Page 54 - Flathead Beacon // 1.22.13

54 | JANUARY 22, 2014 FLATHEADBEACON.COM

OUTDOORS

H H HO O OM M ME E E O O ON N N T T TH H HE E E F F FR R RI I IN N NG G GE E E

Signature Whiteish Winter Carnival sporting event of Ski Joring still growing in popularity after more than 50 years

WHITEFISH WORLD

SKI JORING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Registration Party happens Friday, Jan. 24 from
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Casey’s Pub and Grill.

The competition takes place Jan. 25-26
at the Whiteish Municipal Airport grounds beginning
at noon.
On Saturday night, the Great Northern Bar hosts

a Calcutta where participants bet on the riders. The
event raises more than $10,000 with proceeds going to
the Whiteish Winter Carnival and local charities.
On Sunday night, Casey’s hosts the award
ceremony and inal party.

Scott Ping pulls Will MacDonald
on his horse, Kona, during practice
for the upcoming World Ski Joring
Championships in Whiteish on Jan. 19.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON

tra training laps on the track at his ranch outside of ceased mother comes to me. I heard her voice just like
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
TWhiteish.
I was 10 years old again and she said, ‘Scotty, you’ll be
hree years ago, Scott Ping was lying face down in
“That probably wasn’t the best idea,” Ping acknowl- alright.’ And I was.”
the snow with a broken neck, unable to move and
edges.
Ping managed to retrieve his cell phone from his
certain he was going to die.
It was March and the hard snowpack concealed a pocket and call his ranch hand. Within 20 minutes he
His favorite sport had placed him on death’s door-
nether-layer of slush. Harvey hit a soft spot in the snow was strapped down in an ambulance.
step, and Ping says the only thing that saved his life was and somersaulted.
He’d broken his neck between the C1 and C2 ver-
a vision of his late mother.
“It was like it happened in slow motion. Harvey tebrae, which is the same injury that left Christopher

It was dusk and Ping was alone, riding his horse, went over on top of me and I heard my neck crack. I was Reeves a quadriplegic.
Harvey Wallbanger, at full speed on his ski joring track. just lying there in a pile. I had a little bit of space under “I should have been dead or paralyzed. But two
The National Ski Joring Finals in Red Lodge were fast my chin so I could breathe but I couldn’t move. I was hours later I was moving my hands and two days later I
approaching and Ping wanted Harvey to be in top form totally paralyzed,” he said. “After about 15 minutes I was walking,” he said.
for the competition. He decided to squeeze in a few ex-
realized I was probably going to die there. Then my de-
A near-death experience like that would deter most

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