Janne is going to hit the road tomorrow morning. He is heading to Flachau for skiing with his family. As Janne said, it will be mostly on-piste skiing with kids, but there might be a change to check out some backcountry trails. Janne’s trip sounds good. I have never been to Flachau and I would join him right away if it was possible. Unfortunately I am stuck with my work right now as we are almost done with my project. My quality time (read SKIING) will come later this spring.

It has been quite dramatic in the world of alpine skiing lately

Last few days have been really dramatic. Almost a week ago Scott Macartney had absolutely a staggering crash in Kitzbühel in Austria. First it looked like Scott is going to die or at least suffer serious injuries, but soon we heard he is recovering and feeling pretty good. Thank God Scott had tons of luck with that crash.

Then just few days later we heard the tragic news from United States. Billy Poole had died while filming an extreme ski movie in the backcountries. Billy Poole was one of the big names in freeskiing and is known from his super-long jumps. Billy was one of the icons in the sport and definitely a fabulous skier. Sad news. I hope we won’t hear this kind of news anymore this season, even though we know that freeskiing can contain high risks.

Scott Macartney has regained his consciousness and has given an interview to SkiRacing.Com. Scott said he remembered his run but has no memory of the crash. He is looking forward to returning to races. Scott says “My run felt pretty good. I nailed the sections up above that I wanted to and I carried good speed. I think I was fifth up there and, overall, I had a really good run. But I’m not sure what I did on the last jump. Maybe I didn’t move forward enough or something, but I got out of balance in the air and crashed “.

I was a little bit shocked with Macartney’s crash. I have always been interested in skiing downhill or just fast. I have crashed many times, but never in such a speed like Scott did (140 km/h). I have also jumped 40 meter jumps, but Scott Macartney jumped 60 meters and crashed. It was absolutely a terrible crash.

Yesterday I spent couple of hours in Snowheads.Com, EpicSki.Com and TelemarkTalk.Com, and discussed with people about Scott Macartney’s crash. In two threads we discussed about the importance of a helmet in skiing. People mentioned how a helmet has saved them from injuries. I also joined the discussion by describing how I started using a helmet in 1998. I purchased a helmet in one morning and went skiing with friends. We headed to the backcountries as always and spent the day out. During my last run, just before skiing down to parking place, I hit a jump which was icy and lousy one. I got out of balance and lost my control. I fell on my back, hit my head to the ground and I lost my consciousness for few seconds. After regaining my consciousness I had a bad headache and suffered concussion. I was glad I had the helmet.

Scott Macartney lost his helmet in the crash. Whatever the reason for loosing the helmet is, the most important point is that he had the helmet in his head when he hit the icy slope. Without a helmet he would probably suffered very bad traumatic head injury. While reading forum posts yesterday, I realized that there are people who do not use a helmet when skiing. Well, I understand that people skiing slowly do not like wearing a helmet, but my short and simple recommendation for everyone is “use a helmet“. No matter what is your speed or where do you ski, just use a helmet. Helmet is a cheap insurance. Period.

Latest news of Scott Macartney tell that he is recovering and is not unconscious anymore. He suffered concussion, but didn’t breake any bones or suffer other injuries. Macartney is still in hospital in Innsbruck and doctors expect him recovering 100%.

As Scott Macartney approached the last jump of the run, commentator in television was singing “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to…“, but quickly stopped when Macartney crashed. The day when he crashed was his 30 years birthday. Macartney lost his control in the last jump, fell on ground with 140 km/h speed and hit his head heavily on Streif slope.

Scott Macartney was born in January 19th. in 1978 in Seattle and grew up close to Crystal Mountain in the state of Washington. While Scott went skiing every weekend, his parents were members of the volunteer ski patrol organization of the mountain. With almost no funding Macartney worked his way up through regional teams and became one of the skiers in the Alpine Skiing World Cup.

In January 2006 Scott Macartney became second at the Super G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The 2006 Winter Olympics were his second Olympics. Now in January 2008 Macartney crashed in Kitzbühel, but has quickly regained consciousness and is recovering from the accident.

Scott Macartney crashed on his 30 years birthday. He lost his helmet, glided over the finish line and unconsciously on ground. Macartney’s body was shaking and cramping when doctors arrived. He was given first aid and transported to hospital by helicopter.

Even though Scott Macartney’s crash looked very bad, he is now in relatively good condition. According to the news, Macartney suffered concussion, but does not need surgery. He is being monitored in hospital in Innsbruck.

Scott Macartney was second skier in difficult Streif slope. His crash caused half an hour break in the race. In the same spot where Macartney lost his control, also Werner Heel and Bode Miller had difficulties, but were able to keep their control. Kitzbühel race is known as very challenging. Macartney was fifth skier who has injured in this slope this year.

Kitzbühel downhill winner was Swiss Didier Cuche who also took the leading position in in the alpine skiing world cup. Second position in Kitzbühel was shared by American Bode Miller and Austrian Mario Scheiber.

Kitzbühel race is different from other races, because the prizes are much higher and there is more audience than in other races. Total amount of prizes is 550.000 euros and the amount of audience is 85.000 to 90.000. Total budget in Kitzbühel race is about 5 million euros.