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Was Renan Ozturk wearing a helmet during ski accident at Jackson Hole?

posted 8 years ago by JTDiver
2 replies | jump to latest

Just finished watching this excellent climbing documentary on Showtime. Amazing cinematography and storytelling, I was captured from beginning to end. One thing I can't wrap my head around though, is the middle part when they were in Jackson Hole filming a "commercial project". Renan Ozturk wasn't shown before the accident, but Jimmy Chin was, and he definitely was NOT wearing a helmet, rather just a regular cotton hat. Here's a screenshot from the scene just before Renan's crash:

http://imgur.com/mSxbh0d

Renan landed on his head and fractured his skull. Was he also not wearing a helmet? Maybe it was just how the editing worked out and Renan did actually have a helmet on. Otherwise I can't understand why these world-class athletes would be so careless in not wearing helmets when attempting a big-mountain shred.

[–] RuthlessGoat 7 years ago

Thanks for the catch and the screenshot. This was a remarkable oversight considering that these guys were no strangers to risks and consequences. What a terrible lesson to experience.

Goat at Ruthless Reviews

[–] SierraG7 7 years ago

The first thing I thought about when I saw the accident was Michael Schumacher. MS was wearing a helmet, was apparently not skiing that fast, yet the accident and subsequent injury to his head was catastrophic.

As far as Renan was concerned, Jimmy describes the hole in Renan's skull by making a shape of a triangle with his fingers - it's depicted as quite large. And Renan goes on to conquer Meru. I suppose a lot has to do with where in the head you are injured - some areas being fatal or close to fatal.

They should be wearing helmets, no doubt about it. However, even the clip of Renan when he's climbing freestyle, he's not wearing a helmet - although in that context, I guess, it is probably not the done thing.