Accidental Hero No.1 - Marco Siffredi

The legends of snowboarding are frequently celebrated throughout the snowboarding world. But for every person who finds fame there are a hell of a lot more people who end up in obscurity. This series celebrates people who had an impact on the sport but for whatever reason didn’t quite make it to legend status. Our first example missed the spot due to an unfortunate case of death.

Accidental Hero No.1 - Marco Siffredi

When you think of places to go snowboarding probably somewhere you’ve never considered is Mount Everest. This is because there are a few obvious signs that it might not be an ideal snowboarding destination.

• It’s pricey
  
• The airport transfer is a nightmare
  
• The accommodation is very basic
  
• There are no lifts, not even drag lifts.
  
• A very large proportion of the mountain is for very good reason called the ‘Death Zone’
  

Mount Everest...

This is not a good sign

Here’s another fact about Mount Everest. Only 2,700 people have climbed it and 210 people have died trying. 210 people! And 209 of those guys died when they were just walking up and down the thing. Now consider how much more dangerous snowboarding is than walking, how much more likely to deadly does that make it?

We've done the math and it turns out that you are 33.33% going to die. Only three people have tried and Marco here has died. Obviously Marco didn’t have this statistic to hand at the time and this a calculation based on hindsight, but still death was still pretty obviously a very strong likelihood and despite this he took up the challenge. 

Let’s take a look at our gap-toothed hero’s background.

Not so well known in the English speaking world this lad is a bona fide legend to the French and there are a number of books and DVDs honouring the man. Everest wasn't his first bit of mental snowboarding, he had previously snowboarded down two other Himalayan peaks and he had made his way down a plethora of very steep places across the Alps. Here’s a look at the sort of stuff he was playing around on…

It’s worth watching the video even if you can’t speak the lingo. It’s more controled falling than snowboarding at beginning but it gets better and no doubt he was a talented and brave snowboarder. Keep an eye out for the great array of haircuts this guy rocked.

That was some crazy shit and the closest he gets to using safety equipment is the one time he sticks on a bobble hat.

Let’s get back to the story of the big death mountain.

Marco wasn't the first person to snowboard on Mount Everest, it was a chap called Dr Stephan Gatt. Not a very rock and roll name that, which is probably why despite being the first lad to snowboard down Everest, and despite still being very much alive, I can hardly find any information about him. Dr. Gatt summited Everest on 22^nd May 2001 after climbing without oxygen or Sherpas. He then snowboarded down some of the mountain, but he walked down about 1,000 feet of the trickier stuff. Basically he’s a proper mountain climber rather than a snowboarder

Marco was on the mountain at the same time but he got to the top two days later with his shepra buddies. He did snowboard down the whole mountain so he was the first guy to fully descend Everest on a snowboard.

You’re probably feeling a bit cheated at this point and thinking where was the death that this article promised? Sounds like the guy made it after all.

Well he did...the first time.

Apparently the slope the two guys took the first time was just a little too soft for Marco, so he came back for a try at a slope called the Hornbein Couloir in the autumn of 2002 and that’s where things went a little wrong. Just from looking at the route in this photo you can see how this decision was a bad one. The Hornbein Couloir is the steepest of all the possible routes down Everest, with 45 to 55 degree slopes the entire way.

Horbein Couloir - Steep

After summiting Everest the second time Marco left his Sherpa guides and rode out of sight never to be seen again. All that people could see afterwards was a set of tracks that lasted for several weeks down the first 1,200 feet. So somewhere up on the mountain there is a dead and frozen snowboarder with a colourful beanie on.

That is unless you read Transworld’s version ...

“However, there are others, like Marco’s sister Shooty, who are certain that Marco is still alive somewhere in Tibet, living with yak herders, climbing unexplored peaks and dropping new lines, forever chasing the Holy Grail of the ultimate descent.”

He isn't.

Marco’s died when he was 23. His most famous quote was his response to some older and clearly wiser guys tried to dissuade him from his last ride - “If we don’t do stuff that is a bit crazy at 20, we’re not going to start at 50, yours is the philosophy of an old fart”.

This is now one of the greatest ironic epitaphs. Almost as good as General John Sedwick who is everyone's favourite American Civil War Accidental Hero

After Marco

People have learned from Marco’s mistake and no one since him has snowboarded down Everest. One guy called Stephen Koch did try but he gave up after finding the climb a bit much, perhaps having the name Mr Koch was already enough of a mountain for him to climb. So I guess that leaves a freaking big mountain with lots of frozen corpses on it and a few first descents still open for anyone with the balls to give it a try. So if this takes your fancy, best of luck to ya.

Death Zone - Danger Zone

It might just me but I have been struggling the whole way through this article with this song in my head. I imagine everyone who climbs Mount Everest must sing this song to themselves the whole way. It must drive them crazy. If I was Marco Siffredi this is the song I would like people to play to remember me, so here you go Marco...