It’s been 10 years since the ski world lost pioneer Doug Coombs and aspirant guide Chad VanderHam. While Coombs made a name for himself on this side of the pond, La Grave was his home for 10 years, and that’s were he was skiing along with VanderHam on April 3, 2006 when both men fell to their deaths.
To honor Coombs and VanderHam, Per “Pelle” Lang, a longtime friend of Coombs and owner of The Skiers Lodge in La Grave, organized a memorial over the weekend on the 10th anniversary of their passing.
“Pelle wanted to mark the anniversary and so [he] came up with the idea for the memorial. He contacted people overseas who needed to travel, but locally it was a word-of-mouth invitation,” says Ville Niiranen, a photographer and friend to Coombs who attended the memorial. “When the accident happened, it was a huge shock to everybody…. At the time, there was an event—there was a potluck dinner—but people kind of dealt with the loss and the grieving on their own. This event is the first time that their loss has been brought back into the public eye because of the anniversary.”
After drinks and conversation, the group who gathered skied down to where two plaques now sit near the Couloir de Polichinelle, where the accident happened. The plaques are not directly atop the couloir, but placed closer to a slope where visitors can see them and pay their respects.
IFMGA guide Miles Smart, a close friend of both Coombs and VanderHam, felt the memorial was a good opportunity to reconnect with the community that loved both skiers.
“I think that, for those of us that were really close friends with Doug and Chad, it was good to get a lot of us together again,” Smart says. “Some of us see each other all the time, but some of us haven’t seen each other since the accident. It was great to get people together in the same place in La Grave…. We told stories and shared some memories on the mountain. It was really good for everybody.”
Here are Ville Niiranen’s photos from the weekend’s memorial.
Liz Smart wearing a legendary Steep Skiing Camp hat. She and husband Miles took over Doug and Emily Coombs’s Steep Skiing Camps and run them to this day—and any person wearing one of these hats is sure to have a great story or two about Doug. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
Ayse Onol and Per “Pelle” Lang, owners of The Skiers Lodge in La Grave and close friends of both Coombs and VanderHam. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
Friends of Coombs and VanderHam from left to right: longtime La Grave local John “Waldo” Walder, COO of Silverton Mountain and former K2 President Tim Petrick and guides Miles Smart, Pelle Lang, Hans Solmssen, Ptor Spricenieks and Joe Vallone. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
Joe Vallone, Pelle Lang and Miles Smart (left to right) share a moment on the way down to the memorial plaques. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
Ptor Spricenieks, a living legend and close friend of Doug’s with whom he shared numerous adventures around the peaks of La Grave. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
The whole group started off from the top of the La Grave cable car and descended down the Chancel side of the mountain toward the memorial signs located close to the entry of the Couloir de Polichinelle. Here, Pelle Lang gives opening remarks. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
The memorial plaques for Doug Coombs and Chad VanderHam. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
Tim Petrick, Matt Farmer, Christina Blomquist and Hans Kami Johansson visit the plaques to pay their respects to fallen friends. [Photo] Ville Niiranen
All photo captions were written by Ville Niiranen.
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