When the crew of Teton Gravity Research set up their cameras for a shot of big mountain skier Ian McIntosh pioneering a previously un-skied line in the remote Neacola range in Alaska, they knew something big was going to happen. “It was such a huge face with beautiful lines,” said Jones. “We had been scouting it for several days waiting for the right conditions.” After a night of fresh snowfall the team woke at 4:30 in the morning to get in position. At approximately 7:30 in the morning everything was ready and the team gave McIntosh the go. Little did any of them know they were about to witness one of the most terrifying wrecks ever caught on film.
After a few turns McIntosh dropped off the spine he was on and into an unseen five foot deep trench. What happened next is best described in McIntosh’s own words “From there, my slough took over and their was no way to stop, I pulled my airbag to help prevent against any possible trauma injuries as I tumbled to the bottom.” As he began to cartwheel down the mountain all anyone could do was watch helplessly from a distance.
“I was in one of the helicopters filming and all I could do was hold my breath,” said Jones. “It was one of the most terrifying wrecks I had ever seen, I thought for sure he was going to be broken up.” Miraculously even though he tumbled down the 55 degree slope pulling close to 68 cartwheels McIntosh emerged completely unscathed.The only bruise was to his ego. After a quick flight back to camp where he decompressed for the rest of the morning he was back on a different mountain skiing that afternoon. As for anyone else skiing the line McIntosh went down on, that will have to happen at a later date, the team decided there was enough bad juju there.
When asked for any advice he would give others looking to ski big lines safely Jones offered this nugget. “Always examine your line before you attempt it, make sure there are no areas with secondary exposure (rocks,cliffs,etc). The only reason Ian is alive is he did not tumble over anything that would of broken him up.”
Wise advice. The see more of the adventures they had get the movie Paradise Waits.
