Febuary 18 2006

It was another great day riding in Owlshead B.C. The weather started to change and visibilty was dropping off so my son and I started our ride down off of the mountain. We had rode down to about 7 km from the truck and trailer, visibility was clear and there was half a foot of snow on the trail and some ruts from trucks with sled decks. My son and I had a little fun on the straight stretches catching up to others and passing them. I was in front and approached a left hand corner going down the hill. Then I crashed at about 40 mph and from what information I have gathered I caught an edge and the sled flipped on its side very hard and threw me into a 6 inch tree about 10 feet away.

I was knocked unconscious and woke up to see my son and many others trying to start my sled. They got me down another two km to my truck where there happened to be a doctor there who had just finished sledding. He took one look at me and they called in an ambulance not realizing how severe the injuries were. When they managed to pry off my Klim Tekvest they noticed the lower left panel was severely pushed in about four inches, in about an eight-inch circle and severely deformed. The doctor commented, “Wow! What would he look like if he didn’t have a Tekvest on?” Well later, after being examined, they found two broken front ribs, two broken back ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a perforated kidney and a concussion.

This is my second year of wearing a Klim Tekvest for both my son and I. If I had not had that Tekvest on that day I know that there is no way on earth that I would have survived that tremendous impact across my chest and survived, I had no scratches on my chest, or anywhere else for that matter.

The Klim Tekvest it did its job and saved my life so I can ride another day with my family.

Barry Daniluk
Red Deer, Alberta