Snowboarder Seth Beckton says a skier threw him off a chairlift, from which he fell 20 or 25 feet, at Aspen Highlands in Colorado. Going by his account of events, the rivalry between skiers and snowboarders remains strong and hostile.
According to Beckton, who said he was unhurt from the fall, he told the skier, “To get tits-deep pow shots, you just need to be on your edges.” (“Pow shots” is a reference to the snow getting kicked up while riding, and the “edges” refer to the edges of the skis.) The skier thought Beckton was making fun of him, and allegedly threw him from the lift. Beckton shared his summary on Facebook on Jan. 17:
WARNING! Be on the lookout for a skier chucking snowboarders off chairlifts. Yes, this is real.. Happened to me today while having a seemingly normal conversation riding up Loge chair at Highlands about pow when I made this comment “to get tits deep pow shots you just need to be on your edges.” Unknown human skier who tosses people from chair lifts was wearing a 1/3 burgundy 2/3 tan jacket with gray pants, an old silver Giro helmet with old Smith sensor mirror goggles, he replied, “are you laughing at me?” Me “Kind of...yes?? “ Well is this funny?”.. he then proceeded to push/pull me off the chair. Luckily I fell 20-25' into a fluffy pile of snow. So thankful that I was not hurt due to some asshole being offended by a non- offensive comment. Proceeded to get my turns in throughout the day on the lookout for the suspect without luck. Watch out for the above D bag, be safe people and for your own sake don’t make jokes about having fun. Feel free to introduce the human hucking A-hole to karma if found on the mtn.
P.S. Go Broncos!
The Aspen Times got more details when it spoke with Beckton, and asked him why he didn’t report what had happened. His answer may inspire you:
“I honestly thought I was dead,” Beckton said. “Because I didn’t know where we were (within the lift path). It’s not cool to think anyone would do that.”
The incident occurred at about 9:30 a.m., though Beckton, 28, did not report it until the end of the day. He said he was initially shaken by the incident and in a bit of shock, but since he wasn’t injured, he decided not to let it ruin his powder day.
Officials at the mountain haven’t found the culprit, but say they are still looking into the incident. “I think the guy was maybe on drugs,” Beckton told the Times. “Maybe he was partying the night before and maybe he was tweaking out on something and he did that.”
Photo: AP
Contact the author at samer@deadspin.com.
