Wild Ride at Maroon Bells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmM2ApadmOk

In May of 2022, Matt Randall took a 1,000 foot fall from the top of South Maroon Bell, one that he undoubtedly shouldn't have survived. He was solo ski mountaineering just outside of Aspen Colorado and Matt somehow got lucky and walked away with zero injuries and one broken ski. He wants to share his experience because he believes it would be beneficial for others to hear since he’s convinced there are lots of other people out there with similar human traits. Listen to this episode to hear how someone can survive that long of a fall, and what he learned from his mistake.

https://www.thesharpendpodcast.com/episode-88

This is old news. I'm curious what value you have in posting it?

Learning from this is pretty clear. Fill your karma bank and don't fuck up.

I tried searching to see if it had previously been posted but didn't find anything. I found the video and podcast interesting, thought others might as well. Simple as that.

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Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark

This is old news. I'm curious what value you have in posting it?

Learning from this is pretty clear. Fill your karma bank and don't fuck up.

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Lesson I see is if he'd just waited one more beat before attempting his turn, his ski would not have hung up on the rock and he would not have fallen over backwards. Need to plan not only for turn initiation, but also completion.

I do remember seeing this but didn't mind seeing it again. His screams are haunting.

New news to me. I just want to say :eek:.

Those uphill ski jam/snag falls are frustrating AF in the “can fall” zone. Fuck that rock. Just had to be right there, didn’t it? Imagine waiting 3 billion years for that. Get a life, rock!


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Originally Posted by Jong Lafitte

Those uphill ski jam/snag falls are frustrating AF in the “can fall” zone. Fuck that rock. Just had to be right there, didn’t it? Imagine waiting 3 billion years for that. Get a life, rock!


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you can call it a no fall zone or even a one fall zone. Put 10 skiers in that same position and there would be a few deaths for sure. Hairy stuff.

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Originally Posted by Percy Rideout

you can call it a no fall zone or even a one fall zone. Put 10 skiers in that same position and there would be a few deaths for sure. Hairy stuff.

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For sure. I think I meant like I know this type of fall and it always pisses me off even though I’m on mellow stuff. Leads to the “slow backwards fall.” I’m always like “fuck you tree/rock/stump.” Where this guy skis, yeah, wrecked ‘em? Hell, nearly killed him.


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Gnar. Reminds of this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6jb2p5pojo

Target fixation

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I remember watching and listening to that podcast when it came out and thinking it was such a waste of time. The guy has such a poor mind set and poor ski skill set to ski terrain like that, why is he being interviewed as if we can learn from him like he's some ski mountaineering expert? What he should have learned is he's not as good as he thinks he is.

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Originally Posted by muted reborn

I remember watching and listening to that podcast when it came out and thinking it was such a waste of time. The guy has such a poor mind set and poor ski skill set to ski terrain like that, why is he being interviewed as if we can learn from him like he's some ski mountaineering expert? What he should have learned is he's not as good as he thinks he is.

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Like 98% of twenty something year olds.

I did two slides for life my first season out west while skiing at the Big Mountain in Montana winter 94/95. The second one terrified the shit out of me and probably gave me ptsd that I never fully recovered from. I can still remember like tit was yesterday watching the trees and rocks go flying by as I uncontrollably went mach crazy down chunky steep terrain off the east rim head first and on my back. When I finally stopped I couldn't believe I wasn't seriously injured. F skiing big exposed lines in shitty snow. That's not fun to me in any sort of way.

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Originally Posted by muted reborn

I remember watching and listening to that podcast when it came out and thinking it was such a waste of time. The guy has such a poor mind set and poor ski skill set to ski terrain like that, why is he being interviewed as if we can learn from him like he's some ski mountaineering expert? What he should have learned is he's not as good as he thinks he is.

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Most of us aren't. But then most of us aren't as bad as we (sometimes) think we are either. ;-)

My take is, yea, sure, in the grand scheme of things the dude's on the youngish/green side, but he's enthusiastic and pushing himself, and that's how people learn and get better. Very few alight on the mountain top riding a bolt of lightning freshly launched from the head of Zeus. Gotta start somewhere.

I didn't take the podcast as him preaching, rather sharing his (metaphorical, thankfully) post-mortem of what he did wrong. And his newfound awareness of how tunnel vision, complacency and seeking of external validation crept into his decision making process. Nothing wrong with some self-examination. Now how all that has informed his actions since I don't know.

I think it's not unusual for people to think as they get older "if only I knew then what I know now". But strangely over time we often forget lessons learned, and perhaps listening to younger selves might not be bad thing.

Caveat that stuff is certainly challenging to communicate to others let alone honestly grapple with yourself. Also, Matt is much fitter and a better skier than I am.

However, I found a pretty big disconnect between one of his main takeaways in the podcast and how he was skiing this spring. Namely that stacking big consequential days back to back to back leads to becoming complacent. He went on a pretty wild eastern sierra bender this spring ticking off several of the areas biggest and most technical lines in very short succession. many of them with potential consequences comparable to his intended line on maroon bells.

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Originally Posted by fomofo

Most of us aren't. But then most of us aren't as bad as we (sometimes) think we are either. ;-)

My take is, yea, sure, in the grand scheme of things the dude's on the youngish/green side, but he's enthusiastic and pushing himself, and that's how people learn and get better. Very few alight on the mountain top riding a bolt of lightning freshly launched from the head of Zeus. Gotta start somewhere.

I didn't take the podcast as him preaching, rather sharing his (metaphorical, thankfully) post-mortem of what he did wrong. And his newfound awareness of how tunnel vision, complacency and seeking of external validation crept into his decision making process. Nothing wrong with some self-examination. Now how all that has informed his actions since I don't know.

I think it's not unusual for people to think as they get older "if only I knew then what I know now". But strangely over time we often forget lessons learned, and perhaps listening to younger selves might not be bad thing.

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I disagree with all of this.

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Originally Posted by SirVicSmasher

Target fixation

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This.

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Originally Posted by yeahman

Lesson I see is if he'd just waited one more beat before attempting his turn, his ski would not have hung up on the rock and he would not have fallen over backwards. Need to plan not only for turn initiation, but also completion.

I do remember seeing this but didn't mind seeing it again. His screams are haunting.

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Wouldn't have happened if he just hadn't of completed the turn. ;)

I hope his friends call him Mr Toad now, because that was indeed a wild ride. The screams are chilling.

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

Like 98% of twenty something year olds.

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And like most 70 year olds.

It's pretty remarkable that after tumbling he wound up going straight, on his back, feet first--and that braking with his heels didn't make him tumble again. The two ways you get hurt are ragdolling and hitting something. He avoided both.

I remember listening to this podcast but it was long enough ago maybe I should re-listen.

In an attempt to start a constructive conversation here, I probably would have skied this, at least the top firm part, with toes locked. Would it have helped him to self-arrest sooner? Would it have blown out both of his knees? I would have a whippet too, but not sure it would be an effective tool for self-arrest in terrain this steep.

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Originally Posted by snowaddict91

In an attempt to start a constructive conversation here, I probably would have skied this, at least the top firm part, with toes locked. Would it have helped him to self-arrest sooner? Would it have blown out both of his knees? I would have a whippet too, but not sure it would be an effective tool for self-arrest in terrain this steep.

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This.
There is a reason that mountaineer's ice axes are in hand when in this kind of terrain.
Kinda hard to self arrest without one whether clipped into skis or not...

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Originally Posted by telefreewasatch

This.
There is a reason that mountaineer's ice axes are in hand when in this kind of terrain.
Kinda hard to self arrest without one whether clipped into skis or not...

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Almost said that as well. I don't ski stuff this steep and firm too often, but probably would have a real axe out. Definitely a whippet at minimum.

Hell, one of the scariest falls of my life was in 35 degree refrozen shit that I thought had softened. Kicked a shoe and took a wild ride. Pretty sure my dog thought I was dead. This was on a freaking road cut in the Uintas. Just out for some casual summer turns.

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Originally Posted by snowaddict91

Almost said that as well. I don't ski stuff this steep and firm too often, but probably would have a real axe out. Definitely a whippet at minimum.

Hell, one of the scariest falls of my life was in 35 degree refrozen shit that I thought had softened. Kicked a shoe and took a wild ride. Pretty sure my dog thought I was dead. This was on a freaking road cut in the Uintas. Just out for some casual summer turns.

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That's why we don't go switch to the road in icy conditions.

He was also soloing that?! (Even though there was another party at the top). Man, I would never have the ballz.

If he had been carrying a Glock 9, he could have just unloaded a clip on that rock and blasted it into smithereens and avoided the fall completely