In Memoriam

Things have got better since my last post. As you may have been able to tell, the last blog was written on the day that I was told about the accident, and obviously it was pretty horrific and hard to grasp at first. Following that, there were two days of thought and reflection, before a moving memorial set up by the mountain management.

On the evening after the accident, there was an improptu gathering of lifties in Merlins, toasting Josh and Ben's lives and generally just having a get together to chat about things and support each other. If anything, this kind of brought events home, and made us realise fully what had happened, especially with Josh's fiancee out that night.

The next two days were pretty introspective. I helped out some guys putting together a slide show for the memorial on one day, and the next I pretty much spent the entire day inside thinking about things.

The memorial was on Thursday night, and was in Rebagliatti park, a pleasant spot beside Fitzsimmons Creek. It was well attended, with nearly all of the current lifties, and some past lifties who had known the two guys. Music was played, and memorials were read out. It was pretty hard listening to some of them, especially from the brother of Ben, and Josh's dad and fiancee, but they were pretty inspiring. There was an account of the day the accident happened from one of the Ski Patrollers on duty, which was incredibly powerful, as it gave enough detail withoug going too far. It was especially moving as he told people "If you decide to go up the hill to the site where it happened, don't look down into the trees, look at the view they would have seen right up until the last moment".

Many of the speakers made the point that they had the time of their lives over here, and that they were doubtless having great fun on the sled right up until the point they lost control. In many ways, that fun is exactly the reason why we're all out here, and exactly the reason why we should try and make the most possible of every single moment you have, cos you never know when it all might end.

Perhaps most touching was the pile of snow that had been brought down from the mountain, and had the two guys snowboards in. This was the reason they were over here, and it was moving to see them there.

All in all, the memorial was very therapeutic for all involved. Back at Merlins, the slide show was enjoyed with personalised shows for both Ben and Josh, and a general show featuring lifty related photo's. This helped everyone greatly, not least the family, who felt amazingly cheered that in all the photo's in the shows, the two guys and everyone in them generally had the biggest smiles. It got everyone involved, and back in touch with each other, and I think really helped out everyone involved.

Perhaps the phrase which most summed up the mood of the tributes, was Ashleigh's (Josh's fiancee) when she said that "If there's something you want to do, don't put off till tomorrow, or next week, do it now and make the most of it".