Monday, March 12, 2012

Steve Romeo Outside Mag Interview

Outside Online (the website of Outside Magazine) claims to have interviewed Steve Romeo a vaguely defined "few days" before his fatal avalanche.
As published by Outside, here are the three final exchanges of the interview:

One thing that’s fascinating to me is that a lot of people who get killed are experienced skiers. They know what they’re doing and they’re well aware of the risks that they are facing. And yet they’re choosing to push the limits in the back- and sidecountry. They’re literally betting their life that it’s going to be okay. I’m amazed that the power of that ski run can override the sense of self-preservation.  Totally! That’s something my partners and I try to remember. When you’re planning to ski some exposed run, you’re like, man, do I really feel that confident? Am I ready to die for this? Because that could happen.
It’s an awfully high price. You’re all-in.  Exactly. You know, you’re up there, and the sun is out and there’s this perfect powder slope and its’ kind of a grey area, 50-50, and you’re like man I got this, I’m just gonna go for it. I don’t know what drives it. It’s just the passion and the love for skiing, and that adrenaline rush. And maybe there’s a feeling that you skirted death, that you were good enough to ski it and not have it rip. You had the skills to ski it correctly. Who knows. It’s definitely a challenging aspect to the whole thing, the mindset and the personal dynamic of making those decisions. I think the more you’re out the and the more close calls you’ve had, the more you’ve avoided or skied from, you get this sense of security, a sense of confidence that you’re making the right calls.
It almost feeds your decision-making.  Exactly. Statistically the odds are in your favor. But it just takes a little bit of tweak in the snowpack that you’re not used to, or you make a turn in the exact wrong spot and you get the whole thing to go.

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