Keep Flying

The R.I.P. post below is a tribute to Asher Crank who was a freeride skier for the Academy. I have known him since he was a little ski racer for the club I started coaching for in 1998. He died skiing. His life revolved around skiing, friends, and family. There is no accounting why such a young and good person should be taken from us so young, but there is a bit of relief, for me, knowing that he was surrounded by people who loved him his whole life - to the second he left us - and that he died doing what he lived for. That is not ironic to me.

The post below the R.I.P. was about another kid and another traumatic crash. Tyler is on the mend and doing very well. "For Granted" was the title of the Tyler blog and it wasn't until Asher passed that I was given a whole new insight into taking things for granted. I love Asher - did even when he was an obnoxious little squirt in a Spyder suit. I was responsible for training him in the fall, making sure was as physically fit as possible going into a rigerous winter schedule. Being so close to this kid, knowing him, his parents, and his friends, it was another shot to the gut to realize what an impact this young man had on all of us. He had to be forcibly removed from my life for me to see him for what he was. Beyond the frustrations of typical teen-adult worlds, Asher was a smiling face, big laugh, strong, and loving presence.

How can I (you, anyone) stay focused on appreciating everyone and everything? The confusion of losing Asher has been a keen reminder that I can only control so much in my life. I want to be more understanding and kind to the people I am intertwined with. Hugging Kai feels better than it did before Asher died, and I thought it was the best thing I have known before. There have been a lot of lapsed judgements with kids at the school regarding alcohol and marijuana use this week, something that eats away at me. I don't want to be judgemental towards these indescretions, rather let the cards fall as they may through the disciplinary process and give the kids understanding and empathy. I want them to take their consequences head on and try to understand what they have done, but I want to be a steady presence rather than an emotional well-up that makes these scenarios harder to deal with and understand.

My last interaction with Asher was when the snowboard and freeride teams were in the tuning room gearing up to leave for Copper. We were working out the finances - something he had not thought about until the last minute. I assured him that we were cool and would be fine, then sent him on his way with a pat on the back. He knew we were cool. Asher was going to stay in Copper after the snowboard team returned. He was going to enter his first contest at the professional level. He had planned and worked to get himself into this position for many years. Asher had been calculated, progressively working towards his goal to become a pro skier and then taking over his mom's ski shop. He was on his way.

On Saturday 1/20, there was a community celebration of Ahser's life. It was a gathering of nearly a thousand people - nearly half the population of the town. Stephanie and Kibber, Asher's parents, were so gracious and beautiful in the face of this tragedy. It makes me proud and grateful to be a part of a community that values everything Asher was about. The ceremony was bittersweet, full of tears, and earnest words about a good person.

Kibber, who I do not know very well, looked into the group of CBA kids that Asher surrounded himself with, and stated clearly what I am sure Asher would have expressed if he was able, "You have to keep flying. Just keep on flying." So we packed our gear directly after the ceremony and went back over to Copper and flew through the boardercross course. Two of Asher's best friends, Tucker on a snowboard and Josh on skis, took gold medals in heated racing. Just the way Asher would have had it.

Asher Crank

6-10-89 to 1-14-07

R.I.P.

For Granted

I am sitting in room 3302 in the St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado with Tyler. He is a senior at CBA and took a nasty slam in the park yesterday after taking "one more run." He over shot the landing on a frontside 720, landed 630, caught his heels, and slammed his head. The rest of the team had gone down. He and Tuck decided to take one more. One should never take one more. I don't consider myself a superstitious person, but if I have to take one more run I always say "two more, skip the last one."

Anyhow, we got a phone call from ski patrol as soon as we got back to campus. I was able to change and get back to the clinic just behind Tyler. He was clearly cuncussed and in pain. They put him on an ambulance down to Gunny and I followed in my car. After a ct scan the docs saw some bleeding in his left ventrical and decided the safest thing to do was to get him to St. Mary's and close proximity to a neurosurgeon, so they ordered a flight for life helicopter.

I drove down to GJ while Ty flew. This is a scarey predicament, but Tyler is doing well. His mom is on her way out here from back east. He is watching the tube, checked in with his friends on my computer, and is just riding this out.

I brought his helmet in for him to see the crack up the back. It is no accident that he was wearing it.

On another note. The north end of the Gunnison valley just lost all of its natural gas service from CB South up through Mt. CB. We went nearly 72 hours with no gas - which is our source of heat, hot water, and comfort. Fortunatly, Christian and Michelle put us up the first night and our neighbors gave us a couple electric heaters, Katie brought in a couple more from her studio, and we have great insulation, so we fared well through the whole ordeal. We were actually in the last 5% to get turned on.

For Granted is the title here. I just want to put it out there that health, happiness, and community are noth things I take for granted and I am grateful to have every day. My friend Matt shared this web site with me the other day and I found it inspirational, and it ties in with the title of this blog. Check it out for a beautiful tale.

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Alaska

The Colorado Chorltons had a sweet visit to the great white North over the holidays. Kai, Katie, and I spent over a week in Fairbanks, AK with the Roth clan. We celebrated the holidays and the 50th wedding anniversary of Bob and Mardee. 50 years! That is a long haul. All of the kids, husbands, and wives were together for a short span on Christmas day. That was the only day of overlap, but there were plenty of days to hang with whoever remained.

We took Kai swimming for the first time on this trip. He didn't care too much for the cool water in the local pool, but liked the pool at Chena hot springs pretty well. We saw a seven week-old going under water with his dad, so we decided to try it. We weren't quite as good as the other kid, but we survived and didn't seem to ruin the experience for Kai. The springs felt good, as did the pool for the adults.

I pretty much ate more sugar than I have since junior high school when I would eat peanut butter, confectionate sugar, and chocolate chip sandwiches washed down with pudding. We didn't get much vigorous exercise until the final three days when we rented xc gear. That was sweet. We rallied out in the cold - one day with Kai in a sled, and knocked out some miles in the beautiful, snow-covered forests surrounding Fairbanks.

The town of Fairbanks is more or less a giant strip mall, not much different than towns anywhere else in the U.S., however, during this trip there was a lot of fresh snow and no wind. The trees stayed coated in snow, as did the roads, and it was very beautiful. Tempewratures probably averaged around -4 F. We got up as high as the mid teens and down to -20. We skied in -14. Sunrise happened around 10 am and set around 3 pm, so there was a lot of darkness. We spent a lot of time playing cards and games. Loads of time with Bill, Beth, and the kids.

I got a better understanding for the University this time around having skied trails around the campus, visiting the museum during fireworks on New Years Eve, and working out in the gym. It is a unique place with the cold and proximity to the roof of the world. Loads of research going on. It was cool to see the academic crowds versus the fatties that mull around Fred Meyers (the local version of Wal-Mart). Loads of skiers and even some bikers and runners, taking advantage of the trail networks. Snowmobiles (snow machines to Alaskans) rally along on trails along the side of the roads and down the rivers.



Family dynamics played a pretty big role in the visit. Five brothers, Mom, Dad, Katie, husbands, wives, and kids all make for some convoluted decision making. When one person takes control some others seem to swirl in a strange state of disagreement or resentment. Ad one person who is either a child or acting like one and things get pretty crazy. Overall, though, decisions were made and everything went really well. It was cool spending time with Andy and Jean and their seven-month-old Elle. We shared a mini-van and lots of time together. When they left we spent most of our time with Bill, Beth, Mardee, Sarah, Lynn, and their boyfriends, both named Luke.

So, it was a cold, dark, snowy, and altogether very nice trip. Kai took well to travelling. He seemed to have grown up a bit while we were there. He rolled over, held his head up, and seems to have grown bigger as well. Of course, after a long day of travel, he fell apart as soon as we hit the basin of the Gunnison Valley. He didn't sleep well last night, but we managed to get him through. The feeling of coming home to our home was very positive. I felt so happy to be in our place, taking nothing from the travels, just being home is a blessing.