trevor sexsmith r.i.p.

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nah000

climber
no/w/here
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 6, 2016 - 12:11am PT

one could ask, why would one post a eulogy for a canadian skier one had never met, on a cali-centric mostly-rock-climbing board?

and it'd be a good question...



when i first heard that sexsmith had passed away [a little over a week ago already] i didn't have any thoughts of posting about it here... this can be a tough crowd when it comes to those who are out there walking a line between being and not-being that doesn't allow for basically any error... and trevor definitely repeatedly, even regularly, walked that line for a few years [at least] in the columbias and canadian rockies.

but, at the end of the day, as a few recent threads have shown, for better [and sometimes for worse] we are a bit of a virtual tribe and i know there are a few of you who dabble in the white arts... and so in case you haven't heard about them already, i thought some of you might appreciate hearing about/seeing some of trevor's exploits.

during the last couple of years he regularly pulled off ski mountaineering descents in canuckistan that were hard to fathom as possible, even for some of those of us who consider ourselves pretty committed to the pursuit [an onsight, no previous personal ascent, first descent of the south couloir on mt. vaux; a very lean early season descent of the aemmer couloir on mt. temple; and another very early and lean descent of the single bench couloir at rogers pass to name but a very tiny few of the many descents of his that did, and still do, blow my mind]

and so while i had never met him, i'm willing to admit, that due to the regularity of his larger than life achievements [that were at the same time done with an everyman's budget and frankness] i don't ever recall being rocked as hard by the death of a dude i'd never met, as i have been by sexsmith's.

he pushed the bar waaaay out there in a very short amount of time, with [at least early on] zero sponsorship, and had a passion for the pursuit that he committed himself to, that we should all be so lucky to experience. his blog was aptly enough called perpetual ski

while i know it's tough when one has to click on links rather than watch an embedded video, trust me when i say that those single bench and mt. vaux videos posted above [despite only being on vimeo :) ] are worth a watch...



we just lost a human that every generation of a particular pursuit is lucky to have one of...

while he unquestionably found heaven on earth on at least a few occasions, still, if there is some kind of extra-lifetime justice, he's already ripping a great couloir in a dimension once removed from ours...

r.i.p. t.s.
Delhi Dog

climber
Good Question...
Oct 6, 2016 - 04:10am PT
Thanks for those link.
Never heard of the guy, but yeah, narly shite!

Some folks just live life very large.
Wishing the best for his family and friends.

“If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar
A hoper, a pray-er, a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!”


― Shel Silverstein
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Oct 6, 2016 - 07:20am PT
Wow. Some intense stuff there.

How did he die Nah000? Did I miss that part?

RIP for a Canadian brother, and sincere condolences to his entire tribe.
Srbphoto

climber
Kennewick wa
Oct 6, 2016 - 07:23am PT
According to BigLines.com, Trevor Sexsmith was ascending the “Sickle” line off Mt. Victoria’s east face with another skier when fierce winds and snow conditions prompted the pair to turn away from the line. On the ski down, a 6″ slab was triggered that would ultimately carry Sexsmith over a 250+ foot cliff. Sexsmith died from injuries sustained in the fall.

RIP
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
Oct 6, 2016 - 08:07am PT
Dude dropped some really sick lines. Had never hear of him until this post. Sad day.
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Oct 6, 2016 - 08:34am PT
Holy Cow!

thanks for the links.

RIP Mr. Sexsmith.

continue the adventure
crankster

Trad climber
No. Tahoe
Oct 6, 2016 - 08:59am PT
Such a sad accident. He was getting after it in Sept. and gets swept over a cliff by a relatively small slide.

Condolences to the family and friends of this fine young man.
kunlun_shan

Mountain climber
SF, CA
Oct 6, 2016 - 07:54pm PT
Thanks for this thread, nah000. I've been following Trevor Sexsmith since this last winter, when you first mentioned him. He skied some incredible lines. I didn't know about the accident until the day after it happened, when I sent a friend a link to Trevor's trip report from Warren and Brazeau the week before, mentioning the cold snow they'd found. My friend replied with a link to the CBC story about Trevor's death. I'd seen the MCR report that mentioned human triggered avalanches on Mt. Victoria, but didn't realize what it meant.

Trevor was on his way to becoming a legend. nah000, you said it very well on ST awhile back: "sexsmith is in the process of quietly [so far] writing a new chapter in rockies/columbias skiing."

I'm very sad that we aren't going to see what TS would have done in the years to come.

Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Oct 6, 2016 - 08:35pm PT
The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

RIP
jgill

Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
Oct 6, 2016 - 09:26pm PT
Age 27.
kunlun_shan

Mountain climber
SF, CA
Oct 6, 2016 - 09:39pm PT
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Oct 6, 2016 - 11:26pm PT
It is really sad to hear. Although skiing is not something I follow, my favorite outdoor-related movie is about the life of Shane McConkey, who seemed like an incredible skier, base jumper, a bit of everything really, with adventure at the heart of the individual the movie shows off. Sad to hear about another such person leaving this world. Death is something I think about often and although it is hard to accept the event when it happens to good people, it is a part of life, and it would be foolish to think Trevor, or anyone else pushing it into the red zone with such intensity so often, does not accept the price of admission to accomplish such feats. Truth, and part of the reason some accept the price, is that people like him experience several lifetimes of emotions in a relatively short period. It is worth the risk for them. Really sad for family and friends of course. No accomplishment is larger than life, yet it is important to do what pulls you in while you are able to, there will be no such opportunity when the bones are rotting. RIP. And those descents you linked are mindblowing, thank you for sharing. Much appreciated content.
nah000

climber
no/w/here
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2016 - 02:07am PT
^^^^

thanks for those words Vitaliy... they articulate things that all [or at least most?] of us implicitly accept for ourselves even with regards to something like roped rock climbing... but at the same time, it is sometimes hard to extend those understandings of our own drives when we look, at what to some degree must appear to most of us, to be effectively unfathomable [for example: if one watches that mt. vaux video, be aware that, if i understand correctly, sexsmith had not even been able to completely scope the length of that descent, let alone ascend it, prior to the descent that one sees... let that sink in as you watch]

and so i think it's easy for those of us, who don't push so far into those red zones [as you've termed them] to write off the apparently unfathomable as most likely having been done for the externalities: for fame... for money... etc.

and i'm sure occasionally there is some truth to those sentiments. all of us are human after all. and so it's also why i think that we as a society, while being respectful of some of these dark arts [as they to some degree must be considered] shouldn't promote them in the same way we promote exploration that has a margin of error. ie. i'm not completely comfortable with how we as a collective society have chosen to "reward" folks like corliss, honnold, and steck [this should in no way, shape or form, be read as a denigration of the acts themselves that c,h or s have undertaken]...

which is why i've got mixed feelings about even a thread like this, as i get what a thread like this ultimately is and can/should be seen as.

still, this life is what it is. ie. it's not black and white... and while ultimately i'm contributing to a potential externality by posting this thread, still i think that everything ultimately must come back to the spirit that it is done in. and to be frank, the spirit that i have posted with is one of pure amazement. and not due to the amazement of new "structure" [ie. this line was done by so and so in the year such and such] being created... but rather the amazement of new unknowns regarding human potentials being at least hinted at.

and so while a debate regarding "pro skiers" is certainly a legitimate one, just as with regards to jungen/spricenieks descent of the n face of robson, brazeau's descent of the n face of mt. bryce or some of trevor hunt's descents just about everywhere, there are folks out there that have pushed/are pushing it for no other reason, that i can ascertain, than something primarily intrinsic.

while i could be wrong, i don't believe that sexsmith ever got more than a free [if that] pair of skis and if a few hundred views per video on vimeo is fame, than with regard to either reward, the path he chose was not a very "lucrative" one...

ie. sexsmith, like so many of the skiers that have pushed the bar before him [doug ward is another one that comes to mind] would, i suspect, have done, what they did even if not a single other person knew about what they had accomplished... this is bolstered by the fact that for much of the time at least, that was effectively the case. [i could of course be wrong, and just be a romantic...]

regardless, the point i'm coming round to making, is that while we'll never know exactly what drove sexsmith to do what he did, what we are left with is a detritus [tales, vids and photos] resulting from feats that truly do represent [for better and for worse] the knife edge of human potential that some humans choose to walk.

and so while it is important to not delude ourselves regarding the stakes and risks that were accepted in order to walk those paths, we also shouldn't just dismiss them as having necessarily been done for pure externalities either...



ultimately the only person that knows the most regarding either of those [the known risks accepted and the underlying drives being manifested] - and even they don't have perfect awareness - are the folks out there making the act...

the rest of us are left trying to understand what must by definition continue to be, effectively unfathomable.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Oct 7, 2016 - 07:45pm PT
It is sad there is even some discussion about the motivation behind some of these feats he has done or other skiers out there do. Whatever comes with passion, like sponsorships of some sort, come later. No sane skier, climber or a human in general would want to be in a position where death feels like a possibility, while doing it for the fame. Yes it is human nature to want to be liked and I bet every individual pushing it may feel some peer pressure simply because he is more likely to hang with other people that do the same. But it is hard to imagine any skier looking down a chute, some climbers would not be able to ascent, thinking 'oh yea, I go down that, I may get some free skis!' Have to have passion for it and want it bad. Eh just some thoughts.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Oct 7, 2016 - 07:58pm PT
The same as the pursuit of flight, Gravity and Ice, very unforgiving, the pursuit of excellence
Yes
The pursuit of perfection, a lazer thin line where any edge will kill you.

I was not intending to say that in ear shot of V Musiyenko,
I was absolutely glued to your solo video.
I'm not saying not to hang it all out there.
Just observing and
stating the obvious .
sufferfester

Mountain climber
Golden
Oct 7, 2016 - 08:35pm PT
Trevor got a free hat or two. No skis, no fame and certainly no fortune. I can tell you with absolute certainty that he did it because there was nothing else on this earth he'd rather be doing, like anyone else who walks the razor edge with any kind of regularity. He had hoped to find a sponsor or two, but only so that maybe one day he wouldn't have to work 5 days a week any more. I can only imagine what he would have accomplished with that kind of time.

It's neat to see that his reach spread even as far as this California-centric rock climbing community. Guy was the real deal. Be sure to have a few shots of Gibson's Silver (rye whiskey) while enjoying the stories of his missions. He wouldn't have had it any other way.
Todd Eastman

climber
Bellingham, WA
Oct 7, 2016 - 08:42pm PT
Bring back Bruce Kay!
BLUEBLOCR

Social climber
joshua tree
Oct 7, 2016 - 08:44pm PT
^^^^!AGREE!

Thanks for posting that nahOOO!

RIP Trevor.

But mostly I jus like reading your thoughts nah,

there are folks out there that have pushed/are pushing it for no other reason, that i can ascertain, than something primarily intrinsic.

I'd jus call primal instinct. You know the "will" we all got here with through evolution. I believe the limits are always there just for us to determine who we will become... Certainly some exploits are prompted by dollars. Just last week in the valley I heard Hans Florine was paid by a Chickin Franchisee to make a commercial emphasizing honesty, hard work, and team work. The commercial taught's that Hans climbs The Nose three times in a day. Well, Come'on I say. That's about as believable as Sylvester Stalone shooting in bolts, and then free-soloing The Dru in cliffhanger.

All joking aside, i think it's easy to tell who's workin for the dollar, and who's workin to expand the gene pool.
nah000

climber
no/w/here
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2016 - 10:27pm PT
thanks for filling in some details sufferfester... and sorry for your loss... i'll keep your libation recommendation on mental file as an appropriate flask filler for this winter's adventures...



and while i agree in a very general sense with what you're saying Brennan, i don't believe it specifically contradicts what i was intending to communicate... given the intention for this thread, i'll save getting into said details, though, because i'm sure there will be another day and a more appropriate thread to hash out the fineness of that discussion... as usual thanks for your thoughts.



ultimately my personal intention here is to remember a fellow tribe member who, even though i never met him, had and is having a profound effect on my life... both with his life, but also with his death...

and in the process maybe remind some of you old cynical buggers [hahahaha] that every new generation gets to experience the world as a new day.

sexsmith certainly treated the world as his oyster, even though like most of the rest of us, it wasn't due to his being handed fistfulls of dollars by the collective around him... he left a mark working, if i understand correctly, a nine to fiver railway job and so was, like so many of the rest of us, just another weekend warrior [with tongue planted firmly in cheek regarding the last four words]...



peace to his brothers and his sisters... be they by blood and/or by spirit.
nah000

climber
no/w/here
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 7, 2016 - 11:37pm PT
one more epic vid of trevor's that i hadn't taken a look at until tonight:

Goodsir
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