Darwin Awards Nominees

The Darwin Awards * pay tribute those who improve the human gene pool...
(by removing themselves from it)

[AP, Mammoth Lakes, CA]
A San Anselmo man died yesterday when he hit a lift tower at the Mammoth Mountain ski area while riding down the slope on a foam pad. Matthew David Hubal, 22, was pronounced dead at Centinela Mammoth Hospital. The accident occurred about 3 a.m., the Mono County Sheriff's Department said.

"Hubal and his friends apparently had hiked up a ski run called Stump Alley and undid some yellow foam protectors from some of the lift towers", said Lieutenant Mike Donnelly of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department.

The pads are used to protect skiers who might hit the towers. The group apparently used the pads to slide down the ski slope and Hubal crashed into a tower. It has since been investigated that the tower he hit was indeed one with its pads removed.