Doing daredevil stunts on a snowmobile will always entail risk, but the Winter X Games has come up with a good plan to minimize danger without dumping the freestyle event altogether after the death last January of 25-year-old Caleb Moore.
They’re adjusting equipment and courses while upgrading the protection that contestants wear.
Moore’s death was obviously a tragedy, but it was also unique — in fact, the first in the history of the Winter X Games. And so while there was reason to be concerned and to examine how the event was conducted, simply banning it would have been premature.
Many sports involve risk. Some — auto racing and mountain climbing, among others — have racked up a far longer toll of fatalities over the years.
Still, the re-assessment by ESPN, which owns the Games, seems to have been very thorough, and the extra precautions make sense.
