Crash on White Rim trail, Canyonlands leaves cousin critical

[Sombeech]

This happened a few days ago, my close cousin and friend, Nate had a horrible crash, as he went straight off a cliff on the White Rim trail.

Fox13 has featured him a couple of times already
http://fox13now.com/2018/04/30/man-fighting-for-his-life-after-terrifying-bike-crash-in-canyonlands/

Nate has a condition with his eyes that make him legally blind, but he still puts more hours on his bike than I ever will. As a tradition, He was with family as they were near the Schafer switchback, going from the bright sun to the sudden shadow. As the road turned Right, he kept going straight, dropping straight off of this ledge and onto the hard flat road below.

I've been following his progress as he's been kept in Grand Junction
https://www.facebook.com/Nate-Malans-Medical-Updates-1782578741763507/

He's got 12 broken ribs, brien humerus and punctured lung. It was very relieving to see a video of him conscious. Hopefully he can get shipped closer to home soon. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180503/6b73bd0d00fc0def08859fcf31859044.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180503/babeba4fd7b316e9dd664e78033fcc00.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180503/d8e3027717cb7da3c81a56f144cb9b27.jpg

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[Iceaxe]

I've been following this in the news. Interesting to hear the details of why he actually missed the turn.

[tallsteve]

I've been following this in the news. Interesting to hear the details of why he actually missed the turn.

Yeah, me, too. I donated a bit to his gofundme account.

[Sombeech]

Yeah I was curious if he slid on some loose gravel, but nope he went straight off the ledge. The vertical part too. The shadow was right there on the turn and that's where his eyes have trouble adjusting.

His brother was 10 feet behind him telling him to go right but he just didn't hear him in time.

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[Sombeech]

Still got a long road ahead, very sad to see my close buddy like this

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1787561864598528&id=1782578741763507

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[accadacca]

Bummer man. I hope he can recover as fast as possible.