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Join The Debate: Are Deaths In Action Sports “Okay?”

Jun 25, 2014 By: Ryan Dunfee
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This spring, we posted a pretty popular video that featured two wingsuit pilots buzzing the tower only feet away from a group of skiers and snowboarders shredding down a glacier in the Alps. We later found out that one of the pilots in the video, Ludovic Woerth, died soon after in a wingsuit accident that also took the lives of Dan Vicary and American Brian Drake. The trio jumped from a helicopter and ultimately found themselves one valley farther over than they intended too, dropping them onto a high-alpine meadow instead of the deeper valley they intended to fly into. With only three seconds remaining to deploy their chutes, all three died on impact.

This week, Frenchman Vincent Descols released a video on EpicTV of him following Drake down the slopes of Les Deux Alpes, flying in tandem, in what was to be Drake's final flight before his death. Here at TGR, we've reported on several deaths we've found out about of mostly young, vibrant men full of life who paid the price in these activities-currently under the umbrella of "action sports"- that put them at the edge of the possible.

Is a life lived by one's passions justified or appreciated even if that means the possibility of an "early" death? What age is it okay to die at-25, 37, 46, 65? And how? 

In that balance, way far out at the edge, a few inevitably fall off to the wrong side. Two knee-jerk responses tend to follow. The first is one of celebration; one that honors a life well lived, full of passion and self-determination, and in which the honoree is rewarded with the privilege of "dying doing what they love." The second is one of condemnation, one that lambasts the deceased for throwing away a young life full of promise on something as frivolous as a sport and a thrill, while leaving behind bereaved parents, girlfriends, or wives. In a society so wholly afraid of death, these choices to break from the norm and choose instead to chase physical risk, and to base an entire life around that pursuit, are a jarring departure from the narrative. It's in the young death of these iconoclasts that we're really forced to deal with their story, their narrative, and really consider what we define as a life worth living.

Reacting to the death of a man like Brian Drake, or that of others with similar stories, what is your reaction? Is a life lived by one's passions justified or appreciated even if that means the possibility of an "early" death? What age is it okay to die at-25, 37, 46, 65? And how? 

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tags: Les Deux Alpes, Mont-de-Lans, France | wingsuit death |vincent descols |ludovic woerth |dan vicary |brian drake wingsuit |brian drake death |brian drake |base jump death

I would much rather die young, doing what I love - outside, enjoying myself, being with nature and the world - than rot away, not being able to help myself, in an hospice or nursing home.  As long as you’re happy when you die though - then what’s it matter.

    Don´t confuse adrenaline with life. Adrenaline is a few instants of heaven, even shorter lived than heroin, but is inevitably just a brief escape from the hard realities of life, and is unfortunately addictive.

    Physical activity and nature can be experienced profoundly without unnecessarily endangering ones life. It is an indicator of the lack of spirituality of our society that we need such risks to feel “alive”. And no one can ask the dead if it was “worth it”.

    That said, as the young and foolish open new terrain for human experience, those who follow can hopefully avoid their mistakes and enjoy the experience without taking too many risks. When does a “calculated risk” become a “stupid risk”? I am not sure, but probably when the risk taker becomes paraplegic or dead, and those who love them suffer.

    I will never forget the sherpa, who upon observing the ridiculous cost/risk/effort of the first man to “ski Everest”, said “westerners have too much money”.

      I start by saying that I can see this ideas more easily listening to free solo climber and highliner:
      I don’t think it’s always a lack of spirituality, but reather it might be a different path in the search of happiness from the most.
      I see something in common beetwen the eastern thinking and extreme sport athletes’ patterns of thought: living here and now is at the base of the eastern ideas and is what makes extreme sports so good, in both case to do that you must overcome fear, wich is for easterns a side effect of beeing attached to material things (even life itslef as we intend it) once you overcome fear and let it go you’ll find blissfulness.

      Sure that it can became addictive, but I don’t think it isn’t necesserily bad: example..go ask to someone that that had experienced true blissfulness through meditation to stop seeking it, even if it means to leave his material goods, his parents and friends to go live in the mountains and meditate the rest of his life..we all know the response right?

      The whole debate on family (and I do an exeption for the ones who have kids) it became for the same reason pointless…is its own problem, own fear and inability to detach and accept the true nature of life that has as fondamental part of itself, death and loss.

What’s the “story” that is always told about those on their deathbeds? They don’t regret the things they did do, but only the things they didn’t do?

These athlete’s have taken a calculated risk. They know the odds for success and for catastrophic injury and death. The rest of us watching have to realize that we can’t just “jump in and follow them”. It’s tragic when someone loses their life, but I don’t think these athletes would want it any other way. But I am concerned when a young athlete really pushes the envelope… they are great athlete’s but their critical thinking skills aren’t really developed yet. I hope these guys have incredible mentors and coaches who can tell them “No”, when they have too.

I’ll post here what I put on the Facebook page:

Both sides of the article are true. On one hand risk is incredibly compelling; being stripped away from all the safety buffers and having nothing but your own skill, fortitude, and luck is an important part of being human. Being in a situation which could easily kill you brings a thrill and a humility you can find no where else.

Another important part of being human is to connect with others, love them and to give them priority over yourself. To deny yourself and the people around you of what you can bring into their lives is either a mistake or selfish. The greatest thing a person can is lay down their life (literally or not) for another. If that means fewer days out in avalanche terrain so my grandkids can have someone to spoil them then so be it - they’re more important than I am.

Balance is the key. I plan on dying in my sleep at 75 or 80 surrounded by the people I love while having lived a life full of skiing, climbing and pushing my limits as safely as possible. To do less than that would be unfair to both me and the people around me.

All that to say that I don’t think we should celebrate or condemn deaths in action sports. We should mourn for the loss and then learn from their mistakes so we can continue to push the boundaries of what we do safely.

Skiing is dangerous.  Anything with a parachute is totally nuts.  Too much to go wrong.  Speed flying, batsuits and base jumping are like playing russian roulette.  Mconkey was a total tragedy and I think the whole jumping off a cliff you need a parachute to survive is missing the point of skiing.  With skiing you can be wearing all the protective gear and still not make it.  Case and point.  I was watching the Free Skiing World Tour in 2008.  A top contender was making his way down the venue and in the middle of the run the contestant started tomahawking. Dead on impact was the cause of death. He was wearing a helmet. The skies were blue and the snow was soft. But he fell in a no fall zone.  He was pushing the limits of the terrain and himself.  Some of the best turns of my life were on this run and I can’t think of something more noble than dying with your boots on.  May the aforementioned all be blessed with bountiful soft landings upstairs.

Humans have been trying to achieve flight for millennia. And proximity wing-suit flying is the closest we’ve come to unassisted flight. Although this “sport” in particular may be a bit reckless and irresponsible in regard to those loved ones left in the wake of a potential death, it seems that there is more than just a tragedy left in the pursuit of a thrill. To die specifically while involved with any of the “flight sport” genres is a death which helps further the knowledge and understanding of man’s dream of flight. It is a death with something of a purpose. And with all other action sports, although death is not infrequent, there is not great enough risk involved to be considered irrational. Driving your car down the street is no less dangerous nor any more rational than shredding gnarly lines or doing double backflips (especially when the sport is practiced with respect to the consequences involved)...

Super interesting commentary everyone - thanks for participating in the debate. I really think Casey E. has a super interesting perspective on this, and one of our Facebook fans pointed to an article in Addiction Treatment Magazine that adds to the debate:

http://www.addictiontreatmentmagazine.com/addiction-news/extreme-sports-addiction/

Their point is:

“Whether or not the risk is really worth the reward is a question each extreme sports enthusiast must answer for him or herself. But when interest gradually transforms into obsession, to the point that family and work responsibilities are being neglected, and financial problems are being incurred because so much money is being spent in support of an extreme sport hobby, these are strong indicators that calculated thrill seeking has changed into addiction…

Wanting to do something and needing to do it are two different things entirely”

How do you guys react to that?

“One of the things I really believed in is the idea of simplicity, that life should always be moving towards more simplicity rather than more complexity. And when I see somebody, you know, riding a finless surfboard and surfing better than 99 percent of the surfers out there, I think, “This is fantastic. This is the way to go.” We’ve gone from tow-in surfing to now paddling into those same waves. And that’s the direction we should be going, rather than more toward technology. In the ‘70s there was a thing around that “he who dies with the most toys wins.” That’s wrong—it’s the opposite. You want to replace all that gear with knowledge and experience. And so in sports I’d love to see the people who are simplifying their sport. I’ve done like six routes on El Capitan and Yosemite—and some of those routes that took us 10 days to climb are now being soloed with no rope by guys in their gym shorts. And they’re back down before lunch. I think that’s absolutely fantastic. Glad they’re not my kids, but that’s the direction we should always go.”
Yvon Chouinard

    Interesting idea, and I think central to so much about practicing these sports - that it’s really about bringing the challenge inward and meeting bigger challenges with your own experience and skillset, instead of reaching farther with technology. I find that a tiny bit in my own activities - really only being able to tolerate one bike, one pair of skis, and one surfboard. Getting to know that one piece of equipment, knowing its limits and being comfortable with its strengths and weaknesses helps me better focus on what I can do as a body on it, instead of constantly focusing on pursuing some further technological edge. And in an era of increasing complexity in everyday life, it’s beautiful to come to something with a sense of consistency and focus on improving yourself instead of learning another technology. Not sure if that speaks to what you’re talking about, but I think to some degree there is or will be fatigue with regards to complexity and technology, and people will seek simplicity in things like these sports we love.

Most adventure seekers know the risk going in. If they don’t then they’re asking for a problem. In my opinion, the risk is part of the trill. There’s ways to mitigate our risk, but it will always be there. All we can do is educate people new to these sports, check ourselves and others, double check and check again. In closing, in the words of Peter Pan, “To die would be an awfully big adventure.”

    Risk is inherent, and necessary, to the thrill. What’s interesting in some ways are the way acceptance of and ability to mitigate risks have changed. Think about someone like Columbus sailing blindly hoping to reach China - probably excepted everyone to die on a more or less suicide mission. Compare that to now, where as a pro you could hit a 100 foot jump on skis but be wearing super well-designed helmets and pads, skis specifically for hucking, and even a jump designed by engineers to send you on a trajectory where if you bail, your momentum is carried neutrally down a steep landing so you’re not slamming to flat. And an ambulance at the base waiting in case something happens.

    Of course, the farther you put yourself “out there” - deeper in the woods/mountains, farther away from help, in bigger environments where you’re in control of less and less of the variables… these are the places where we get closer to the primeval experience of risk

Replace the words, “a life lived by one’s passions,” in that same sentence with the words, “driving a car,” or, “crossing the street,” or, “eating discount sushi.”

There is risk in everything, even staying in bed and hiding under the covers. The bony finger of he who reaps will touch us all, regardless of age or engagement in life. Focus group of one - better to have at it than have none at all…

I will borrow the words of this icon of history, words that have marked my life and that sound like an echo every time I doubt about something

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s worse die doing sport, than of all this young people fat, who die day by day playing at the computer, sick with diabetes, presion problems, heart attack, alcoholic, etc.
they die silently into the shadows, and we don’t care about because it’s common, when we loose a epic life, under all the lights of popularity, a famous extreme athlete that sound like a 747 crash.
I only say that, up to each conclucion

As a long-time adrenaline junkie and client/friend of Doug Coombs, I’ve thought a lot about this, particularly after Doug’s and Shane’s deaths.

As I see it, it’s only OK to take high levels of risk when:
1) You have no dependents
2) Significant others are OK with you taking high levels of risk
3) Your activities don’t put others at risk

60 years old now, throughout my lifetime I’ve been into thrill sports:  inverted ski aerials, downhill racing, rock climbing, alpine mountaineering, motocross, scuba diving, surfing, wavesailing, kitesurfing, and whitewater kayaking, plus I was an instrument-rated private pilot. I’ve been on 9 heliskiing trips, including 3 to Valdez AK. Even at my age though, I still yearn for adventure.

However, after completing a climb of the Price Glacier route on Mt. Shuksan in my forties and watching numerous avalanches sweep our tracks off the route the next morning, I had an epiphany that leaving raising our two young children to my wife alone would have been horribly selfish of me, and guilt would haunt me from that point on if I continued taking the levels of risk I was taking.  It still breaks my heart to know that Doug’s and Shane’s wives have to raise their kids without fathers.

On clear days I look out at Liberty Ridge on Rainier from my house and still imagine climbing it, but I don’t regret giving up climbing—I had too many close brushes with death and know that the odds were against me. It now disturbs me to hear of rescue attempts on Rainier that cause injuries or fatalities to the rescuers—ethically, I don’t know exactly where to draw the line, but I applaud the recent decision not to try to recover the bodies of the May disaster on Liberty Ridge—for them to take any risk at all made no sense.

Yes, it’s true that pursuing high risk adventures makes living sweeter, but you really can’t justify it when there are others who depend on you. That’s my take.

Peter Pawlak

    absolutely agree with you, if you have depend you are responsible for!
    and you have to keep safe to care those people

There is something called “Free Will”. It enables you to take risks.
Let people kill/maim/mentally scar themselves any way they like.

Or you could go work your 9-5 job until you die. That sounds like MUCH more fun!
(It’s not any safer. I work with unknown liquids and dusts a lot, I’ve recently started to bring my gas mask to work just to avoid getting arsenic poisoning or other fun stuff)

At least when you die in action sports, you die doing something cool, as opposed to hitting your head on a concrete curb or forgetting to breathe one too many times.

Whatever path you choose, keep on truckin’

As a 44 year old, I have been pushing the limits for about 30 years, really for about 27 as the last three years I have struggled thru 2 knee surgeries which has really slowed me down. But old enough to have a little perspective. More importantly- I have two healthy children who I love and am teaching them the things & activities that give meaning to my life- that make me feel alive.

When we do the things we truly love there is an element of pushing the limits- of constantly improving or doing “more”. Its part of what got us to the knife’s edge to begin with.

All I can say is that most of us who live the life of pushing the limits on our physical world- we constantly walk on the edge of the abyss- be it skiing, surfing, kitesurfing, wingsuiting or even just financially/culturally with our jobs and place in humanity and society. But there are many ways in life to get that experience- that thrill.

My perspective after chasing lions tail for 27 years AND raising children for 10 years is the difference between success and failure (in pursuing an activity you love) is simply life. If you die young- fine but ultimately you pretty much failed- life is a marathon and at each stage in life are challenges and inspirations that we have no idea about when we are younger. Its sort of selling GOOGLE stock right after the IPO. Fine you made some money, but you cashed your ticket in way too soon.

The real caveat is the people you love- what your death does to them; Once you have kids- you shouldn’t be willing to pay the ultimate price for a day of anything. Kids are line in the sand between studliness in charging a sick line and being a cocky fool that died way too young.

Also- accidents that cause deaths—it usually isn’t just one thing that goes wrong- its more than one, and when two or more things go wrong, that’s when you really get into trouble. The costly mistakes usually come after the first thing that goes wrong, we suck it up and persevere, but when you are walking on the knife’s edge you got to know when to pull the plug, and call it a day.

If you are going to keep pushing the limits, first, wait to have children, second- know when to pull the plug regroup and come back another day.

First off, life is a gift it we chose to make it so. Obviously Action Sports Pros are really living life to the fullest. There is however something in many action sports participants and culture that rewards “cheating death” and “close calls”. I do however see some action sports pros who savor an outstanding athletic performance and view “close calls” as a mistake to be learned from, not celebrated necessarily. I think when peoples thrill of pulling off a low probability performance is their primary motivation, as opposed to athletic excellence, the sport is pushed into what I would call Stunt.

While I find Stunt performances entertaining in some manner, and even though it may require athletic talent, it isn’t sport, we have a word for that….it’s a stunt. To me when you attempt an athletic feat that is well beyond you experience and proven performance level, and the consequences of failure are high (debilitating injury or death) then you have entered the world of stunt.

Where it gets tricky these days is that equipment is better and to be honest, athletes are better. The evolution has gone on since action sports began. Athletes are better prepared and have the benefit of the experience of all those who came before them in honing their skills. It is also human nature to have more confidence in something you want to try if you know of someone who did something similar. I think this is why we see so many action sports athletes pushing the “line” further and further. Each generation of action sports athletes builds on the previous.

The situation that many of even the best prepared and intentioned action sports pros run into is essentially physics and statistics, rather than a lack of talent.  The “line” has been pushed so far in these sports that people are running into the limitations of physics. How high can a person cliff jump on skis really? How fast can the mind respond when the physical situation requires nano-second response time? There are physical limitations no matter ones strength or talent. In these times I see many action sports pros pushing up against those laws of physics. Which brings me to the statistical element.

Most action sports performances require a great deal of precision. Unfortunately most of them are done with a series of variables that conflicts with this. Ski jumping a gap is dependent on snow speed (wax), the athletes take-off, his performance of the stunt in the air, and cross or headwinds no matter how slight, and his landing. Each of these elements generates a degree of uncertainty. Because of all these variables and changing conditions, and the fact that the performance has to be near perfect for proper execution; the more you do a hard trick,  the higher the probability something will go wrong. Just the fact that action sports athletes do these things over and over is probably the biggest statistical factor that makes a high consequence event more likely.

So are these deaths ok? It is not a simple question. Having watched many of my friends die, on a personal level I have to say no. Life was stripped from these people never to return, that is not a good thing. Should something to be done to stop the trend? Yes, but nor rules. We need to educate ourselves in the action sports community as to the true risks involved and make informed decisions. Taking risk is part of the human experience, but I hate to see people throw their loves away.

If you are an action sports pro, treat it like a profession. That means analyzing the probabilities for mishap weighed against the consequences of failure. In most cases this doesn’t limit the athlete but rather empowers him by giving him the confidence everything has been done to limit his risk to his personal level of acceptance.  if you as a pro cant sit down and evaluate these factors prior to performing a high risk activity, then you aren’t really a pro.

So by my reckoning, I applaud the athletic achievement of athletes I know treat their sport and environment with respect and prepare well for their sport. I am less than impressed with those who just ‘send it’ and hope it all works out.

About The Author

Check Out Ryan Dunfee on Google+

stash member Ryan Dunfee

Former Managing Editor at Teton Gravity Research, current Senior Contributor, current professional hippy at the Sierra Club, and avid weekend recreationalist.