When co-founder of Teton Gravity Research and brother of ‘Big Mountain’ Jezza, Todd Jones calls a spill “the most terrifying crash I’ve ever seen” it’s fair to assume that it’s a touch on the terrifying side.
Handily, the very incident in question was captured on film for us all to either endure or enjoy, depending on which way you’ve put your schadenfreude socks on this morning.
While filming in Alaska for the latest TGR film Paradise Waits, veteran free skier Ian McIntosh narrowly evaded a brush with the reaper when a hidden, five foot deep trench hung him up.
Despite doing his homework and throughly studying his line, the snow ditch was enough to send the man they call Mac ragdolling down the face of the mountain in one of those rides that’s impossible not to wince at when you watch.
The spill saw Mac, at the mercy of gravity, falling over 1,600 feet in under a minute. Staggeringly, when he comes to rest, the Canadian skier can clearly be heard reassuring his buddies on the hill with a somewhat breathless “I’m okay… I’m okay.”
Asked about what he remembered from the death-defying descent, Mac confessed afterwards “Their was no way to stop, I pulled my airbag to help prevent against any possible trauma injuries as I tumbled to the bottom”.