The closest of calls. Photo: Ned Daly // Instagram
There’s a lot of stuff to think about immediately before and during a jump on skis, but one thing you might not anticipate is a random child sitting in your landing zone. That’s exactly what happened to one skier in a viral video making the rounds on the internet. Luckily, thanks to some quick thinking and even quicker reflexes, the skier averted disaster – and ended up with a pretty insane clip.
The video was taken by Ned Daly, a snowboarder, photographer and mountain biker operating out of Durango, Colorado. It starts off as a pretty run of the mill edit, with the subject tackling a few terrain park features, before lining up for a backflip. However, as the camera pans over for the big finish, we see a child sitting directly in his path. Somehow, the skier manages to take this into account – while upside down and in mid air – and opens his legs to sail inches above the kid’s head.
“I was filming skier Dave Sugnet through the jump line in the terrain park, and he was miraculously and heroically able to avoid colliding with a kid in the blind spot of the landing,” Daly explained to Storyful. “We are very thankful everyone came out okay. Dave used to coach kids in freeride skiing, and is very safety conscious. This was one of those weird situations where I couldn’t see the snowboarder until the last second. We encourage safe progression and etiquette on the mountain.”
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