray not discharged. Likely areola felt threatened but got ar-15 before he could spray dean.

[Atrain505]

Such a bummer. Especially as a fellow New Mexican. Never met him in my travels to AK, but the first bad story about him kinda surprised me for being such a small industry, shit talking would obviously get around. Then over the years just heard more and more bad stories from lots and lots of people. Guy sounded like a complete asshole. Bummer to see the mental health deteriorate and that he couldn't get the help he obviously needed, but what goes around comes around. Kinda surprised and not really surprised.

[Island Bay]

It’s in the downfall of giants that I gain perspective. The last year has been shitty to me. I went huge and lost big. Some of you were there for me.

And so was my wife. I didn’t lose family.

Seeing this fall from the highlands of my own dream/landscape really helps me put my own situation into perspective.

I didn’t lose shit.

I applaud all of you who keep your shit together.

Very happy to hear that you're doing better, dirty foreigner :-)

All the best from Aotearoa.

[Lupolicious]

Here's a record from the Sandoval jail:

[Skistack]

Mobile home, AR-15 and New Mexico. That’s a white trash trifecta. Hope the guy gets the help he obviously needs. Maybe a lesser sentence too?


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[Benny Profane]

Nope, he's not getting help. This is America. If he was smart, he'd start trying to figure out who to be friends with in prison. Chances are he'll meet zero inmates who even skied, let alone know who he is, or give a fuck.

[TBS]

From what I see his best bet may well be an insanity defense. His YouTube channel is Exhibit 1

Here's an updated story:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1428634/s...in-county.html

1st degree murder = a very, very long time in prison.

This is paywalled for me. Any chance of getting a cut/paste of the article?

[::: :::]

From what I see his best bet may well be an insanity defense. His YouTube channel is Exhibit 1



This is paywalled for me. Any chance of getting a cut/paste of the article?

...

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Sandoval County Sheriff’s deputies have charged ski celebrity Dean Cummings in a homicide that took place near Cabezon Peak on Feb. 29.

Dean Cummings
During an argument over property Cummings was attempting to purchase, he shot victim Guillermo Arriola with an “AR-15-type rifle,” according to court documents. He is charged with an open count of first-degree murder, felony tampering with evidence and concealing his identity, a misdemeanor.

Cummings told his father and another man that he shot Arriola, according to the documents. The second man had medical experience and went with Cummings back to the mobile home where Arriola was shot.

The individual called 911 after seeing Arriola’s body, according to court documents. The Sandoval County Regional Communications Center received the call about 5:30 p.m.

About 5:45 p.m., Cummings called 911, reached the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs dispatch center and said he was attacked by “Geome” and defended himself by shooting the other man, according to court documents.

About 7:10 p.m., three deputies detained the 54-year-old skier at the mobile home. Cummings told them he’d shot Arriola but refused to give them his name, according court documents.

While being interviewed around 1 a.m. March 1, Cummings said Arriola demanded $1 million and sprayed him in the face with a burning chemical, and then he shot Arriola. He told investigators he changed his clothes to get the chemical off his body and left the clothing on the back gate of his vehicle as he left the property.

Investigators found a can of pepper spray on the scene, but it didn’t appear to have been used, according to court documents. Deputies found the rifle on the stairs to the residence.

For a week before the incident, Cummings had been staying at the property 2.5 miles south of San Luis Road on Cerro de Los Pinos in San Luis, where the incident occurred, according to the documents.

According to Polarmax’s website, Cummings was a U.S. Freestyle Ski Team member and was ranked as the No. 1 freestyle skier in the U.S. and No. 2 in North America at one point. He won multiple skiing championships in the 1990s.

According to Powder magazine, he won the Best Line Award for the first descent of Meteorite Mountain’s Dragon’s Back in 2012, has claimed more than 220 first descents and operated Valdez H20 Heli Adventures for 24 years until last season.

Cummings was being held at the Sandoval County Detention Center. Court documents show addresses for him in Rio Rancho and Los Alamos.

[mcski]

Glad he didn’t have access to choppers anymore

[ill-advised strategy]

The Blizzard of Ahhhs crew appears to remain unfazed, however. Plake, Schmidt and Tom Day are all doing well...

Plake did do a year in prison.

[rideit]

What for?
I don’t remember that.
When did he find Jesus?

[TBS]

^^^Drug trafficking

[GoldMember]

Plakes prison deal was a very long time ago, before skiing essentially saved him. I don't know a lot of these guys but I can assure that Hattrup and Pehota are doing just fine. They're not all nuts and those two are solid. I had heard stories about Cummings over the years but this was over the top. Wow...

[alpinevibes]

https://vimeo.com/396297979#t=10s

I'm a mad man
I shook up the world
I'm a crazy man
Ain't that right
This ball of confusion
Too big for the both of us
Get out of my town tonight
I'm a mad man
I wanna shake up the world
I'm a crazy man
I'm goin' crazy
I'm goin' crazy

[XXX-er]

Pehota was from Mackenzie, not too many leaf likers narth of PG so by association ... probably a redneck eh

[jrredho]

Mobile home, AR-15 and New Mexico. That’s a white trash trifecta. Hope the guy gets the help he obviously needs. Maybe a lesser sentence too?

I know very, very little about Dean, but I drive in those environs regularly enough to point out that it's not as remote as you might think. There's some beautiful country all around you there. Also, I'm pretty sure that he grew up in Los Alamos; San Luis is probably less that 10-15mins from a pretty major highway, NM 550, and definitely less than a two hour drive from his hometown.

I wish nothing but the best for Dean, and for the family of the man Dean killed. This is a shitshow of sadness, really.

john