Gee Atherton Releases new Video about his Crash

A few weeks back, Gee Atherton released more information about his horrific crash. Gee suffered serious injury and was lucky to walk away. Now on the …

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Gee Atherton Releases new Video about his Crash

It doesn’t hide the crash at all. Don’t watch if you don’t want to see him ragdoll down the hill.

Really is quite incredible someone would consider that stuff rideable, then actually ride it, successfully, as we see in the video. But as for rag dolling down those rocks… I think I prefer the version that cuts out!
Wonder how Gee feels seeing that happen to himself…

lucky to walk away.

Airlifted to Hospital != “walk away”

I still have shivers running down my spine thinking about my off earlier this year when I summersaulted over the bars at 25mph, landed on my shoulder and fractured my collarbone.

Tame indeed compared to the above. How he didn’t sustain more injuries, or worse, was a miracle.

I wonder how he is mentally after that off.

Love the juxtaposition of the cool, chilled muzac vibe of an Insta-banger run with the total ragdoll clusterf*ck of the crash…

Christ……

Yowzer

Eeee-man that’s not comfy viewing is it!

Props to the team that rescued him. I think you’d need to be pretty mentally strong to even consider riding that sort of stuff again. I don’t think I could

How he walked away from that is beyond me. Harrowing footage.

That ragdolling was the worst I’ve ever seen, froze watching it in fear so couldn’t look away or stop the video.

If I had seen that footage without knowing the outcome I’d have him down as dead. It was obviously a really big shock to his system though as he looks very frail and wasted away round the face and his voice is very weak indeed.

Incredible he didn’t die. That was hard to watch.

he looks very frail and wasted away round the face and his voice is very weak indeed.

That really struck me too actually. Not surprising given the extent of his injuries, but he’s always appeared pretty superhuman until now..

something tells me he’ll bounce back just fine…

That’s horrendous. The second half of the fall looks like a dead body. 😬

Shocking seeing that for the first time – I actually felt quite sick.

We need an Ambulance!

No shit, I could have told her that before she got to him

The mans git balls

How does that one get written up in Red Bulls Accident Book? Genuinely will it get investigated as a work place accident?

Really good vid I thought, cutting so much of it together much like the completed edit would have looked, then including the crash and the consequences, really effective.

Jeez – that is not easy watching, pleased you’re healing Gee, good luck!

Its a really well put together video of a somewhat terrifying event! They havent glorified it at all either.

The only reason Gee is able to survive that is through being very, very fit and athletic. I bet its taken a big mental toll too. What a guy.

Prompted me to send a few quid to my local air ambulance too as I hope I never need them!

Seeing him ragdolling down like that reminds of a time, maybe 6 or 7 years ago, when I was sat on a chair lift in Ax Les Thermes in the Pyrenees and saw a kid running down the hill beneath us. He tripped on a drainage ditch and started ragdolling down like that, when he finally stopped he didn’t move. His dad started running down after him and also fell, although he managed to get up and get to his son he was clearly injured as well.

We just sat on the chair lift watching, completely helpless untiI we got to the top and could tell the lifty what happened. We rode down very gingely after that and by the time we got to the bottom the ambulance and mountain rescue team were there. We were so pleased to hear the kid was still alive, but everytime I see kids running down hills it send shivers down my spine.

So glad Gee is ok, I’d never do anything like that but we all love watching people push the boundaries.

I wonder what facilities they had ‘on site’ to handle this eventuality (ie a big crash), it doesnt look like they had much (if any) medical expertise/equipment ready on standby on the hill from the video until the helicopter arrived – seems a bit lax given red bulls resources.

I presume at an event like the rampage, they have private medical teams on standby at the event ready to go immediately? This looked rampage worthy – so do they have the medical support on site and ready to roll?

It was very apparent from the film that the hill was even steeper that it looked.

I see he managed to break his bike pretty well too, but it lasted a few more bounces than he did.

Ooft that was huge.

The crew on the ground should really have held on to the hi-line better during the winch.

I have nothing else helpful to say.

I presume at an event like the rampage, they have private medical teams on standby at the event ready to go immediately? This looked rampage worthy – so do they have the medical support on site and ready to roll?

Then they screw the riders by not having medical insurance for them.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/insured-sponsorship-Northman-Insurance-2015.html

I wonder what facilities they had ‘on site’ to handle this eventuality (ie a big crash), it doesnt look like they had much (if any) medical expertise/equipment ready on standby on the hill from the video until the helicopter arrived – seems a bit lax given red bulls resources.

Apologies if I misheard it, but it appeared that they didn’t have the location of the accident prepped to give to the emergency services until after the accident, which seems a bit remiss.

《Appreciate that everything is obvious with the benefit of hindsight》

I wonder what facilities they had ‘on site’ to handle this eventuality (ie a big crash), it doesnt look like they had much (if any) medical expertise/equipment ready on standby on the hill from the video until the helicopter arrived – seems a bit lax given red bulls resources.

I presume at an event like the rampage, they have private medical teams on standby at the event ready to go immediately? This looked rampage worthy – so do they have the medical support on site and ready to roll?

RBTV keeps on trying to push me to watch some thing where a load of freerider bros go off into the canadian arctic getting super stoked on how remote it is. (I’ve only seen the trailer (multiple times) so maybe they do have suitible medical support) But it gives me a similar worry.

thegeneralist
Full Member

I wonder what facilities they had ‘on site’ to handle this eventuality (ie a big crash), it doesnt look like they had much (if any) medical expertise/equipment ready on standby on the hill from the video until the helicopter arrived – seems a bit lax given red bulls resources.

Apologies if I misheard it, but it appeared that they didn’t have the location of the accident prepped to give to the emergency services until after the accident, which seems a bit remiss.

You’d hope they have at least one decent first aider and some basic stuff but that doesn’t make that much difference in this case (and you never really see what their capabilities were- what they’re doing on the scene seems pretty much appropriate to the incident). TBH having pro level first responders, or a private ambulance or whatever, standing by seems like a good idea after someone’s fallen off a cliff but considered with all of the shoots like this, it gets unrealistic and I reckon disproportionate. A big incident like this or Chris Akrigg’s is news for a reason.

Rampage, you have 15 riders doing 2 runs with much bigger gaps, drops etc. Softer ground, sure, but that doesn’t help that much if you come up short on the canyon gaps. And under the stress of competition. Decent sized crashes are to be expected. And it’s miles from the nearest road. Plus, all of the support staff, camera crews, spectators clambering around on cliffs etc. Whereas this, the big crash isn’t to be expected- it’s possible, sure, but the safety side mostly comes from avoidance. I don’t think it’s comparable.

One of them shouts that he’s going to get the location from where Gee’s actually ended up, which is a bit weird tbh, it’s not like the helicopter needs the exact spot on the ground. Doesn’t mean they didn’t have a location prepped for the overall line though. Man I hope it doesn’t!

Looks way worse from that angle than the POV.

Looking at 4:00 vs. 6:00 from in my armchair here, it looks like he landed more front-first and then when the back came down he was collapsed onto the rear tyre. Can’t see any difference in how he took the takeoff.

Using ‘what three words’ for location when a big crash was always on the cards? FFS. HAVE A MAP, KNOW WHERE THE FHOOOK YOU ARE AND GIVE A PROPER GRID REFERENCE.
Geez. That was amateur.

Like I say, the person saying they’re going to get a w3w for where Gee ends up, doesn’t mean they don’t already have details, grid ref etc for the overall site, it could just mean that one dude thinks it’s important to get it from that exact point. Which doesn’t make any sense, of course, but that’s by the by

Finally got round to watching it last night. That really was a hard watch. How he didn’t break his neck when ragdolling…?
Heal up soon Gee!

How he didn’t break his neck when ragdolling…?

Its Gee – he’s got more muscle in his neck than most of us have in our thighs.

Watch all the pro downhill guys and they are the same, they can go flying into trees at 30mph and get back up and go again.

Contrast to the XC, CX and road guys and girls (who are certainly no lesser an athlete) break and fracture wrists, collarbones and so on quite regularly – very different body types.

It was hard to watch before the crash, the ridge line was terrifying.

I suspect for him though it was way less technical than stuff he has ridden in the past, just the consequences of getting it wrong were high.

Met him in the GLC in Whistler once, right after he had just beaten Sam Hill in the Garbanzo Downhill. Seemed like a really nice guy, so hopefully he mends quickly.

Whereas a plain clear way to speak would have been ‘do you have the grid reference ‘ if they meant ‘do you have the grid reference’. It’s not a word associated game on the side of a hill.

And the mountain rescue folks I’ve talked to think it’s shiiite and full of potential problems (plurals, accents, poor quality signals, same pronunciation for differently spelled words , etc etc).

A 6 digit grid ref really isn’t difficult. And way more reliable.

Whereas a plain clear way to speak would have been ‘do you have the grid reference ‘ if they meant ‘do you have the grid reference’. It’s not a word associated game on the side of a hill.

And the mountain rescue folks I’ve talked to think it’s shiiite and full of potential problems (plurals, accents, poor quality signals, same pronunciation for differently spelled words , etc etc).

A 6 digit grid ref really isn’t difficult. And way more reliable.

There is a whole thread for that chat!

robertajobb
Full Member

Whereas a plain clear way to speak would have been ‘do you have the grid reference ‘ if they meant ‘do you have the grid reference’. It’s not a word associated game on the side of a hill.

No it’s not a word association game, it’s a load of people running around because their mate just fell off a bloody mountain and seems to have been killed several times over. You want to bet that everything you say will be clear and proper and absolutely appropriate? Give over.

Analysing things from your seat that are said in the heat of the moment and the fraction of the full picture you get from a video clip is daft. Like I said earlier, the fact that they’re talking about w3w where he is, doesn’t tell you anything about the prep they have or haven’t done.

I’ve broken enough bones doing stupid stuff that I have gone to the effort of installing a free app that gives me the map reference of where I am on my phone.
And if you are doing anything remotely silly please please please have one grown-up with you who has mentally rehearsed what needs to be done if it all goes pear shaped.
I hope he recovers well, my final MX crash screwed me royally (head injury, depression, breakdown blah blah blah), I hope he deals with it better than I was able to.
Edit; watching it again he sounds as though he understands what caused it, and is owning the mistake, all good signs that he will be able to move on once his body heals. Fingers crossed fella.

Goodness he got the kiss of death from the rear tyre!

Some bottom out that. Did he ground his pedal out on a rock as well?