realskiers

I agree that extreme skiing is dangerous and that it may be somewhat akin to mountain climbing. Having said that Ed Viesturs I think says it best when he says that "getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory!" Clearly not enough adrenaline junkies think this way. Jamie Pierre said after his 255 ft huck that he had been eyeing that huck for years and finally on that day he thought he had a reasonable chance of surviving! Now that mindset says it all. I generally feel some amount of anger when I hear friends and family say "well he died doing what he loved" especially when there are young chlidern at home that are now fatherless! 

If you need to ski in situations daily where you know you are putting your life at risk, then you as an individual have to ask the questiion, "what's wrong with my life!!" If you can't get fulfillment from looking at your childern, from simply skiing down the mountain on a gorgeous day, from a great bike ride or a movie wth your mate, something is wrong!!

I am not sure it is the ski industry that promotes the go for broke attitude. But it has become a clutural phenomenon within the extreme skiing community and it is pervasive and in general it promotes more of what we have seen from CRJ, Shane and Jamie.