Light the Wick | Got to See It

When a world-class athlete, decorated across several disciplines shoots you an unsolicited email, asking you to please give him the opportunity to wear your protective gear, you stop, drop and roll: You're sitting on a product that has caught fire.

This is why I immediately stopped what I was doing when the email from Daron Rahlves came through to our help-desk email and got on the horn with the team.

Here's his introduction of his email to us:

"To who can protect my back-
I'm interested in getting involved and being part of Team Slytech. I wish I 
had your spine protector on last April skiing in AK with TGR. I took a 
nasty crash and suffered a heavy impact between the shoulder blades above my 
pack."

"What crash is he talking about?" you may be asking. Well, luckily (and macabre at the same time), for us voyeurs, Daron's nightmare scenario was captured by the Teton Gravity Research team shooting their new flick "Light the Wick."

With a serious, potentially fatal crash like the one you're about to see: Seeing is believing...

The most amazing thing about Daron contacting us is that this wasn't some marketing or promotions campaign initiative, shelling out big bucks to attract top talent, no. It's that top talent, understanding the value in protection seeking you out for one reason, and one reason alone: after the hugest, nastiest crash of his life, he now knows he needs the best back protection available in the industry (period).

This says it all:

"I'm a big supporter of protective gear. Helmets are a given that everyone sees, but back protectors/protective gear are just as important and they aren't visible.

In the motocross industry everyone runs some protective gear. I want to help bring that knowledge to the ski world and educate the benefits to skiers. This is where I'd like to help Slytech.

I believe it's a must for all skiers in racing, park and free skiing."

I have no idea what these guys are saying, but if you watch this video, you won't need to understand the words. The pictures say it all... INSANE skiing action!

Makes you reconsider whining on a groomer wipe out! Booo-hoooo...

Skateboard slams and bails like the ones in this video are extremely entertaining to the morbidly inclined. For some strange reason, you just can't stop watching as clip after clip show massively painful crashes.

But it makes you wonder: what happens afterwards, after the slam?

Do these kids miraculously walk away from it all and just hit the next trick without batting an eye? Or, just maybe, do they sit there for minutes or hours in agony -- maimed, compound broken-boned, lacerated, slipped disk -- while their friends have to call an ambulance or their parents? What happens at the hospital? Resetting of bones, stinging wound flushes, stitches, back immobilization?

And who pays for the mayhem? Does insurance cover it? Parents well off enough?

How long will they be out of commission? How long before they can leave the bed or get out of the crutches or that confining back brace?

The more you think it through, the more you realize something: we want to, nay, we HAVE TO LIVE LIFE ON THE EDGE, live life with some risk, pushing the envelope of the possible. It's who we are. HOWEVER, at the end of the day, the risk equation is bad and the probability of serious injury so high that the only SENSIBLE PATH is to LESSEN THAT PROBABILITY of serious injury.

No, I'm not talking about stopping the pursuit. I'm talking about taking sensible precautions, like wearing a helmet or a back protector.

Slytech has applied motocross protection technology for the snow sports space and we have every confidence that those same snowboarders who also skate, will find use for their Slytech protection gear.

This is it folks. We got this one life (as far as we know). Push your limit, but lessen the probability of serious injury while you're at it. It's not only smart, but will keep you out there doing what you love for a much longer time.

Shred protected.

You just never know when a huge ski slam like this one will happen. It can strike anywhere, anytime, so lessening the probability of serious injury with protection will keep you riding longer! Ski back protection and helmets are key.