Caleb Moore, who suffered a horrible crash at the winter X Games, has died from his injuries.
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.
It’s the first death in the 18-year history of the X Games. ESPN said it would review the snowmobiling safety issues but added that “when the world’s best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain.”
Celeb was 25 years old. More info here - Snowmobiler Caleb Moore dies after X Games crash
Our thought and prayers go out to Celeb’s friends and family….
So sad when things like this happen :/
At least he died doing what he loved, although an x-games medal isn’t worth it, IMO. Extreme sports have turned into “do or die” contests. When you see a trend of young talented athletes getting hurt/dying while competing or training for these contests there is an issue. Its a 100% avoidable catastrophe. This makes me frustrated. I think peoples judgement gets cloudy because the sponsors/corporate BS associated with x games/olympics. There is too much pressure to achieve victory, and not enough emphasis put on pure enjoyment. At what point does competition become a game of roulette. We all started shredding because of the joy and fun it brings us. Remember, just have fun… and know what you are getting into. No pressure is better! Enjoy the good life. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, RIP Caleb.
Agreed, even those triple corks on skis/snowboards look like a bad accident waiting to happen, skateboarding mega ramp, etc.
If there was a way to scale it back and increase style it would be cool. Bigger tweaks, longer grabs. Just seems like to much can go wrong when you are rotating that many times, and it’s only going to get worse as they further progress.. quadruple cork by 2014?!?
Flipping a snowmobile in competition should probably just be banned, there is no reason for it. That said RIP, it’s amazing to me that Caleb and his peers can even do that kind of shit.
Do you understand the way things in extreme sports? Every athlete accepts that there will be consequences if things go wrong, but we do it anyway because its what gets us up in the morning. We should be thankful for everyday we get to participate in sports like these.
Completely understand, I just don’t think everyone needs to risk there lives in a competition format. There is no reason everyone needs to be flipping 500lb vehicles for a medal and some $. You have to flip one to win, it’s not even fun to watch IMO it’s so repetitive. I hope competitions move more toward the backcountry, like Travis Rice’s Supernatural. They can bring snowmobiles into that type of environment too and see how these guys rip thru natural terrain. It’s like an X Games circus, stick em in a ring and watch them do death-defying stunts. No disrespect to anyone in the competitions, it’s just the way it is right now and these guys would rip anywhere so hopefully the sponsors provide them more avenues to explore in the future.
Can’t even begin to comprehend what his family must be going through right now, especially with his brothers injuries too. RIP. Thoughts go out.
By the way, the author spelt Caleb ‘Celebs’ in the last line… just a heads up.
so sad
Rest in Peace, Caleb.
He was living out his passion but to what end? When we encourage our extreme sports athletes to push it tho this level what is the point? And I have to ask, how close did the x-games come to another accident when letting a rider compete who had never ridden a snowmobile before? Especially when his machine took off into the crowd and nearly took the spectators out.
Caleb was one of the best and his enthusiasm and creativity will be missed. I hope no more kids need to be put in this position to evolve the sport.
Caleb and his brother Cody were huge in the ATV freestyle scene for a long time too (and still are,) and did freestyle shows with the Bomb Squad that had nothing to do with competition. They are doing back flips in their back yard just for the fuck of it. Some people are so driven that they can’t be stopped and there is no one to blame, it’s just an explosion of life.
RIP Caleb and hang in there Cody, I am so sorry for your loss.
To the guy who said front flips should be banned you obviously have never wanted to try and do somthing that seems damn near impossible. Athletes know exactly what they are doin so why should anyone stop them from doing somthing cool like that.
Noboddy can stop them, but we can stop paying them to do it on national tv
pisses me off that football players are trying to sue the NFL for their head injuries and etc. when they already make millions and millions of $$, yet people in sports like snowmobiling, sking, and snowboarding boarding are actually risking their lives every time they compete or even practice for that matter. i mean seriously that you really didn’t think all of those hits to the head would have consequences? so now you’re trying to blame the league because YOU chose to play this game for MILLIONS of dollars and now its the leagues fault…
sorry, i know this thread should be more about Caleb, but just had to get that out. i’m sure he was making just a tiny fraction of what a back up qb rakes in and he was still getting out the and crushing it day after day. RIP