This is going to come off as mean, but I would rather tell the truth than some lie just because the guy died. I am sure I am the only person who knew him and he was never my friend because of his personality.
Jamie Pierre was demeaning and inconsiderate to alot of peopl, and was one of the worst offenders of perpetuating the attitude of "I am better than you" in that canyon. He also was very "religious" and would tell people all the time that god was protecting him.
This year there was any early october snowfall than a large stretch of dry, letting the snow rot on northfaces where it remained. This past weekend there was 2-3 feet of heavy wet snow that was unable to stick to any surface that was any bit steep. I have skied the run that Jamie Pierre died on 100s of time, the pitch ranges from 35-50 degrees. Even when its open and supposedly controlled, pockets of snow can still slide on that run. Jamie Pierre never wore a helmet. He actually made fun of my helmet on chairlift once. I told him someday he wish he would have one. Brain drama was part of his cause of death. He was also carrying nothing for an avalanche rescue, not it would matter in this case because it was only a partial burial its the trama of being rung though the rocks on a very thin coverage that killed him.
So basically he ignored warning signs that the snowpack was sketchy that even a hack like myself predicted a month ago form across the country. Choose to ski a steep thin slope with out a helmet or avy gear. There is so many bad choices here its almost like suicide by avalanche. For his short coming I thought he was smarter about snow pack than this.
I feel for his family and for his friends, it sucks to lose anyone.
Svend as for risk taking. I do not think that money has anything to do with risk taking. I think that the majority of the folks who take huge risk just have an addictive personality that need to be feed with adrenaline. Most of these guys and girls were taking huge risk prior to ever getting paid a cent to ski. Personally if I am not skiing stuff that is scaring me alittle I get bored really quicker if I was not addicted to adrenaline I could easily see myself being an alcoholic or a drug addict both of which are alot worse than my addictions right now although they are probably cheaper.
If you ever get a chance to ski with someone like Sage he skis the same whether he is being filmed or out skiing mellow BC with friends. He encourages people and inspires people. I have been privileged enough to share more than a few runs and BC tours with him. I have also seem huck 50 footers when noone was filming. He like most of these guys do it for the love, they are just happy that their sponsorship let them do it more.
In fact sage was out skiing the day JP died. They were out skiing catherines with a group of 4 and trust me when I say this. They all had helmet, they all had avy gear, they all had generally idea of the snowpack. They also choose an area to ski that is much safer from both a steepness stand point and an exposure to hard stuff to slide into stand point. If I was out there, I would have been right there with this group.
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