Windrock accident

All deaths are tragic, my condolences to the family. That said, I didn't want to be that guy, but since it was already said...I think something can still be an accident, while having someone at fault, just depends how many layers you want to go. If you're pushing the limits of a part and it breaks, that's your fault...you made the decision to push the limit, there's an assumed an inherent risk. If a part fails under normal use...maybe a manufacturer defect, maybe Fred the quality guy pencil whipped the paperwork, maybe it was a questionable batch of raws, who knows. If a part fails from neglect...preventative maintenance falls on the owner. I personally don't believe there are any true accidents just unintended consequences, at some point I think you can uproot negligence at some level.
 
Ron said:
Gabe Gardner.
I knew him, met him a few times.
Chris May, who used to be actie here but I havent seen in a while was close friends with him. I dont remember all the details but they were staying in Putney, group left from trail to go back to camp. Gabe and Heather went to Evarts to get something and were coming back on the center gravel road. Heather got out the drivers seat because steering felt funny. IIRC the panhrad bar had ripped nearly completely off. When it tore the rest of the way all steering was lost. At low speeds it slipped off a trail and rolled a couple times down the mountain.

I was still involve in ECORS when this happened, that makes it 2012-13 ish so...not long ago just 6-7 years or so
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I remember this like it was yesterday. Which i why i wear my lap belts to even move my rig 5 feet or less.
 
Paul said:
I remember this like it was yesterday. Which i why i wear my lap belts to even move my rig 5 feet or less.
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Agreed. I watched a TJ barrel roll 3 times down RML in Uwharrie in an "easy spot" when a rock hit the banjo bolt on a brake cailper and he rolled backwards. He was banged up but ok.
Not but a few years ago, a girl in a rock bouncer backed her buggy off the trailer and cut a donut, it thru her out and rolled on top of her killing her. Since those two incidents, I wear the lap belt at all times and shoulder harnesses on anything remotely sketchy.
 
Ron said:
1- Respect for the family and such...I.E (un)common human decency
2- As a newspaper writer if your article gets cited in a court case you get subpeonad to testify. That's unpaid for a dude making $30k/yr. They learn to state 'nothing but the facts' for a reason
3- It was 4 dudes in a 2 row SXS...that fell 100' into tree tops. Do you really think a seat belt made any impact? Would you want to be retained inside that shell?
4- I hope I never get to the point in my soul where the loss of a fellow hobbiest, my first repsonse is "what did that dude do wrong?"...my first thought was how awful for a lady to lose her husband and son my heart hurts for her.
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My post could have been phrased better and I do apologize. I had many people contact me about this since it was highly publicized and not far from me. I felt like the general attitude was wow this is dangerous and they would not want to go to Windrock. It would be nice to have some facts. I was told someone saw a report that said the three that died were not wearing seat belts and the one that lived was wearing a seat belt. Personally I always want to learn. Maybe they were wearing stock seat belts and a full harness would have helped. Maybe helmets would have made a difference. Things like that would be helpful to the community so when I go out maybe I will wear my helmet more often in my RZR or upgrade my belts to 5 point. Maybe the cage crushed and an aftermarket cage would have saved their life. Any info on the cause of death and ways to prevent it are helpful. I had several people tag me or share that to my facebook and I was upset when I made that post. I do apologize that my post came across as mean.
 
GubNi said:
My post could have been phrased better and I do apologize. I had many people contact me about this since it was highly publicized and not far from me. I felt like the general attitude was wow this is dangerous and they would not want to go to Windrock. It would be nice to have some facts. I was told someone saw a report that said the three that died were not wearing seat belts and the one that lived was wearing a seat belt. Personally I always want to learn. Maybe they were wearing stock seat belts and a full harness would have helped. Maybe helmets would have made a difference. Things like that would be helpful to the community so when I go out maybe I will wear my helmet more often in my RZR or upgrade my belts to 5 point. Maybe the cage crushed and an aftermarket cage would have saved their life. Any info on the cause of death and ways to prevent it are helpful. I had several people tag me or share that to my facebook and I was upset when I made that post. I do apologize that my post came across as mean.
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When you know better, you do better.
 
GotWood said:
I disagree. Pushing a vehicle to it's limits, parts break. I've seen Rockwells snap. Sometimes physics take over and your just along for the ride.


I disagree again. I've been in FD for 20+ years. I've seen cars burnt to a crisp with bodies still belted in, people that fell from standing position and hit their head and die and probably 20 more examples. Yes i do see deaths that were preventable, but for some it was just their time.

I guess their all MOSTLY preventable if you stay home on your couch.
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I liked that atleast 4 times.
 
UTfball68 said:
If you're pushing the limits of a part and it breaks, that's your fault...you made the decision to push the limit, there's an assumed an inherent risk.
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Most limits can only be found the hard way. Beats the crap out of looking at a piece of paper written up by somebody who sits at a computer all day guessing. Those who love to go out and live are going to do just that, even if involves dying.
How much horsepower does it take a Ford 9"?
 
XJsavage said:
Most limits can only be found the hard way. Beats the crap out of looking at a piece of paper written up by somebody who sits at a computer all day guessing. Those who love to go out and live are going to do just that, even if involves dying.
How much horsepower does it take a Ford 9"?
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I absolutely agree...sometimes the risk is 100% worth it to an individual. When I played football I reassured my mother and girlfriend almost daily, if I was paralyzed, it was worth it. With the race shop, Kris and I both, hung up racing trucks about the time we had kids. And that’s also why I’d trailer tow 11,000lbs with a new 150...haha, but seriously. But that still doesn’t mean a link couldn’t be made to something I did wrong, or a series of actions that lead to unintended consequences.
 
I've gotta say that this one really hits home for me. I've had some seriously sketchy stuff happen off road...I mean, if you've done it for a while, who hasn't? But Windrock in particular got me. Not even on an actual trail, just on an access road, so I didn't see it coming. Going along a ridge line and the edge of the road gave out under my back tire, and I slid off the road backwards and sideways. Slid a little ways down a steep slope and a ridiculously tiny tree stopped my fat ass full sized Bronco from going the rest of the way down. Tried to crawl out and only succeeded in sliding farther down the slope, and the whole time we all thought it was going to roll over at any moment. It was way too far from a real tree to easily winch back up. Had to play put my whole winch cable, hooked to a YJ, he played out his whole winch cable and hooked to an XJ, and he was finally able to grab a real tree with his winch. I jerked both of those rigs sideways and broke both of them; front axle on the YJ and tore off the track bar mount off the XJ. Raped the crap out of my rig on the side of another tree getting it extracted. It took hours to get out, and all I could think is how damn lucky I was, because if it had happened on the right side of the road instead of the left I would probably be dead. That side was an even steeper slope, something like 400' down, with no trees to stop me until you got to the bottom. I wouldn't have just been pissed off about breaking three rigs, I would have probably been dead. Because the edge of the road gave out under my tire. Shit can go sideways in the blink of an eye, and it can jump out at you when you least expect it. No assumptions here about any wrong doing on their part, because I've been there and I feel lucky to have lived through it. Rest in peace guys.
 
After reading through the comments its given me some thoughts. First I meant no disrespect to the departed. RIP my off road brothers. Second it's caused me to reflect on a couple close calls I've had over the years. I guess I've seen so much stupidity out of the SxS community it's made me judgemental. And Third I guess it was more of a how did it happen so it does not happen to me. I too put the lap belt on always directly related to the accident in Harlan and the woman in the buggy. I remember them very well.
 
junkxj said:
Am I the only one around here who likes the occasional dumpster fire?
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Forums are dead thanks to social media. The only places that seem to really be active are the ones that have frequent flyer miles at the bus station to hell, and/or excel at the occasional (or frequent) dumpster fire.

This place is a little different though. Most of us have met in person, and know there's a sense of accountability and potential for a fat lip is things go too far sideways
 
CasterTroy said:
Forums are dead thanks to social media. The only places that seem to really be active are the ones that have frequent flyer miles at the bus station to hell, and/or excel at the occasional (or frequent) dumpster fire.

This place is a little different though. Most of us have met in person, and know there's a sense of accountability and potential for a fat lip is things go too far sideways
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Yeah forums aren’t nearly what they used to be. While this one is a little different being localized, it does seem to me that things have slowed down a bit here. That may not be true, it may just be that I’m on MOST of the day, just itching for something new. It’s like a drug, I hate when I refresh my feed after 30 minutes and there’s nothing new... I may have a problem.

I really need to do a social media fast. But the one day that I was real busy and stayed off the forum about all day, @josh$$ sold a YJ stupid cheap and I missed it! o_O
 
CasterTroy said:
Forums are dead thanks to social media. The only places that seem to really be active are the ones that have frequent flyer miles at the bus station to hell, and/or excel at the occasional (or frequent) dumpster fire.

This place is a little different though. Most of us have met in person, and know there's a sense of accountability and potential for a fat lip is things go too far sideways
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First in line for the fat lip.
 
I haven't read all the content. Our sport is and can be extremely dangerous. Condolences to the family. Be right with the Man Up Stairs.
Go live. Go prepared. Don't tempt circumstances blindly. And most important Go prayed up.

I always don't get it all done but I try regularly to thank my Creator for the ability, opportunity, and unforseen grace and mercy that has let the reaper pass over me.

My grandpa said it best one day after talking a while about life, ww2, and generally being human. The simple gist was: "without him I would never have made it this far".

He raced flat head fords, survived depth charges, heavy hauls in 50's Macks, sawmills, equipment, hitch hiked a cross America, and plenty of life's good and bad decisions.



We all got a time.
 
CasterTroy said:
This place is a little different though. Most of us have met in person, and know there's a sense of accountability and potential for a fat lip is things go too far sideways
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this is the truth, me and nick were eating lunch at the SHOP one open ride and some guy walked up to us and asked if we were loganwayne and mccracken. nick said no and we got up and left, we got to the rigs and he said idk about you but i dont feel like getting my ass kicked today lets go wheel..... never found out who the guy was or what he wanted.

we both also agree we are gonna be talking shit about someone someday out in public and they will overhear and we will get our ass kicked, because we wont be able to stop laughing at the guy.
 
I don't like a dumpster fire. It's a bunch of unnecessary drama and snowflake-esque conversation that leads to butthurt. Once I saw it headed that way in this thread I quit reading. The only reason I came back in was a chance to give Logan a hard time. My same philosophy could be said for a member on here and his build threads. I just quit caring and stopped tuning in. It's no fun to me. Now, if you want to crack some jokes and talk a little shit then I'm game. The way I see it is that life is hard enough as is and already way too serious. Why would I intentionally seek out conflict just to immerse myself further into the shit I don't like? I can't help if you get offended. That's on you but people need to know that 95% of the shit we (friends) talk is all in fun.
 
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