Ever been filmed doing something you hated being filmed doing? In the digital age, that’s life. Th instance above isn’t sex or drugs or an embarrassing moment after a night out. Maybe in a different way, though, it’s close? This snowboarder experienced extremely poor luck when he was recorded clinging to a vertical cliff band, stuck somewhere in an area known as Spanky’s Ladder on Blackcomb (yes, that name is real, just to further emasculate the guy).
According to Olivier Roy’s Instagram video (who’s also a coach at Core Snowboard Camps in Whistler), the ski patrol showed up and used ropes to get him out of the canyon. It’s a precarious position, of course, one in which he likely got himself into by rolling into a good patch of snow thinking how good it felt under foot, kept going, and then….Or he miscalculated his entrance and exit plan all together. Regardless, his folly is now live for all to see, the edge of his board holding just enough purchase to keep him against the cliff face as he waits for help.
Isn’t getting caught on camera horrifying? I notice it happens to me when someone gets me on vid riding snow, or a wave, or even a bike. I always think I’m relatively athletic. Maybe sort of fluid? Even kinda shreddy? Then I watch the vid and all I can think is, “You look like a goof, please don’t tag me in that.”
The post above has pretty much gone viral, of course, with one Robert Kelly Slater taking notice with a “like” ( even though happy ending’s are universally loved, not just “liked”). There was definitely some sympathy for the dude: “Years ago I almost charged off that cliff in poor visibility thinking I was farther to the left,” wrote one commenter, “and hit the brakes just in time when I saw nothing beyond the trees. He seems to have taken it a few steps farther…surprised they haven’t thrown a cliff sign up there yet.”
Roy first posted the original video January 17 and then the second about four days ago. You can read the caption of the original, below.
I don’t know if our unidentified man has seen his vid yet (I reached out to the associated parties but have yet to hear back). It seems like he sorta owned it: “I heard that after 1-2 hours they managed to get him out,” Roy wrote. “He was seen later having a beer with his buddy at the GLC. He’s alright!”
