Skiing With Tom

Hello, In trying to think of stories for this site, I just think of all the times I skied with Tom at Alyeska and smile. Man he could rip on those Tele's! The first day I met him four years ago, I was only in the Challenge building a few min before he asked me if I wanted to take a few runs. I said "sure", we grabbed our skis and hit the lifts. We worked our way to the top and I just remember Tom's conversations (with myself and others on the lift) just beeing so fricken funny (I don't remember what we said)--but we laughed the whole ride. It was a blue bird day with about 6 inches of freshies. When we got to the top of the mountain Tom asked me if I wanted to hit Trapline (which is the steep stuff off the backside- Northface-it's a fun ride about half way down with a trail that leads out). Having skied all season in Colorado with Tele friends that I had to wait for (I'm an alpine skier), I kind of expected to do the same with Tom, but that was the farthest from the truth. He lead the way down and I was blown away, I had to struggle to keep up..I loved watching that guy make turns, and making turns with him..floating in the powder..I felt so alive (how silly does that sound)--even now when I think about it, I can honestly say it was one of the best runs of my life.(and I'd argue that it wasn't one of Tom's as well-it was a great day)..We hit the trail and headed back. When we got back to the front of the mountain, we looked at each other with big grins and said "Let's do that again".That day, I think we only made two runs but I remember thinking how cool it was that, only after a couple of runs, this man I just met that morning, felt like someone I had known my whole life. I knew it was the start of a great friendship--and it was...I really miss our friend but I will think of him everytime I make turns on that mountain and he'll be there with me.Hang in there everyone..
Tom's Colorado/Girdwood Friend-RW