Powder Souls
Nearly four months ago, the skiing community was shocked and saddened by the
loss of two dedicated backcountry souls on the flanks of Mt. St. Elias in Alaska:
Aaron Martin and Reid Sanders.
Martin, an up-and-coming ski adventure writer
for POWDER Magazine, had attempted the record-breaking ski descent of 18,008-foot
Mt. St. Elias the previous year, but was turned back by severe weather. His
second attempt would prove to be his last, but not for lack of support from
his snow-bound compatriots.
With first word of the expedition's tragedy--by word-of-mouth and eventually the newsstands--a heartfelt surge of support swept through the skiing community. Perhaps one of the most sympathetic demonstrations of this shared grief was instantly placed on public display through Powdermag.com's close-knit community of message board users (who laughingly and lovingly refer to themselves as POWDER Maggots).
Following is a tribute to Aaron Martin and Reid Sanders, through the eyes (and keyboards) of POWDER's most dedicated fans and skiers. Martin was a man clearly full of life, and in one of his last contributions to the POWDER staff (published September 2002, pages 58-59), he summed up what many of us feel about our lives dedicated to snow: "And we have just been reminded, once again, of the power of this mountain and this cherished life."
To see the entire message thread, click-in to: http://forum.powdermag.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/006720.html
-Josh Rhea