This is just in. Our friend and HBS contributor Jarkko Henttonen called us and gave a great story tip.

Fred Syversen goes big again and crashes hard

The man who did the accidental world record on cliff dropping two season ago, Fred Syversen, has the ability to  make some buzz. Fred  has the reputation to  go all or nothing every time he skis.

Check out this epic cartwheel crash in the video clip  below. This happened during a Missing Link film shoot in northern Norwegian location called Tamokdalen. The line in question and the fall is shown from 1:45 to the very end of the clip.

I though I would break every bone in my body, Fred Syversen admits

Norwegian magazine vg.no tells us a few details in their article about the accident:

The accident happened on friday the 7th of May while skiing a line Fred himself called “hairy”  - a narrow and steep chute including a “three stager” cliff drop. Before the first mandatory air the helicopter filming above sprayed so much snow around that Fred couldn’t see anything. “This is a line where falling is absolutely out of question. Therefore, the helicopter coming so near should never happen! It was a total whiteout. So, I fell anyway and now I am very lucky to have no further damage”, explains Syversen when watching the video of the fall first time.

Again, Fred survived with relatively few injuries – bruised shoulder and hand combined with some scratches on his face.

Fred says that the high speed might have saved him from more serious injuries. At speed the momentum goes more forward than just hard down. However, Fred still admits that he was afraid of breaking every bone in his body (Note: And we believe that!). In the end of the fall, entering the “runout” zone, Fred also had some good luck when avoiding the sharp rocks lurking in both sides of his path.

Fred Syversen looks forward for a quick recovery – another freeride competition in June?

After all Fred doesn’t blame the helicopter pilot for the accident. Everyone who was on the filming team has spoken out about what happened.

“What is happening (in the video) is that I try to stop desperately because of not seeing anything in the snow cloud. Eventually I realize that I just can’t stop and choose to take the downhill option…”

After landing the first drop Fred started a dramatic series  of  cartwheels for several hundred meters until he finally stopped. First Fred was afraid of dislocating his shoulder but a check in hospital excluded this. Fred is still out of skiing for a while to heal the shoulder and hand. But he looks forward to be back in a freeride camp in Stryn, Norway held on the 10th of June.

We hope fast recovery for Fred and wish all the luck in the future too. Seems like being a professional freerider requires quite a lot of it – and a built of a tank in addition!

Ski photo by Aadne Olsrud, other photos are screenshots from the video. Ps. I just chatted with Aadne. He was on the accident site and picked up Fred on his snowmobile after the fall and drove him to the heli. I’ll try to talk with him soon and ask some more questions!