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X Games Athlete Dies After Major Snowmobile Accident Last Week

Jan. 31, 2013 1:58pm Jonathon M. Seidl

Caleb Moore Dies After Crashing at X Games

In this photo taken Jan. 24, 2013, Caleb Moore crashes during the snowmoblie freestyle finals at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo. Credit: AP

DENVER (AP) — Caleb Moore, an innovative freestyle snowmobile rider who was hurt in a dramatic crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died Thursday morning. He was 25.

Moore had been staying at a hospital in Grand Junction since the crash in Aspen one week before. Family spokeswoman Chelsea Lawson confirmed his death, the first in the 18 year history of the X Games.

A former all-terrain vehicle racer, Moore switched over to snowmobiles as a teenager and quickly rose to the top of the sport. He won four Winter X Games medals, including a bronze last season when his younger brother, Colten, captured gold.

Caleb Moore was attempting a backflip Jan. 24 in the freestyle event when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him.

Moore stayed down for quite some time, before walking off with help and going to a hospital to treat a concussion. Moore developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore was injured in a separate crash that same night. He suffered a separated pelvis in the spill.

The family said in a statement they were grateful for all the prayers and support they have received from people around the world.

X Games officials expressed their condolences and said Moore, a four-time X Games medalist, would be remembered “for his natural passion for life and his deep love for his family and friends.”

B.C. Vaught, Caleb Moore’s agent for almost a decade, said he first saw Moore when he was racing an ATV in Minnesota and signed him up to star in some action sports movies.

Later, Moore wanted to make the switch from ATVs to snowmobiles and asked Vaught to show him how to do a back-flip. In two weeks, Moore mastered the difficult maneuver.

Moore’s brother also got involved in snowmobiling, the close-knit duo pushing each other to become better.

Moore honed his skills in Krum, a town about 5,000 people 50 miles northwest of Dallas that rarely sees snow. Instead, he worked on tricks by launching his sled into a foam pit. After a brief training run on snow ramps in Michigan, he was ready for his sport’s biggest stage – the 2010 Winter X Games.

In that contest, Moore captured a bronze in freestyle and finished sixth in best trick. Two years later, his biography on ESPN said, “Caleb Moore has gone from `beginner’s luck’ to `serious threat.’”

That was hardly a surprise to Vaught, who said, “Whatever he wanted to do, he did it.”

Vaught said Moore didn’t believe his sport was too extreme, but rather “it was a lifestyle.” He was good at it – along with ATV racing – as he accumulated a garage full of trophies.

Fellow snowmobile rider Levi LaVallee recently described Moore as a “fierce competitor.”

“A very creative mind,” LaVallee said. “I’ve watched him try some crazy, crazy tricks and some of them were successful, some of them not so much. But he was first guy to get back on a sled and go try it again. It shows a lot of heart.”

X Games officials said in a statement that they would conduct a thorough review of freestyle snowmobiling events and adopt any appropriate changes.

“For 18 years, we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world’s best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain,” they said, noting that Moore was hurt performing a move he had done several times before.

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Comments (41)

ninja
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 7:32pm
Prayers & condolences to his family. As a lifelong participant in high risk sports, & having many friends & family members involved as well, it hits close to home. It is very tragic but we are fully aware what the consequences may be when we make a mistake.

God speed, Caleb.

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Eastinfection
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 6:07pm
I’m guessing he lived a fuller life in 25 years than most of you sofa jockeys have lived in twice that time.
God Bless people who are brave enough to pursue their passions…
and God Bless their families that live in fear of these moments.

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- RemoteCoderz
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 7:00pm
  For your information mister, I’m a desk jockey! My desktop doesn’t reach to my sofa. :’(
  
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dont-care-anymore
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:53pm
I declare an immediate and complete ban of gravity ….

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SanMoo
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:22pm
That never looks right to me —flipping that large of a vehicle- 450 lbs— with those skis. I’m just saying…..On regular skis when you do the flips, and fall……it is quite a hard fall—but no 450 lb monster coming down on you. Hummmm —choices we make.

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Arshloch
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:32pm
Aw gee, c’est domage.

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barber2
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:29pm
Feel bad for his family. Am sure he was a nice kid who just had a dangerous passion. Never hurt anyone but himself which is a whole lot more than you can say about many people today.

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- Zipit
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 5:30pm
  Barber! Ditto…. I’ve known a lot of people just like this guy! Could’ve bought the farm many times myself, doing some pretty crazy stuff for the adrenaline rush! He wrecked and died! But chances are, had he survived, he would have been back on that sled, or doing something else equally as dangerous, because, “doin crap like that is a lot of fun”!
  
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Fuego
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:08pm
Ditto!…….SpankDaMonkey…..sorry, but writing your name out …..makes me laugh :) I’m a firefighter and I would have been proud……dying with my boots on….(cliché, I know) duty disability best I could do…..and I’m 95 % ok! :) ……And, h20sue…..I do believe Caleb will have snow and motor-cross racing and all he desires in heaven! :) Sorry for all the smiles….just means friendlyness! God Bless!

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hunter1riley
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:54pm
Embarrassing the number of callous and thoughtless comments following the death of this young man. Shame this is where we are in this country.

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- docfix
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:08pm
  The callousness comes from people having a greater respect for their own life and the total despair at watching someone carelessly throw it away for an adrenaline rush. It is not directed as much at the person but at the activity that caused the death. As I said… God bless his soul. I hope it was worth it.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:19pm
  Do you know why the activity exists though Doc? Think it through, where do we have left to explore that you, me or anybody “normal” can afford (iow, not the bottom of the ocean nor Mars)? Nowhere. This kind of person exists now and has always existed, and if you think that they’re content to sit in a cubicle with a sad small placard on their wall with a faded “TGIF!” logo, waiting in boredom until the clock runs out for the day, then you’re expecting a much higher rate of suicide. I’m not being crass, these people are the kind who drive civilization, and once civilization ran into itself across the globe, there’s nowhere for them to go, but they’re still here.
  
  Fighter pilots absorb a few. The rest…what do they do? Just slit the wrist living in a mundane conformist world of do-nothing “safety first” types?
  
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- docfix
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:33pm
  @Ghost. I totally understand your point… but when the price to pay at the end is death, it just makes it seem a bit foolish when here was a healthy young spirit that is now gone.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:39pm
  But how do you know the price to pay is death, if nobody has died yet doing it? What did the article say, 18 years without a death (or some number)?
  
  I strongly suspect that if the Wright Brothers had went aloft, then crashed, they’d be a footnote in history about the stupidity of doing daring deeds that clearly lead to death. Dunno, I’m not trying to pick on you, I just don’t know what these kinds of people are supposed to do if they can’t pursue their natural impulse to risk everything.
  
  Between you and me, I recall being told as a kid (I graduated HS in 1985, so I grew up in the 70′s) that we, my generation, would be the first ones to live in space en masse. And then the welfare state sucked that hope right out the window. That’s where these kids should be right now, pioneering other planets in the solar system, setting up dangerous bases in remote, deadly places. And they can’t.
  
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- docfix
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 4:59pm
  @Ghost. Good points… nice examples. I really do feel sorry for his death. My immediate gut reaction is “what an idiot!!!” and I’m not a very reactionary type person. I just don’t have that thrill seeking gene so I look at this as a waste of a life. I understand why people jump out of planes for the thrill… I get why people ski down dangerous terrain… go over waterfalls in a canoe etc… but I would personally never do it. I don’t need that to “live”. I’m excited by different things and therein lies the difference. I don’t always understand the “need” to do those things. When looking at history and having you cite the examples you did… I’m thankful that there are those pioneering spirits. I still think there is a sense of waste of life when trying to flip a snowmobile. There is an inherent risk of life even if no one has ever died doing it before in these competitions… I’m sure there are plenty of deaths due to speed demons across the nation.
  
  I also grew up in the 70′s and was an 86 HS grad.
  
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docfix
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:53pm
Stupid is as stupid does. Never understood the need for adrenaline inspired life risking activities to “feel alive maaaaan…” Now you’re dead. How does that feel? God bless your soul. What a waist.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:06pm
  I’ll bet you’re at a loss to explain most technology and the discovery of most lands outside of Europe then, eh? And balloons. And powered flight. And long distance shipping. And exploration in jungles.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:09pm
  I’ll bet you find the fighter pilots who guard the skies of your country a bunch of dumb junkies as well.
  
  Christ, man, did you even think before you posted?
  
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- docfix
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:17pm
  @Ghost… The difference with those activities is that there was a purpose and benefit behind those endeavors. They “knew” there was something to be gained. “Another world” “maned flight” etc. Flipping a snowmobile has no advancement to society. It’s all risk and adrenaline. I feel bad for him.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:26pm
  And what do the high action types have left today? Are there spots on the map we haven’t explored yet? Is there an element we haven’t conquered yet? New people to find in the middle of a jungle perhaps? These people are wired for this, what do you suggest they do precisely, in a world where everyplace is known, mapped and every way to get there is essentially in play?
  
  I honestly feel really sorry for these kinds of people, and I admire them. They’re here because they filled a need for thousands of years, and now suddenly they’re not needed in great numbers and have nowhere to turn. They have to do something or they’ll go insane, perhaps quite literally.
  
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- txjb
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 6:19pm
  ghost … do what the heck you want , flip a snomobile backwards,swallow a sword, don’t use a net for safety , these are foolish and selfish (towards his family) acts. Doing these stupid acts do not help a fighter pilot or anyone else .
  
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elosogrande
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:41pm
Moore mastered the back flip maneuver in two weeks? He’s dead! Maybe he needed another week.
How stupid.

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gzorpe
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:34pm
Bury Him Upside Down With His Snowmobile On Top Of Him…

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- pavepaws
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:54pm
  If Barry had a son he wouldn’t ride a snowmobile.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:08pm
  @Pave
  
  Nope, he’d ride a Grandma bike while wearing mom jeans, a pastel shirt and a nice big helmet.
  
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- WillG
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 3:53pm
  Grandma bike with training wheels.
  
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ReagansDad
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:29pm
This may seem calous and misguided (since these “boys” were “men”) but what kind of parent lets their children do this for fun?

Why not make a game of seeing who can light and get away from dynamite with even decreasing fuses….

Pure adrenalin driven stupidty. God just thinned out the herd.

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- lovenfl3
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:40pm
  “This may seem calous and misguided”
  
  Um…..you think? What an incredibly thoughtless thing to say! Please tell me more about how parents should raise their children………..not!
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:46pm
  The kind of parents who realize they have no legal right to stop a 25 year old from doing any ol’ thing he wants.
  
  Kind of callous with the thinning the herd stuff. These kinds of guys are the ones who walk on the moon, explore new continents filled with animals who want to eat them, sail off into the ocean trying to find out where it goes and make all kinds of discoveries that have made your life so comfortable that you can sit and belittle them.
  
  Hey, end of the day, when God calls, you leave. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a snowmobile wreck at 25 or you die of old age at 114.
  
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- lovenfl3
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:51pm
  @GhostOfJefferson Very well said!
  
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- nysteve
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:56pm
  Douche.
  
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- lunky
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 6:37pm
  Reagansdad, he was 25. Pretty sure his mommy and daddy had no say in what he did. Would I do this? H*ll no, but it was his choice and this is what he loved to do. Why is it that when someone does something crazy and dies everyone has to trash talk them. Did he hurt anyone other then himself? No. Again, his choice, his fate. Maybe he would look at your life and think how insanely safe and boring it is. We all make choices in life that have consequences. If this is what he wanted to do, then it is a free country and he had every right to do it.
  
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- ReagansDad
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:36pm
  Did he hurt someone other than himself? Well, ask those who will miss him if they are hurt.
  
  Regarding his parents and him being 25 years old – I seriously doubt this all started when he turned 18.
  
  Regarding people like this being the ones who walk on the moon, sail the ocean, and all that – very poetic but highly disputable. For every Chuck Yeager you point to I will find you someone who succeeded and had just as much of an influence without talking needless risks for the sake of self aggrandizement.
  
  To all those who think me callous and people like Caleb as someone to be celebrated – whatever. I think people who fullfill their personal adrenaline fixes without regard to the possible consequences are selfish. Selfish to those who care about them and ultimately, unknowingly, selfish to themselves.
  
  I stopped drag racing semi-professionally when my daughter was born 2 1/2 years ago. Do I miss it? Yes. But her having me around is more important than my desire to go fast.
  
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h20sue
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:23pm
Rest in Peace Caleb, and may there be snow in heaven so you can continue what you love most.
You gave life a race and you lived it with passion. Now that you are at rest, take a little time to see where God will take you. Again…you will shine…..

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woodyee
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:15pm
Where’s the need to flip upside down in the air with a snowmobile? ???

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- DimmuBorgir
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:25pm
  …um the X games.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:47pm
  @Woodyee
  
  Clearly you haven’t watched the mountain chase sequences of James Bond movies.
  
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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:14pm
.
Life is just a Gleam between two eternities, The Before and The Hereafter. So Shine………

Died doing what you Loved, God Bless you Boy…………

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- nysteve
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:55pm
  Great post.
  
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mrja
Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:09pm
when can we expect congressional hearings on snowmobiles?

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- Patrickj28
  Posted on January 31, 2013 at 2:32pm
  Just for assault snowmobiles.
  
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