News: Jackson Hit Twice by Adventure Life Deaths

Posted by Madden Driver Coghlan

Mark "Big Wally" Wolling, a ski patroller at Jackson Hole, died on Saturday after being swept up in an avalanche while working to prevent just such a thing. Wolling pasted away from injuries sustained during the avalanche sometime Saturday afternoon after being medevaced to an Idaho Falls hospital. Wolling, 58, had worked at Jackson Hole since 1978 and had been on ski patrol there for the past twenty years.
Back in July, Jackson suffered another tragedy of the adventure lifestyle when Wesley Barron, son of Jackson Mayor Mark Barron, died after falling while rock climbing. Both of these deaths hit the tight knit year round community in Jackson particularly hard. I was in Jackson in July when Barron died, and climbed feet from where he fell just days later.
The point is that the adventure life comes with some inherent risks and dangers that participants must be willing to assume. There is, however, a glaring difference in these two stories. While Wolling was simply out doing his job, albeit a risky one, Barron chose to climb solo without ropes.
There is no moral to this story, and I am not by any means critiscing Barron's choice, however, foolish it may have been. Instead I am simply suggesting that we all take that extra moment each day to ask if we really want to die, or if it is worth taking that extra precaution that allows us to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

Driver