A CMC student pays tribute to friend Sarah Burke
This article first appeared in CMC student Ali Gingras’ blog See What I See.
The evening of Sarah’s death I had a friend of a friend print out some die-cuts I designed to put on my helmet. Me and my boyfriend had planned on going to Vail all week since he has never been, and I knew the best thing I could do to honor her was to go and enjoy it the way she would have. So the next day we went to Vail, just as we had planned.
It wasn’t supposed to snow much that day… but it did, and it absolutely dumped. It snowed for hours; the biggest flakes I have seen in months, that fell from the sky like the clouds had accumulated the entire sea. It was beautiful. I haven’t felt that much joy and happiness skiing in a long time, and I know it’s because she was there. I couldn’t stop laughing as the snow shot up into my face, turning my black face mask into a bumpy white beard. I even hucked some cliffs I wouldn’t have dreamed of… I guess she left a piece of herself in everyone of us when she left. She probably figured since I had enough goofiness she’d leave me some of her courage.
Two days ago one of Sarah’s best friends and teammates, and one of my dear friends, Dania Assaly flew in. She had been home recovering from a knee injury and decided to fly in early to be with the Canadian team and us girls. We had a day to kill before all the girls got back from Dew Tour in Killington, VT and headed to XGames in Aspen, so we decided to go to Vail yesterday. We enjoyed a foot of fresh powder with more that fell all day, and had so many smiles reminiscing. Sarah started a website a couple months ago called Scarah.com with videos of her scaring her friends. She loved to scare her friends… “Okay, ask them exactly when they’re going to be here!” She’d say, and proceed to stand behind the door giggling like a little kid, for as long as it took to get in a scare.
Sarah was so much more than just a friend, though. She was a daughter, an aunt, a sister, a wife. The love her and her husband shared is something I can only dream of someday having. They absolutely adored each other. She was the pioneer for woman’s freeskiing – The first woman to compete. She is the reason female’s are in X-Games, the Dew Tour, and is one of the main reasons men and women’s freeskiing is in the Olympics. That was her dream after all, to win an Olympic gold, and she never stopped fighting for that chance. She was the backbone, the voice, and the leader of woman’s freeskiing. She believed in the girls when they didn’t believe in themselves… she had a heart of gold. Above all else, Sarah’s talent on skis unarguably succeeded any other woman’s in the world. She pushed us all to better ourselves, for ourselves… Something I know we will continue to do, but something I know will be difficult without her support.
I always believe everything happens for a reason, at least I did until Sarah died. I know it’s all the emotions that come with grieving, but I can’t help but feel a little angry. I feel like someone somewhere really messed up. She shouldn’t have died, not yet. She did so much, and at the same time left so many things unfinished. Sarah was meant to go to the Olympics, and she was meant to win.
The girls had to compete at the Dew Tour in Killington the day after she died. They did a tribute to her before the competition by all riding down the pipe together, they called it the “Sarah Train”. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to have to drop into the pipe without her being there, but they all did a great job.
We miss you Sarah. We miss you a lot.