Outdoor and action sports culture is drifting down a path of ultra-high risk. Safety gear is essential, but Dr. Robb Gaffney explores the parent/child relationship and how it could be the most effective safety tool for kids entering outdoor sports.
Dr. Robb Gaffney is a psychiatrist working in Tahoe City, CA, who, for the past 20 years, has been sharing his passion for the outdoors with his two children. As an accomplished big mountain and backcountry skier, who has written a book on high-level skiing and featured in over ten ski films, Dr. Gaffney has a unique perspective on risk, sports, and what elements lead to good decisions in the outdoors.
Driven by the increased morbidity and mortality in action sports, he founded the company, Sportgevity, and helped create the grassroots, Tahoe-based movement, the Go Bigger Coalition. Dr. Gaffney believes that connecting children to the outdoors effectively and safely begin with the parent-child relationship.
Robb is a genius, one of the smoothest, most gorgeous freeskiers we at SnowBrains have ever had the pleasure of watching. He still managed to ski 100 days yearly while attending medical school at UC Davis.
Robb appeared in one of our favorite ever ski movies, 1999, filmed and produced by his brother Scott, who is now the editor of all the Matchstick Productions (MSP Films) movies, and a part-owner of MSP Films.
In September 2019, Robb broke the news that he was battling a rare form of bone marrow cancer and underwent chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. A GoFundMe raised $152,000 to assist with associated costs and research.
Stay tuned for a conversation with Robb Gaffney in this season’s SnowBrains podcast.
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