DENVER -- Caleb Moore' date=' an innovative freestyle snowmobile rider who was hurt in a dramatic crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died Thursday morning. He was 25.[/size']

Moore had been staying at a hospital in Grand Junction since the crash in Aspen one week before. Family spokeswoman Chelsea Lawson confirmed his death, the first in the 18 year history of the X Games.

"He lived his life to the fullest. He was inspiration," Lawson said.

 

 

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Caleb Moore lies in the snow after he crashed during the snowmoblie freestyle event at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., on Jan. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette/Christian Murdock)

A former all-terrain vehicle racer, Moore switched over to snowmobiles as a teenager and quickly rose to the top of the sport. He won four Winter X Games medals, including a bronze last season when his younger brother, Colten, captured gold.

Caleb Moore was attempting a backflip Jan. 24 in the freestyle event when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him.

Moore stayed down for quite some time, before walking off with help and going to a hospital to treat a concussion. Moore developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore was injured in a separate crash that same night. He suffered a separated pelvis in the spill.

The family said in a statement they were grateful for all the prayers and support they have received from people around the world.

X Games officials expressed their condolences and said Moore, a four-time X Games medallist , would be remembered "for his natural passion for life and his deep love for his family and friends."

B.C. Vaught, Caleb Moore's agent for almost a decade, said he first saw Moore when he was racing an ATV in Minnesota and signed him up to star in some action sports movies.

Later, Moore wanted to make the switch from ATVs to snowmobiles and Vaught helped him. A natural talent, it only took Moore two weeks to master a difficult backflip.

Moore's brother also got involved in snowmobiling, the close-knit duo pushing each other to become better.

Moore honed his skills in Krum, a town about 5,000 people 50 miles northwest of Dallas that rarely sees snow. Instead, he worked on tricks by launching his sled into a foam pit. After a brief training run on snow ramps in Michigan, he was ready for his sport's biggest stage -- the 2010 Winter X Games.

In that contest, Moore captured a bronze in freestyle and finished sixth in best trick. Two years later, his biography on ESPN said, "Caleb Moore has gone from 'beginner's luck' to 'serious threat."'

That was hardly a surprise to Vaught, who said, "Whatever he wanted to do, he did it."

Vaught said Moore didn't believe his sport was too extreme, but rather "it was a lifestyle." He was good at it -- along with ATV racing -- as he accumulated a garage full of trophies.

Fellow snowmobile rider Levi LaVallee recently described Moore as a "fierce competitor."

"A very creative mind," LaVallee said. "I've watched him try some crazy, crazy tricks and some of them were successful, some of them not so much. But he was first guy to get back on a sled and go try it again. It shows a lot of heart."

X Games officials said in a statement that they would conduct a thorough review of freestyle snowmobiling events and adopt any appropriate changes.

"For 18 years, we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain," they said, noting that Moore was hurt performing a move he had done several times before.

 

 

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.c...7#ixzz2JaPKGFQj

Didn't seen a thread here so I thought I'd post it, What a horrible crash, Seen some bad ones throughout X-Games but this one tops them all, I was watching when it happened and after finding out he had been seriously injured I kept up with the updates, however, from the start his chances of making it were very slim.

 

Really sad to see such a young guy lose his life doing something he loves and has been doing for years but death is one of the risks involved in extreme sports unfortunately.

 

What does everyone else think? X-Games has had some nasty crashes but this is the first one to cause death since the X-Games have been around.

 

 

Also: Sorry if this is the wrong topic, I was thinking Off-Topic as it's news but also possibly in the Sports sub forum.

Unfortunate, I wouldn't call it a tragedy though.

I know this might ruffle a few feathers, but it might generate some discursive value for this thread anyway...

 

Is it really a tragedy when the risk was a well-known and accepted hazard of the lifestyle he'd chosen? Tragic, certainly; a tragedy, no.

The dude was 25, and since it's the first death since 1995, I don't think death is a well-known and accepted part of the lifestyle at all. Injury sure, but since you're at a heavily attended event with medical staff on hand I'd imagine the risk of death is pretty slim. I'd say yeah it's a tragedy.

The dude was 25, and since it's the first death since 1995, I don't think death is a well-known and accepted part of the lifestyle at all. Injury sure, but since you're at a heavily attended event with medical staff on hand I'd imagine the risk of death is pretty slim. I'd say yeah it's a tragedy.

Not just the first death in the X-games since 1995, but the first ever death in the X-games, from what I gather from the article. That doesn't count people who are in training and had accidents during training, however.

The dude was 25, and since it's the first death since 1995, I don't think death is a well-known and accepted part of the lifestyle at all. Injury sure, but since you're at a heavily attended event with medical staff on hand I'd imagine the risk of death is pretty slim. I'd say yeah it's a tragedy.

 

I don't know that it's accepted, but it is a (somewhat) realistic risk.

 

A tragedy is a young mother and her child getting hit by a bus, not a 25 year old man dying doing something he loved and fully knew the dangers of. Is it unfortunate? Absolutely? Preventable? Not really, unless we want to stop spectating these sports period.

It was accepted by virtue of the fact he was doing it. It's not like someone said "Right, do a back flip on a snowmobile or we'll pop a bullet into your kneecap."

 

Similarly, I wouldn't have said Steve Irwin's death was a tragedy. A great loss to the world? A shame that so much potential isn't there any more? Heartbreaking news to his family? Absolutely. But they both died doing things they loved doing, which I think if any of us had a choice over, is how most of us would like to go out.

If the accident never happened in a nationally televised sporting event, almost no one would care about this unknown athlete, or would have ever heard about it.

I do agree in a way that it isn't so "tragic" as he did know that death is a risk involved in the sport, but in a way I kind of agree that it is, I mean he was only 25 doing something that he loved and death is a known risk but nobody expects it and it really doesn't happen all that much, Especially at X-Games. We see injuries all the time and I think those are commonly expected, not death however. He was extremely talented and just out there enjoying what he was doing and putting on a great show for the fans, unfortunately ending this way.

 

But also, Most sports do have the risk of death, While it might be less in hockey for example than in say freestyle motocross or snowmobiling, the risk is still there and I wouldn't consider something not tragic just because there is risk involved. I would still say it's tragic for any athlete to be killed while competing, no matter what sport it's in, even is the risk of death is known beforehand.

 

I really wouldn't consider him an unknown athlete as him along with his brother are professional freestyle snowmobile riders and have been for some time and before that he was a professional ATV rider and has been around the scene for years. Although if it didn't happen at X-Games I don't know that it would have the same publicity, however, it would have a lot as he was good friends with many other competitors from different extreme sports who are very well and was decently known himself.

 

Also, Another kind of topic I'd like to bring up that I was thinking about, How well do you guys think the X-Games medical staff do their job? I mean this guy had a 450 pound snowmobile land on top of him causing major injuries and they let him get up and walk after? This kind of reminds me in a way of when Jake Brown crashed at X-Games a few years back, fell over 50 feet to the ground and the medical staff let him walk as well, later to find out he had 2 cracked vertebrates and could have possibly been paralyzed just from walking after. Caleb Moore suffered major injuries including the heart and brain, personally I think when any competitor takes a big spill in X-Games they should be hauled off on a stretcher for a thorough investigation, people can be seriously injured when they aren't treated properly after crashes like this.

Semantics aside, it's pretty sad. I'm sure if he had his choice on how he'd die, he'd die doing what he loved. But I'm also sure that if he had a choice, he'd rather live and keep doing what he loved, than die doing what he loved.

How well do you guys think the X-Games medical staff do their job? I mean this guy had a 450 pound snowmobile land on top of him causing major injuries and they let him get up and walk after? This kind of reminds me in a way of when Jake Brown crashed at X-Games a few years back, fell over 50 feet to the ground and the medical staff let him walk as well, later to find out he had 2 cracked vertebrates and could have possibly been paralyzed just from walking after. Caleb Moore suffered major injuries including the heart and brain, personally I think when any competitor takes a big spill in X-Games they should be hauled off on a stretcher for a thorough investigation, people can be seriously injured when they aren't treated properly after crashes like this.

I would personally describe that demonstration of care as appalling. The heart complication would be impossible to detect in that situation, but a lack of awareness about head injuries is unforgivable.

 

A crushing injury to spine and rear skull involving a weight of that size and mass, any first responder should be considering a very high chance of fracture to limbs/skull and a head injury leading to concussion/compression or an otherwise unexplained loss of consciousness. In any of those cases, hospital transport becomes the first priority, followed by full body immobilisation and then recording of vital signs, especially alertness and blood pressure.

 

That any trained member of staff would allow someone in those circumstances to just walk off, I find absolutely astounding. The only reasonable excuse I can think of is that Moore adamantly declined any treatment, which even in that state, he would have the right to do.

I play hockey, people have died playing hockey, I wouldn't consider it a tragedy if it happened to me.

Tragedies are usually used to describe big events, tragic to describe individual things. Both words are used to describe the same emotions: extreme sadness, despair regardless. Even if it's an expected hurricane or a random quirk of fate, they are both capable of triggering those feelings in us in the aftermath. So is something any less of a tragedy or tragic event because a few people aren't affected as deeply? There are a portion of people who are affected that deeply, and one shouldn't erase the other.

He died doing what he loved. Sort of.

Tragedies are usually used to describe big events, tragic to describe individual things.

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." - Josef Stalin (allegedly).