Given the risks inherent with freeride skiing, it attracts some of the bravest and most adventurous skiers in the world -- but 15-year-old Jacob Smith stands out. We thought you should see what he does, because he cannot.
In the world of skiing, there are two kinds of skiers. Those who like to stay on groomed runs and be guided gently the obstacles. That is called freeriding.
Jacob drops into the Big Couloir – a narrow, rock-walled, 1,400 foot chute. That dot is him… making his way turn by turn. A wrong move can be catastrophic. The run has a 50-degree slope, which means if you slip down the couloir, there is little chance you can stop yourself.Jacob Smith: When you're standing at the top, you feel like if you move, you're gonna die.Jacob Smith: Yeah, but I'm kinda just, like,"Well, I'm already up here. So I've gotta make it down somehow.
Andrew Smith: Some do. But they always, like, announce it over the, um, intercom that, like,"Blind skier Jacob coming down the hill."Sharyn Alfonsi: Would you know if you didn't know? That day, Jacob was flown to the Masonic Children's Hospital in Minneapolis where he underwent an emergency 12-hour surgery after an MRI revealed a cancerous brain tumor the size of a softball that was crushing his optic nerve.
But Jacob would need three more major brain surgeries over the next three years – all before he was 12 years old. Jacob Smith: Like, I did. But at the same time, I just-- prayed a lot. Nathan Smith: Right now the tumor that we originally targeted is gone. And-- you know, so far so good.Sharyn Alfonsi: Because?
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