Doug Coombs Tribute Video 2009

[Music] born in boston doug started skiing at nashoba valley in nearby westford massachusetts trips to maine vermont and new hampshire honed his scents for the fall line and when it came time to choose a college he went west after four years of racing for montana state he graduated with a geology degree and moved to jackson wyoming summers he studied rocks winters he repaired the damages in 1986 he started working as a heli ski guide for high mountain helicopter after twice winning the u.s powder eight title and finishing second at the world powder eights it was no surprise that in 1991 life lifelink an avalanche and back country gear company bought dug a ticket to the first world extremes in alaska one of my sponsors had read about this extreme skiing competition and said we'd like to send you there they said if you don't win though you're gonna have to come back and paint the building and i didn't realize they were just joking on that but i was thinking i don't want to paint that building no worries he won the contest and the heart of emily gladstone who shared his passion for the steeps and took top prize in the women's extreme championship in 1992. the couple were captured by the chugach mountains and together they launched valdez heli ski guides establishing the first organized guiding in the region it marked a daring move but these skiers were comfortable with risk and within a few years the company grew to 12 guides and three a-star helicopters doug and emily also started steep skiing camps worldwide both businesses are still in operation i didn't choose my life in the mountains it just happened i tried to become a normal person and have a normal job but that didn't work what did work was doug's ability not just the ease he used on the world's most radical terrain logging some 300 first descents from alaska to south america but also the way he encouraged others to join him or at least discover the skier they could become pro skiers seth morrison kent kreitler and mike hatrep admit at first they didn't understand how good doug was until they watched him on tuckerman's in the chugach or chamonix laying down lines they now rank as some of the best of their lives logging epic runs with friends was how it ended for doug on april 3rd 2006 in the poli chanel kuwair at la grav when 31 year old chad vanderham dropped out of sight and over a ledge doug followed to his rescue calling back to his companions for a rope but before he could help chad he too slipped over the edge doug coombs was 48. [Music] for his remarkable contribution to our country's ski history we proudly award doug coombs the highest medal awarded in these united states the u.s ski and snowboard hall of fame medal of honor [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: USSSHOF

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Id: NcjIpEVPZ_I

Length: 4min 2sec (242 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 10 2017