Doug Coombs

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Doug Coombs (September 24, 1957 – April 3, 2006) was an American alpine skier and mountaineer who helped to pioneer the sport of extreme skiing, both in North America and worldwide. He died in a severe fall at the Couloir de Polichinellein in La Grave, France while trying to rescue his friend Chad VanderHam, who had fallen and later also died from his injuries.

Coombs was born in Boston and grew up in Bedford, Massachusetts, skiing in New Hampshire and Vermont.^[1] He attended Montana State University in Bozeman before becoming a fixture of the extreme skiing scene in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, helping to found Valdez Heli-Ski Guides (and the heliskiing industry) in Alaska in 1986, and twice winning the World Extreme Skiing Championship, in 1991 and 1993.^[2] Coombs married Emily Gladstone in 1992, and they founded Doug Coombs Steep Skiing Camps Worldwide in 1993. The company continues to operate even after his death.

[edit] External links

Doug Coombs Steep Skiing Camps Worldwide
Doug Coombs Memorial Fund set up to benefit Coombs' widow, Emily, and son, David
Report on Coombs' and VanderHam's deaths from the American Mountain Guides Association
Remembering Doug Coombs archive of Coombs-related stories from Powder magazine
The Quick and Painless Ski Tune video of Coombs giving ski-tuning advice

[edit] References

^ Nathaniel Vinton, "Skiing Beyond Safety's Edge Once Too Often" New York Times May 17, 2006.
^ Porter Fox, "Legendary: Remembering Doug Coombs" Powder 35, no. 1 (Sept. 2006): 76-87, on 77.