Taking It To The Extreme
Hi I’m Susan Allen. The unadulterated wildness of the American west; snow covered peaks, rushing rivers, desolate rangeland is freeing for those who of us test it’s limits on ski’s, kayaks, snow mobiles and horses. Living in the moment is a rare gift in this era of hyper- connectivity. Yet the deaths of three back country skiers earlier this month is a reminder that taking it extreme is dangerous. Stay tuned. As the mother of three boys; a bronc rider, glider pilot and extreme snow boarder, I get the power of an adrenaline rush, and like the families of the three back country skiers who died, I too have experienced the sorrow of death from adventure gone terribly wrong. This year, seventeen people in the US have died in avalanche fatalities. six last month. The numbers are expected to rise as more of us push boundaries, fill our bucket list. Ski Patrol at Jackson Hole tired of chasing skiers who felt they had the right to ski off limits on Park Service land so in 99 the resort became totally open, ski at your own risk, and others followed suit. It is now one of the most popular aspects of the resort. Side Country or lift -assisted back country skiing, riding a lift then hiking to runs outside boundaries is the fast growing segment of the sport. Sales of backcountry ski gear doubled last year along with surfing, and kayaking . I haven’t heard of a run on bronc saddles, or gliders but I do meet more and more people like my boys, who in the words of Seattle Times writer Craig Welch “want to escape crowds , carve tracks in virgin terrain, find steeper cliffs and narrow chuts. Really not all that different from the turn of the century cowboy who once sang “ don’t fence me”.
