Teen survives 450-metre drop on snowmobile
 

This must be the luckiest guy in the world at the moment.

It's beyond comprehension how he survived and then had to stay the night in those conditions.
The mental picture just makes me shudder but the human spirit and obviously his will to survive is absolutely stunning.
Talk about a wrong turn.Sheesh.

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LINK

REVELSTOKE, B.C. (CP) - An American teenager out for some holiday fun in Rocky Mountain backcountry was lucky to be alive Friday after his snowmobile went over a 450-metre-high bluff.
RCMP said the 16-year-old boy was among a party of three snowmobilers from Stillwater, Minn., on New Year's Day when his machine went over the bluff on Keystone Mountain. However, the teen suffered only a broken leg and some other injuries in the lengthy tumble.

"They were up on the ridge and we believe they were making their way back to one of the snowmobile huts," said Sgt. Randy Brown. "The young fellow took a wrong turn and went over this 1,500-foot bluff."

Brown said the boy landed on a ledge at the bottom of the bluff, which if he'd missed would have sent him plunging another 610 metres.

"He's a very lucky young man," said Brown.

The boy's father, a doctor, stayed with him while their companion snowmobiled down the mountain and then drove 50 kilometres to Revelstoke to get help.

A team of two RCMP officers and a dozen search-and-rescue workers located the teen and his dad about 2,000 metres up the mountain. But with darkness approaching they decided to set up camp for the night.

After spending the night in -10 C conditions, the injured teen was brought down the mountain Friday morning and flown by helicopter to hospital here.

© The Canadian Press, 2004

He was one lucky person.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!

"Lucky" is a fucking understatement!!!!!!!!!

I bet his outlook on life is going to be totally different now. What a lucky sob!

note to self: don't snowmobile around any cliffs. I don't think I could duplicate his luck.

Holy shit, he is very lucky to be alive. Hope he has a good recovery.

must have had quite a trip down and had a good view of the scenery

holy crap. That's one lucky guy. I've always wanted to go off of a cliff like that... but with a parachute

Re: Teen survives 450-metre drop on snowmobile
 

Imagine what was going through his mind!
Imagine how THAT would have felt, briefly. "damn, should have brought the parachute."

Falling half a klick, and almost falling the other half... I can't imagine the rush, or the adreneline.


Ah yes, great minds think alike!

That would have been fun as hell riding off that cliff.

I dunno about fun, I think it would be terrifing

I wonder if he'll start up Sky Diving?

Hope he makes it.


If he does, he's got one helluva party story. :)

Really weird to read that article because Stillwater is in Oklahoma as well and the Pioneer Paper is here as well and I am thinking where the hell could this kid be riding a snowmobile in Oklahoma around a cliff. Just weird...

Crap! I know the area well. I worked in Revelstoke a few years ago and I can tell you they get a hell of alot of snow up there. It sure is nice country around there.

Here's a pic I took two years ago while sledding up there.
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QwDSA...54377286640582

I don't know about that, taking a 450 meter fall is a tad on the unlucky side to me.

Having fallen off of an 80-100 foot cliff...all I can say is...yeah...that is one lucky SOB. Even luckier than me (Although I walked away from my fall...)

That is one funky, phallic looking tree there floyd :D

Lady luck was smiling on him

Makes the landing all that much more difficult too. :lol:

lucky bastard

That's insane...that's like getting directly struck by lightning and living to tell about it. Or like that guy who was skydiving and his chute didn't open, bounced twice off the ground and managed to survive it. it's got to do with some kind of adrenalin/ shock combination. who knows....maybe the snow was REALLY deep!

OUCH!

So hardcore. Could you imagine telling that story to your grandkids? :lol:

So this one time...

hehehe....

I can see the kids rolling their eyes and saying under their breath," Cripes, here he goes with the snowmobile story again!"

Of course by then it will be a 1.2 kilometer cliff and he will have landed right next to a hungry bear.