Weed.

raisingarizona said:
The Dean Cummings story is very interesting. He definitely suffers from serious mental health issues but you have to wonder how did head injuries and heavy marijuana use factor into all of this.

www.outsideonline.com

The Final Descent of Dean Cummings

From the outside, things seemed perfect for the former world extreme skiing champion: he had a family, a successful guiding business, and unending adventure out his front door in Valdez, Alaska. But something dark festered beneath the surface.
www.outsideonline.com www.outsideonline.com
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Very sad story. He had some serious mental health issues and drug use probably exasperated them. Lots of people have crazy stories about him. I have my own from crossing paths in Europe and out West. No doubt he has a head full of bad wiring. My friends in Alaska witnessed his downfall up there. They said it was downright frightening. It’s a shame no one was able to help sooner and a life was lost as a result.
 
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Ripitz said:
Very sad story. He had some serious mental health issues and drug use probably exasperated them. Lots of people have crazy stories about him. I have my own from crossing paths in Europe and out West. No doubt he has a head full of bad wiring. My friends in Alaska witnessed his downfall up there. They said it was downright frightening. It’s a shame no one was able to help sooner and a life was lost as a result.
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Care to elaborate on your experiences with him? I’ve never met him but from watching him in videos and interviews he always seemed like a guy that had something to prove, maybe a bit of a chip on his shoulder. I can actually relate to a lot of his story honestly. I’ve grown away from being a similar person but I was a lot like him when I was younger as far as the struggles as a kid with school, having something to prove and being a bit of an attention whore but some demons will probably never fully disappear unfortunately. I’ve also had around 10 concussions and like my weed.
 
Ripitz said:
Very sad story. He had some serious mental health issues and drug use probably exasperated them. Lots of people have crazy stories about him. I have my own from crossing paths in Europe and out West. No doubt he has a head full of bad wiring. My friends in Alaska witnessed his downfall up there. They said it was downright frightening. It’s a shame no one was able to help sooner and a life was lost as a result.
Click to expand...
The article makes it sound like his wife tried to get him help.
Valdez Alaska isn’t known as a great place for mental health support if ya have a problem.
 
raisingarizona said:
Care to elaborate on your experiences with him? I’ve never met him but from watching him in videos and interviews he always seemed like a guy that had something to prove, maybe a bit of a chip on his shoulder. I can actually relate to a lot of his story honestly. I’ve grown away from being a similar person but I was a lot like him when I was younger as far as the struggles as a kid with school, having something to prove and being a bit of an attention whore but some demons will probably never fully disappear unfortunately. I’ve also had around 10 concussions and like my weed.
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I won’t go into the details of our interactions as I don’t feel it would be constructive. I was introduced to him in Cham by Gary Bigham. The party scene at the time was pretty heavy. In Big Sky I had to protect a female employee. We’ll just leave it at that.

I met lots of one of a kind people in my ski bum travels. Many living life to the fullest. Some of them beyond. Dean was like a pitbull. Once he latched on to something he wasn’t letting go. Lots of mental health problems with people living that lifestyle. Depression, addiction and manic behavior run rampant and are rarely addressed. It’s also one of the reasons I stopped chasing it. I was happy to get out alive.

Take care of yourself RA. You have a lot of reasons to stay healthy.
 
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Ripitz said:
I won’t go into the details of our interactions as I don’t feel it would be constructive. I was introduced to him in Cham by Gary Bigham. The party scene at the time was pretty heavy. In Big Sky I had to protect a female employee. We’ll just leave it at that.

I met lots of one of one of a kind people in my ski bum travels. Many living life to the fullest. Some of them beyond. Dean was like a pitbull. Once he latched on to something he wasn’t letting go. Lots of mental health problems with people living that lifestyle. Depression, addiction and manic behavior run rampant and are rarely addressed. It’s also one of the reasons I stopped chasing it. I was happy to get out alive.

Take care of yourself RA. You have a lot of reasons to stay healthy.
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Thanks. I am, currently. There’s always a bit of a struggle. I’m focused on family, work and skiing right now and that helps.

Excellent reply btw. Gary Bingham? Cham? Dang, you’re a world class ski bum. I’m really stoked you're on this forum. This place is pretty damn cool.
 
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