Man killed in Vermont avalanche while making film on extreme skiing

AP) ^ | Wednesday February 16, 2005 | AP)

[BenLurkin]

STOWE, Vt. (AP) A lifelong skier was killed when an avalanche carried him off a mountain while he and three friends were making a film about extreme skiing.

Alec Stall, 23, was being filmed doing sweeping turns down a steep chute just before the accident Monday on Mount Mansfield.

His friends believe Stall may have caught a ski tip in a crust of snow and fell 30 feet from a cliff edge. Above him, a slab of snow broke loose and created a river of snow that swept Stall off the mountain.

``I saw this huge rush of snow coming down in a cloud,'' said colleague Chris James. ``The cloud lasted 3 or 4 seconds, and he was gone.''

Stall was later found dead of injuries suffered in the fall. No one else was hurt.

The four men worked for Burlington-based Meathead Films, a company they started while attending the University of Vermont.

``The draw is (that) I like to get scared,'' Stall once told an interviewer. ``It's about taking the sport to a new level about skiing where people wouldn't have thought possible 10 years ago.''

[dfwgator]

Just how many avalanches are caused by "extreme" skiiers like this?

[AgThorn]

The four men worked for Burlington-based Meathead Films, a company they started while attending the University of Vermont.

I couldn't think of a more appropriate name ...

[Darkwolf377]

DUUUUUDE!

[Daus]

I checked a resort site up there. They have had 41'' of new snow in a week. Strikes me as a VERY bad time to film your extreme video.

[Cornpone]

Bookmark for 2005 Darwin award nominee...

[Deb]

A few years ago I was supposed to produce a show for NBC on extreme sports. Project was canned when every athlete we tried to contact had been killed "playing" his sport.

[Clemenza]

YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

[BenLurkin]

Wow!

[sgtbono2002]

People who engage in Extreme sporst are asking to get killed.I have little sympathy for them after they are. My only thoughts are for Rescue personnel who have to endanger their lives rescuing these adrenalin junkies.

[dfwgator]

"Hold my latte and watch th......"

[SF Republican]

Lifelong skier at 23, Meathead Films, like to get scared?

[Arpege92]

Really? These extreme athlete types never impressed me. Putting your life on the line for a thrill is not what I would consider "having a good time". I won't even ride a rollercoaster.

[M. Espinola]

That guy picked Vermont's tallest peak during the dead of winter

[Frohickey]

Most people that are killed/injured by avalanches trigger it themselves. Most avalanches are out in the backcountry where there isn't any avalanche control work being done. The best way to survive an avalanche is to avoid them, and knowing the conditions that lead to them, and finding safer routes of travel.

Clearly this man decided that the conditions did not warrant an avalanche, or intentionally chose to take this unsafe route.

Nature is not delicate.

[Who dat?]

There was a snowboarder once that had a huge Mohawk… don’t remember the name, but he did extreme snowboarding. Saw him a few times on cable. Read an article a few years later where he smacked a rock or something and killed himself.

The name didn’t ring a bell but the article mentioned his “trademark Mohawk” and the picture looked right.

[Disambiguator]

Did he get it on film?

[Deetes]

Bookmark for 2005 Darwin award nominee...

Just what I was thinking ,just need a few more details :)

[Joe 6-pack]

"There was a snowboarder once that had a huge Mohawk...he smacked a rock or something and killed himself."

Must've been one of those, "stony-faced injuns," I keep reading about.

[Cornpone]

I don't mean to seem unsympathetic but I am. I have seen too many of these 'extreme sports' idiots kill themselves and endanger the lives of others or kill them too. My son almost fell victim to this stupidity. Luckily he wised up and left it alone. Natural selection doesn't acknowledge social status. An idiot is an idiot.