Hope this wasnt anyone here.

[AccordRanger]

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_15382722?source=most_viewed

Anyone know anything on this?

[cfr]

Don't know who it was. It'll probably show up on the other forums in the next few days. Learn this guy's lesson... wear your seatbelt on the trail. The article doesn't explicitly say he wasn't wearing one but it's the mostly likely cause. Sad.

[Rob]

A name will show up in a follow-up, either in the Boulder paper or in the Longmont paper, or websites. The coroner's office will be releasing a name once family have been notified, probably tomorrow sometime.

[Brody]

Learn this guy's lesson... wear your seatbelt on the trail. .

X2. If you are smart, then the process of natural selection has a hard time with you. On the flip, if you are dumb, natural selections wear a big grin...

[Andrew]

I was up there yesterday.

I am wondering if it was a guy we ran into. A ton of rescue vehicles and a big military hummer with the rescue people were pouring in there just after we got off of the trail.

We were just up near that area, drove all over around there. There was a guy in an old blazer that was chopped and kinda open and I don't know if he was belted in while he was driving. We met at one point and had to squeeze by this guy and a Jeep at a very tight spot on the trail. I ended up with a small dent on the back of my Xterra from it.

I'm curious to know what kind of vehicle was involved.

Also, I'm curious about which part is Fireman hill, because on traildamage it says it's closed, but we went up what looks like Fireman hill and there is no indication of it being closed there, but TD's info is probably old.

[Brody]

I think that the traildamage information dates back to when they did a bunch of reconstruction on the whole LHC trail. The closed Foreman's Hill and a couple of spurs while they did trail repairs, etc. This was a few years back and quite a bit before they closed Carnage Boulder. That was when the trail posts and cable went in.

[Andrew]

If what we went up was Fireman hill...I'm curious how you would roll on it. It isn't really that hard, there are a few spots to be careful of but...nothing too bad.

[RidgeRunner]

The actual "Firemans Hill" was closed several years ago when they closed Carnage and reconstructed that area. The area is still known as Firemans Hill but they cut new switchbacks up the hill just to the left of the origional.

About the only way to roll up there is if you drive off the side of a switchback, weather by vehicle or driver error, or be driving where you aren't supposed to be.

Regardless, its sad to hear of a death up there.

[Rob]

Update: Looks like this was written from a press release. It doesn't say what he was driving.

The man killed in Left Hand Canyon on Saturday afternoon when he was thrown from his vehicle while off-roading was identified Sunday as 23-year-old Kevin James Kajko, of Aurora.

Boulder County Sgt. Troy Wolf said Kajko was on a trail in the Fireman Hill area near the 37-mile-marker of Lefthand Canyon Drive with a group of people who were off-roading in their SUVs. His vehicle rolled several times as he went down a steep embankment around 3:45 p.m. He was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead on the scene.

Wolf said Kajko was the only person in his vehicle.

[Andrew]

That still isn't much info. We saw quite a few rigs but don't know if I saw these guys or not.

[ShutUpHippie]

Well, he went out doing what he loved I imagine :steer:

*raises a glass*

Be careful on the trail everyone, life is fragile and our sport is can be dangerous.

[Lysmachia]

*Wow, we were up there Friday testing out the new Tippy II. I wonder where it was on the trail Some speculate it was 3.7 miles up the lefthand canyon trail? I dunno...

[Andrew]

*Wow, we were up there Friday testing out the new Tippy II. I wonder where it was on the trail Some speculate it was 3.7 miles up the lefthand canyon trail? I dunno...

The only possible place that I can think of is if you take the right most trail from five-points. I don't know if that's still called Fireman Hill but that's what I know it as.

There are some switchbacks up there which have a couple rough spots but they are not bad at all. There is an optional little rock garden type place up there, and if you got too far left you could roll down I guess but it's not terribly hard. But if you get too happy with the skinny pedal bad things can happen just about anywhere.

[cfr]

More info including a pic of the wrecked rig,

http://www.jkcrawlers.com/index.php/topic,523.0/topicseen.html

[Trailrat99XJ]

so sad.....RIP

[Lysmachia]

Oh man, we rescued a dead Jeep from the top of that Hill a year ago in the rain... had to put the dead jeep in between TC's (Troy) 4runner (His heavy pig was the tail) and another friends Jeep. The whole thing was insane to do in the rain. Did this wreck happen when it was wet at all? Because it can get uber slick if it rains.

[Red Rhino]

Very sad! That is a K5, it brings back very bad memories for me, I had a brake failure on big Mother Hill and Rolled my other K5. You can never be to too safe or too prepared. Always keep your rig in a good state of repair and keep the ego in check. I only have 2 of my nine lives left.

Bryan

[KnuckleHead]

Very said indeed, may he RIP....

[Roostercruiser]

RIP. be safe out there yall

[Andrew]

Oh man, we rescued a dead Jeep from the top of that Hill a year ago in the rain... had to put the dead jeep in between TC's (Troy) 4runner (His heavy pig was the tail) and another friends Jeep. The whole thing was insane to do in the rain. Did this wreck happen when it was wet at all? Because it can get uber slick if it rains.

It did rain, but only a little bit. Not enough to cause anything to get very wet. Not by that time at least.

[1freaky1]

That is super sad for sure, I know I hate having the shoulder part of my belt on cause it locks on every little bump and I can not move to see where I am maneuvering to when wheeling so I use the lap part of the belt and sling the shoulder part behind me. I probably should just be using my 4 point harness's since that is what I put them in for.

[WINKY]

More info including a pic of the wrecked rig,

http://www.jkcrawlers.com/index.php/topic,523.0/topicseen.html


from the looks of the vehicle he would have at least survived it, but with injuries maybe life threatening injuries but he would have made it....



If only he wore that simple little strap....

RIP.

[Andrew]

It needed another bar towards the front of the cab. And then it probably would have been just fine and with a seatbelt you'd be fine. Beat up and bruised, busted bone maybe but alive.

[Brody]

When I endo'd my set up F150 back in the mid 80s, I didn't have a roll bar. My cab ended up looking like that, but with the drivers side crunched too. I had a small triangle opening in the front that I managed to crawl out of. Nothing like being upside down in the dark with the engine running and smelling gas. I turned off the key, but there was an electrical short that kept my fuel pump running. I was wearing my seat belt and was able to cut that off me and wiggle out of the opening. I then cut the wires running to my fuel pump, probably saving the rig from catching on fire.

Since I had a full compliment of weekend climbing and camping supplies with me, I got them all out of what was left of the camper, then used the winch to drag the rig upright and then off the road. I just set up camp uphill from the wreck after stashing the gear I wouldn't need and spent the night. Since I was meeting some buddies to camp and climb, I hid the majority of the gear, grabbed a day pack and started walking to where I knew they were (supposed to) going to be. This ended up being about a 13 mile trip to their campsite. I hiked down to the base of the cliff they were climbing on, got a couple of routes in, then got a ride back to my heap. We sent someone down to call for a wrecker, uncovered all of my junk and loaded it into a buddy's van.

I considered myself pretty lucky for only splitting my head open (stitched it up in a signal mirror waiting for coffee to brew) and not burning up. It was the very last rig I even owned that didn't have a full roll cage setup or a 4 or 5 point harness. I roll something, I want to be able to walk away from it....

[Rob]

It's official. He wasn't wearing a seat belt. One of our reporters just got of the phone with a sheriff's deputy. Apparently, he got off camber and rolled.

[Jackie]

Which is why the "tippy stuff" always scares me. I'll pass on trails described with tippie stuff (even though they might be exagerated) because I am that afraid of rolling. And me and my passengers are always strapped in. (I delberately leave on the annoying chime function functioning so I don't forget). I think I might pull the fuse for my front air bags though because I let my little girl ride in front when we go off-road sometimes. Time to get out the owners manual and ID the correct fuse to pull.

[96blkbeauty]

Damn, don't mean to bring up an old thread but this shocked me quite a bit. I was up wheeling that part of the trail about 3 weeks ago...came across this Blazer on the trail and wondered what the story was.

I took a few pics of it. Its been pretty well stripped. Makes you wonder why they left the rig up there, and how long it will be up there. Maybe its just a way of having people remember the accident. May he RIP.

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr4/96blkbeauty/b13.jpg
http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr4/96blkbeauty/b12.jpg

[colomil]

I would like to catch the a-holes that steal parts off rigs like this. Stealing is stealing, even if it is a beat up wreck like this.

It would be cool if we could make a trip up there to recover the truck and tow it back to the family.

[Hypoid]

I'm not too sure the family would want to see it ever again.

I agree, stealling parts of a fatality vehicle is bad ju-ju. I hope the parasites reap that harvest in full.

[Lysmachia]

Kinda hard to tow without the tires taken from those ass-hat theieves!

[WINKY]

I would like to catch the a-holes that steal parts off rigs like this. Stealing is stealing, even if it is a beat up wreck like this.

It would be cool if we could make a trip up there to recover the truck and tow it back to the family.


i would join in for this. but after my truck is fixed:frown: or at least get it off trail

[AccordRanger]

I would join too.

[KnuckleHead]

looks to me like another FrontRange vehicle removal project. Just like when we did the B2

[AccordRanger]

Im guessing someone must have flipped it over to take off parts or something. It was on its top last time i was up there.

[96blkbeauty]

Went up there again today. Even more stuff stripped off.

[WINKY]

bad juju will follow all who take of it.

[Brody]

Well, on the other hand, the rig has been sitting there for about 6 weeks. At what point does one say"Gee, that rig is abandoned and no one is going to do anything about it" Some of his buddies should have gotten together and gotten the rig off the trail. Personally, I wouldn't strip junk off someone elses rig if it had been sitting out there, but you need to look at the time frame, too.

The group that is responsible for the trail maintenance should be the people who remove the rig and that area has one main big group that adopted the trail, plus two other groups who help.

[scout man]

If this should ever happen to me, I would want my rig removed. I would hope some FR guys, or friends would pull it out for me, and either part it out to people I know that can really use the stuff, or sell parts off and give the wife the money from it. I cant imagine spending as much time on my rig as I have, then having to look down on it rusting away and being torn apart by strangers who are just trying to save a buck or two. I agree, the family probably doesnt want to see the rig again, but I would be happy to know that at least parts of my rig were living on in other FR rigs, or someone (close, that needs it) made some money back from it. This is of course, only applies if you beleive that something happens after death and you can still be aware of things.

[WINKY]

Well, on the other hand, the rig has been sitting there for about 6 weeks. At what point does one say"Gee, that rig is abandoned and no one is going to do anything about it" Some of his buddies should have gotten together and gotten the rig off the trail. Personally, I wouldn't strip junk off someone elses rig if it had been sitting out there, but you need to look at the time frame, too.

The group that is responsible for the trail maintenance should be the people who remove the rig and that area has one main big group that adopted the trail, plus two other groups who help.


good point never thought of it.

[Brad]

If I were in a position to remove it I would. Lay down a monument of some sort in his honor but not the rig he died driving.
KARMA is a ***** and she does find those who have it coming.:thunb:

[Chris]

Are we sure someone died in that, I like to think someone broke down and walked away and some @ssholes trashed it.

As far as removing it there's some legality involved that could be interpreted as car theft. ;)

[Rob]

Are we sure someone died in that

Yes.

[Chris]

Oh, I totally missed that. :frown:

[WINKY]

yeah long story short, he must have gotten off trail somehow and he wasnt buckled up, vehicle rolled over him more than once and rested there where it is now. him either in it or very close by dead on scene.:frown:

[Pathrat]

I agree, the family probably doesnt want to see the rig again,

I agree with this an with Brody as well. Family, local law enforcement, including FS and the club responsible for the trail share responsibility. The people who have been stealing do not have responsibility have no claim and are ignorant dirtbags.

[Chris]

Sorry, I thought this was a different truck/location. :redface:

[Brody]

Are we sure someone died in that, I like to think someone broke down and walked away and some @ssholes trashed it.

As far as removing it there's some legality involved that could be interpreted as car theft. ;)

The kid who was driving in it wasn't wearing his belt and died. There were a couple of other posts with links that did a follow up. Something to be said about those seat belts......

And, as Chris mentioned, there are legalities involved. The Bronco II that got removed from by us from Barbour Forks had been sitting there for 10 years. I don't know what the statutes are for vehicles abandoned like this are, but when we talked to the FS about the Bronco removal, it was obvious that the rig had to be there for some time before someone other than a family member or the owner could remove it.

So, yes, his friends and family should take of it, or the club responsible for the trail should make arrangements if the family doesn't want 'Christine' sitting in their garage....