The real break away ski poles cost a bloody fortune. They screw into the ground, and flex about 8" above the screw end. Rebar costs pennies.Silver said:
OK, one more time...Snow Summit pounds very short pieces of rebar into the ground, no more than a foot high in my memory, and I'm inclined to think 6-8" (or 150-200mm for you...) is an accurate figure. They place PVC pipes over these stakes and tie the course tape to it. Hit the pipe and it flies off the rebar. Clip the rebar with a pedal, and it's not going anywhere...much like the base of nearly any course marker, however flexible the top is.Silver said:
Mike,MikeD said:
How many times do we hear about a worthy suit that fails versus the times we hear about a ridiculous suit that wins? If you're really concerned that this would really limit the accessiblity of the law to the poor, we could change the concept to losing-lawyer-pays. That way the attorney would have to weigh the risks of the case presented to him just a bit harder. I bet we wouldn't see to many more 1-800-the-law2 commercials anymore - "Get all you can".
The problem with this statement is the fact that most people bringing the type of suits we're talking about (med-malpractice, personal injury, liablity, etc) typically do not have any money to sue for. Wasn't there some saying about blood and turnips or something?? Regardless, any damages I may recover will not cover my legal costs.
I couldn't have made that point any better than you did. The attorney takes a case on financial/business merit (can we get any money out of the defendant) not moral/legal merit (did the defendant actaully do anything wrong in the eyes of a reasonable lay-person).
Well that is higher than I thought. Well if we take the case in hand, 45% of $25M = 11.5M. Assuming that the case drags on for 5 years and it takes 3 lawyers working 40 hrs a week with no vacations for those five years solely on this case alone:
Not a bad idea; maybe the specific location is a significant problemdhjill said:Yeah, we could contribute resources (money, time, etc) to help Tom and Pat find a new/develop another DH venue. The announcement on the TBB website said they were looking into other venues. Hell, I'd contribute some sweat equity to help build trails somewhere like Waterman or Mtn High. Just a thought.
Let me be the first to say that you are indeed, a well informed, 2 post god. I would like to be your friend.drc said:
I'm not trying to be dense, honestly. I just never paid much attention to how they marked the courses.MikeD said:
Probably not gonna happen. It sounds like he's a lawyer (duh) so all you'll get is more talking down and rhetoric...drc said:
Well, the reason that Big Bear has to use the rebar is because of the fart dust that tries to pass for dirt out there will not hold a ski pole up on its own.Silver said:
Mani_UT said:
Yes, it is hard as hell to dig that stuff. There has to be a better solution than rebar. A ski pole would work, but you have to drill it into the hardpan though.Jeremy R said:
We also capped all the rebar.It was a pain in the ass, but it needed to be done.
Repeat after me...no first amendment rights on a privately owned bulletin board.shhhh said:
"holy jumping to completely baseless conclusions batman"shhhh said:
I'd like to see the original post. No one should be censored except for inflammatory personal attacks. But it is very clear to me that the vast majority of posters on this thread are sympathetic to Brian, and many admit that they might even file a suit themselves if they were faced with a multi-million dollar lifetime medical care bill. People seem quite honest and empathetic I think. The discussion is fairly focused on the legal and business environment surrounding the viability of US DH, which is why people are posting form all over the country; the future of the sport is at stake in this country - and that's not an exaggeration, lamentably.shhhh said:
Did you ever stop to consider that maybe someone associated with Brian's website asked the link to be taken down? I don't know who removed what, but the mods here only remove stuff that is useless or pure flame bait, and people only get banned when they deserve it. If someone got edited or banned, there was good reason.shhhh said:
You registered for one reason only: to flame and post idiotic remarks. It IS possible to present another side of the story without being an ass. Let's see if you can do it this time.shhhh said:
Coming from a promoter who has actually put on a NORBA Nat, the user guide or manual or whatever you want to call it that tells you the guidelines of how what you need to do to mark courses specifically state that you will use the rebar/PVC system. It has been done this way for years. The manual is written by Team Big Bear and Blue Wolf Productions, the co-promoters of te NORBA Nats. Not saying it's the best system, just the one that has always been used. It's simple and easy (as long as you are not pounding rebar into rock) and works well. it's also inherent that whatever you mark the course with has the potential to become hazardous as racers blow through the course. The only way to maintain it perfectly through the duration of the race/practice would be to have an army of volunteers (more than just course marshals) stationed along the course who would actually fix something when they saw a problem.Jeremy R said:
Mammoth, NorthStar (Tahoe) or Whistler.kiko77 said:
shhhh said:
If they would build trails that were "good", then this wouldn't be a problem.HarryCallahan said:
Isn't this b/c the cost of medicine is so high, and the reason that the cost is so high is b/c the doctors have to amortize the cost of malpractice insurance and work for people w/o insurance over all of the "regular" peocedures that they do.Jeremy R said:That's because the whole system is broke. People always talk about big bad insurance companies, but alot of health insurance companies lose their azz every year. I had a client get turned down the other day for health insurance. Her monthly premium was gonna be about $130, and she was taking over $150 in just medicine every month alone. The girl was like 19, and on a couple of expensive stomach drugs. The insurance company will lose money by taking her, so she got declined.
Medical costs are through the roof because of a few reasons including lawsuits, and most health insurance companies do well just to break even.
Alot of people have health insurance and never use it, but back when I was paying about $100 a month, I broke my leg and after all the surgeries my total bill was $70,000. Do you know how many people it takes not using their insurance to make that up? A ton.
The whole system is screwed though, and our gov't trying to run a national healthcare system would be brutal at best.
Its sad though, I get 3 or 4 calls a week from people with conditions like mild Diabetes, back problems etc....., and I basically have to tell them they are uninsurable unless they can get on a employer group plan. That always goes over great with self-employed people running their own business.
No doubt that boring trails encourage renegade building, but Whistler has great trails and people still build illegal ones and poach closed trails.-BB- said:
The cost of medicine is so high because the drug companies have to pay for developing drugs to keep old men hard and pay for ads during the world series for those ads. Don't forget all those political contributions they have to make so they can keep gouging you on drugs.-BB- said:
Yes... They have to pay for R&D No Doubt, but a significant portion of "hospital" costs go to the items I mentioned. I listen to my uncle and Sister bitch all the time about the cost of Malprac. and how they either have to close their practice or jack up the costs. Which then lead to higher insurance costs... which leads to more uninsured, which leads to higher costs, which leads to higher insurance, which leads to higher costs.. Bla Bla Bla...buildyourown said:
I've only been to Whistler once, so I can comment. I DO know that N* does not have these problems.buildyourown said:
Nor would I... However the sport is growing and I'd wager that in a few years they will open back up again.SLAPSHOT said:
Not really that bad though. Poaching closed one does happen, but I don't know of many trails on whistler that were built without someone know about it. (and usually the poaching happens because someone in the know leaks info like that new trail up top. Everyone online thinking they found some new trail and were sneaking onto it...haha that was quite funny end of the summer)buildyourown said:
A signifigant portion of hospital cost also goes to treating patients which have no means of paying because they have no insurance. The hospital is legally required to treat them, but they have no way of recouping there costs.-BB- said:
