Teathers! Another person hurt!

[pfi572]

This was brought up last year and I think it should be again. If we have them try and use them and if not look into one as this fellow is trying to help a friend out as well as maybe save someone else the accident.



(Quote from Snowest)

How many of you see a need?

I used to think pain in the butt. See a couple of time it would have been nice.

But this weekend I have changed my opinion to a must have.

I had a Friend get tossed from his sled and the throttle stuck wide open. I think we have all seen that, right stuff happens. Well some how his arm got caught in the track and it took a couple of minutes to get to him. I was not there and do not know all the details but he lost his arm so far and has a long recovery.

I am setting up a page on my website with tethers for sale and for every tether we sell 5.00 will go to help with his medical bills.


__________________
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Kevin Hubbard | Facebook

 

[Puba]

Wonder if the friend has a name, as it sits right now it's a blind donation. Not trying to be a dick but in todays world you need to validate the cause with a name so it can be checked out as a scam or not.

 

[RXN]

makes ya wonder why teathers are not factory on all sleds

 

[moyiesledhead]

makes ya wonder why teathers are not factory on all sleds

They were for a few years. They were replaced with the inferior throttle override circuit that we all bypass. Still mandatory for any organized racing event.

 

[CUSO]

actually the website says he didn't lose his arm, but just his hand. Never the
less it's a horrible accident and it's important to wear it. I was in a similar incident, and was glad I had a tether. A spinning track right by your head is a scary thing.

 

[OOC ZigZag]

This debate keeps up I'm gonna post the pics of my buds legs after his M1000 wound out ontop of his legs for 2 secs. We took pics at Wranglers cabin after we got him back from the Notch when he put the ice packs on. Said his legs felt like they were on fire for a couple days after. Lots a pain killers 2 days after like drooling pain killers. Doc said what prob saved his life is we got him movin so potential blood clot to the lungs and heart were reduced significantly. He has permanent nerve damage in his legs now and says his legs are alot weaker. He had tethers installed on both his Cats 08 M1000 and 11 M8. Seeing someone get injured sucks getting injured sucks more seeing an innocent bystander get hurt real chitty. For the cost of what $ 15 $ 20 bucks. Seems crazy not to.

 

[Carrots]

A buddy of mine rolled his sled a while ago and wasn't wearing a teather, and he got pinned under the sled with the exhaust pipe against him and burnt right through his riding gear. He now wears his tether


Sent from a iPhone

 

[canuck5]

This is a copy and paste of his story pretty unreal:

A day that changed my life forever!!!!!!
Before I tell you the story of our day of riding last friday I ask you to please think before you reply. We have gone over all the scenarios a thousand time. For everything that went wrong there was a hundred things that went right. Please do not judge !!!!!!! Or act like know it alls. This accident was a freak and it has changed the life of everyone who was there. I do share this only to hope and pray that it never happens again. If you act like an azz I promise we will hunt you down.

It was your normal day of riding blue sky riding in Wyoming was great. They had some new snow and we were out playing. All of us have been well avy trained all wearing beacons, abs packs, shovels , etc etc. Prepared as prepared can be. My buddy had gone up a hill and was hitting it very hard. We all had been up this hill a hundred times. My buddy crests the top and he is carrying too much speed. As he leaves the ground he taps the brake to bring the nose down. ( I cannot express enough at the is time he has been riding for 25 years. He has raced motorcycles. He has been on the smaller hill climb circuits. He knows how to freaking ride) the front of the sled comes down and the spot where he hits is too soft. He is pitched over the bars lands face down and the sled lands upside down. On top of him. The weight of the snow pushes the throttle and the TM8 comes to life. Track spinning 8200 rpm grabs my friend and pulls his arm in the track. His arm is sucked inane pinned between the track and the side of the tunnel. Yes we know there is not enough room for an arm To fit there. it is about 20 seconds before we get the sled shut off. He had guys not the ridge calling 911. Ron has sat behind him to cradle him to make him as comfortable as we can. I mediately start unbolting the. Suspension to get him freed. He is bleeding badly and we have to get him out. As we get him out we immediatley start working o n first aid. we put a turnaquit on his arm to stop the bleeding. We have to wrap what is left of his arm... I hope that someday I can forget the way his arm looked. The power of that sled stripped his arm of all flesh, meat , and left nothing but Bone from the elbow down. It was like something from out of a movie. We got him freed and stable. Built a fire to keep him warm until the chopper came. Ron cradled him for two hours like a baby waiting for the chopper to arrive. This is where I want to educate you all What happens with life light. it is not a science and it takes a while to get there. It took them two hours to find us. We had given them gps coordinates but somehow from us to the dispatch to the helicopter it was told to them that there had been an avy!!!! They were looking for an avy and not a group on top of a ridge. When the helicopter came into views they didn't see us. They were looking on the canyons. We were a group of 8 riding around yelling twirling coats... I even threw a whole can of gas on a tree before they saw us. My buddy is now in SLC at the huntsman center. He has lost the lower part of his arm. W went to see him yesterday and he is in suprisingly good spirits. He is talking about needing a crossbow fir hunting and is already coming up with mods for his sled to ride next year. He starred death in the face and won. I want to share with you the things that we learned and what is needed on the hill.

1) wear your tether.!!!!!!!!! Before you judge too harshly I understand that most new pros don't have one . If that is the case then Polaris needs a recall. We have a new pro in the group and it did nit come with a. Tether. I almost always have a tether on, and I didn't have mine hooked up either. It is not just a jump that could have caused this. A side hill and you roll to the lower side same thing could happen.
2) carry a way to signal a chopper. If all of us had a small mirror in our bags they would have found us quicker.
3) carry a pain killer. You cannot use ibuprofen it is a blood thinner and one cannot take it. We could have given him tylenol, to take the sting off a little.
4) help can be coming, but it took them two hours to get to us. Do you carry space blankets, firstaid, food, fire starters, we had all that but I reel you when your buddy is in that condition I wish I had some morphine to knock him out. That was the longest two hours of my life.
5) when ever an emergency comes. SLOW DOWN!!!!!!! Think you can waste a lot of time

 

[RXN]

They were for a few years. They were replaced with the inferior throttle override circuit that we all bypass. Still mandatory for any organized racing event.

This was my own stupidity, and it was stupid big time, used to have an 04 Viper 700, and the throttle over ride sensor was bypassed. We were out riding the Swan Hills area. And the group I rode with was all Cats and Doo's and I got rode hard about running a Yammy. Well we were about 40km from the trucks and we were bush riding. My throttle cable snapped. and this is where Stupid comes in, Rather then let some one tow me out, and get my a$$ rode by everyone from running a Yamahahahahaha as they so nicely called it. I got the bright idea to tie the spare rip cord around the carb linkage, (1st mistake), ran the cord up through the hood. So when I pulled on the cord, sled would go. but it would die as soon as I let off the cord. so I wrapped the cord tightly around my left hand keeping my hand resting on the handle bar (2nd mistake). This left the sled at a slightly higher then idel RPM when we were stopped. Every thing was working good until we crossed a lease road. The road was muddy and badly rutted, and as I came out of the ditch onto the road, I lost my balance, and fell off on the right side. Well with the cord wrapped tightly around my left hand, the sled was now wide open, the cord sinched up tight around my hand and I was being dragged along side the sled as it went. Sled made the ditch on the other side and pegged an approach, that I think is what saved me, as the sled shot through the air the cord ripped my glove off, and left me piled into the approach. I laid there for a long time hurting. Had I had a damn teather the 1st 2 mistakes may not have lead to the big wipe out. And even at that Stupid didn't stop there. Bright idea # 2, turn the idle screw in. one of my buddies thought 15 turns would do, and I'm hurting but trying to look tough so I climbed back on the sled, Donny pulled the cord and away I went. 47km/hr through the bush. didn't get very far before I melted the brakes. at that point (Still being stupid) we learned that 6 turns sets the sled at 20km/hr. so Thats how I rode it out.

Like I said very very very stupid. and never again, I'll swallow my pride and get towed.

Now I run two cats, and thinking of getting teathers on them. (I really should). I've already had the 800's throttle stick, and some crazy crashing flashbacks hit me when that happened.

 

[BC Sno-Ghost]

Terribly unfortunate incident. I hope your buddy has a speedy recovery and gets back on the sled soon, with a tether. Mine is on all the time. Even if we're just trail riding, Chit can happen anytime when mechanical devices are involved.

 

[Big Jay]

A stupid thing we did, I'm not sure the teather made a diff but my guess would be it did. About 7 or 8 years ago my sister was hurt in a car accident and is now a paralized from the wast down. Before this her and her husband went out sledding on the weekends but nothing to crazy.

So heres where it started to go wrong. About 4 Xmas ago we where out at there farm by sundre for Xmas and her husband and i where out racing our sleds and pissing around. He has a air strip for his planes. We where all having a few but not drunk. They have a 100 acres so lots of room to play. In my great wisdom i said to my sisters husband in front of my sister i have a climbing harness for my drilling rig in my truck we should strap my sissy on her sled so she can go out with us. LOL if it wasnt 2 in the morning and all the booz we had in use this would have been a great idea. So we take the waist of my harness put it on her, put a strap over her legs to hold them in and a center teather to the handle bars to keep her from sliding back. HAHAHAHAHHA YA I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW believe me i have heard how stupid this was a 100 times. The last thing her husband does is hook up the kill switch teather, He says, ya never no you may need it.

So off she goes with 3 or 4 glasses of wine in her and we had a blast for an hour or 2. But then a bad thing happens. She hit a barb wire fence and flips over the front of the sled. The fence broke but because she is teathered the sled is dead so it did not run her over. She broke her leg (she can not feel it but we all freaked out and got her to the hospital in record time. Any way it got bad from there and they had to fly her to calgary and operate.

I truly believe the teaher saved us from things being alot worst then they could have been.

 

[OOC ZigZag]

This is a copy and paste of his story pretty unreal:

A day that changed my life forever!!!!!!
Before I tell you the story of our day of riding last friday I ask you to please think before you reply. We have gone over all the scenarios a thousand time. For everything that went wrong there was a hundred things that went right. Please do not judge !!!!!!! Or act like know it alls. This accident was a freak and it has changed the life of everyone who was there. I do share this only to hope and pray that it never happens again. If you act like an azz I promise we will hunt you down.

It was your normal day of riding blue sky riding in Wyoming was great. They had some new snow and we were out playing. All of us have been well avy trained all wearing beacons, abs packs, shovels , etc etc. Prepared as prepared can be. My buddy had gone up a hill and was hitting it very hard. We all had been up this hill a hundred times. My buddy crests the top and he is carrying too much speed. As he leaves the ground he taps the brake to bring the nose down. ( I cannot express enough at the is time he has been riding for 25 years. He has raced motorcycles. He has been on the smaller hill climb circuits. He knows how to freaking ride) the front of the sled comes down and the spot where he hits is too soft. He is pitched over the bars lands face down and the sled lands upside down. On top of him. The weight of the snow pushes the throttle and the TM8 comes to life. Track spinning 8200 rpm grabs my friend and pulls his arm in the track. His arm is sucked inane pinned between the track and the side of the tunnel. Yes we know there is not enough room for an arm To fit there. it is about 20 seconds before we get the sled shut off. He had guys not the ridge calling 911. Ron has sat behind him to cradle him to make him as comfortable as we can. I mediately start unbolting the. Suspension to get him freed. He is bleeding badly and we have to get him out. As we get him out we immediatley start working o n first aid. we put a turnaquit on his arm to stop the bleeding. We have to wrap what is left of his arm... I hope that someday I can forget the way his arm looked. The power of that sled stripped his arm of all flesh, meat , and left nothing but Bone from the elbow down. It was like something from out of a movie. We got him freed and stable. Built a fire to keep him warm until the chopper came. Ron cradled him for two hours like a baby waiting for the chopper to arrive. This is where I want to educate you all What happens with life light. it is not a science and it takes a while to get there. It took them two hours to find us. We had given them gps coordinates but somehow from us to the dispatch to the helicopter it was told to them that there had been an avy!!!! They were looking for an avy and not a group on top of a ridge. When the helicopter came into views they didn't see us. They were looking on the canyons. We were a group of 8 riding around yelling twirling coats... I even threw a whole can of gas on a tree before they saw us. My buddy is now in SLC at the huntsman center. He has lost the lower part of his arm. W went to see him yesterday and he is in suprisingly good spirits. He is talking about needing a crossbow fir hunting and is already coming up with mods for his sled to ride next year. He starred death in the face and won. I want to share with you the things that we learned and what is needed on the hill.

1) wear your tether.!!!!!!!!! Before you judge too harshly I understand that most new pros don't have one . If that is the case then Polaris needs a recall. We have a new pro in the group and it did nit come with a. Tether. I almost always have a tether on, and I didn't have mine hooked up either. It is not just a jump that could have caused this. A side hill and you roll to the lower side same thing could happen.
2) carry a way to signal a chopper. If all of us had a small mirror in our bags they would have found us quicker.
3) carry a pain killer. You cannot use ibuprofen it is a blood thinner and one cannot take it. We could have given him tylenol, to take the sting off a little.
4) help can be coming, but it took them two hours to get to us. Do you carry space blankets, firstaid, food, fire starters, we had all that but I reel you when your buddy is in that condition I wish I had some morphine to knock him out. That was the longest two hours of my life.
5) when ever an emergency comes. SLOW DOWN!!!!!!! Think you can waste a lot of time

Well said. The only way people will get the message is by sharing our experiences and keep striving to eliminate inncidents. Hope you bud has a speedy recovery.

 

[RXN]

Hope he rcovers quickly, that would be a scary scary situation.

 

[shoppingcart111]

I ride an xp so we all know the dess issues, I used to use it as a teher until one day I noticed that the fit was starting to get a little lose from the constant installing and ripping off from falling off the sled, so I stopped wearing it as a tether and now just a key, cause if that thing lets you down in the backcountry, again we know what a pain in the azz it can be. Think I'm going to install another plain tether to use and keep the dess as a key.

 

[clarkydubs]

that story scared me into going to mainjet and spending 30 bucks on a tether.....plain stupid not having one for the last two years.....even been "powerclawed" .......picture a fat kid trying to jump onto a tread mill belly first......well i was the fat kid and the track was the treadmill......

 

[Modman]

They were for a few years. They were replaced with the inferior throttle override circuit that we all bypass. Still mandatory for any organized racing event.

Most sleds like Cats have them still wired in at the factory, you just have to buy the tether, which I have never understood why they just don't include it? I have personally almost lost 2 sleds over the years because one didn't have a tether (old Phazer jumped off the trailer) and one time I wasn't wearing it and should have been (runaway sled). Had a family member with a big mod sled, stopped on the trail on the way down at the end of the day, throttle was acting up. Rider was standing beside the sled, not on it at the time (thank god) and went to start it, pulled the cord and the sled took off from his hands and down the trail, around a corner and hit a tree about 300 meters away. The impact was so great that it bent the suspension rails into an "S" shape and it was estimated by the adjuster that the sled was travelling in excess of 100 mph in that short distance.

Here is a pic of my buddies sled that took off without a tether. He wasn't on it at the time thank goodness. If you ride long enough a tether will save you or your sled. Yes I'm an advocate for tethers....LOL

 

[btcowboy]

Wow I hope he recovers fast and keeps up his positive thinking . I don't wear mine but I think I will now

 

[Riverjet]

They were for a few years. They were replaced with the inferior throttle override circuit that we all bypass. Still mandatory for any organized racing event.

Are you talking about the throttle safety switch inside the throttle block? If so, what is the purpose of bypassing it? Seems to me that to bypass a pretty important safety device such as this is pretty stupid!

 

[Got boost want snow]

I honestly think every manufacturer should have them on the sleds when sold at the dealer. I wear mine all the time even when loading, seen and heard of to many accidents when loading.

 

[polarisdragon800]

Are the hard to good up on my dragon?


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