A week ago today – Randosteve showing Kershaw Finlay (X-Reed’s son) how to properly grip a ski pole. Steve was so happy! Steve and Chris we love you! – Randokitty and X-Reed
From one skier to another…
by March 8th, 201287 Responses to “From one skier to another…”
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Oh reed. I am so sorry. What an incredibly strange time. Congrats on yur new baby and then to have lost such a friend. My thoughts are with you and rebecca. I’m glad we could catch up recycling. Be well.
Steve and Chris, you leave us breathless with your loss. The Tetons will not be the same without your presence on our majestic peaks. The community is at loss.
RIP, boys. We all cherished the time we had with you….SALUTE!
From a song, “That’s the sad thing with life”
“People always leaving just as other folks arrive.”
My condolences. Steve wrote a low key(with such adventures!)
self effacing, friendly tale of his passion.
RIP to Steve and Chris
So sad for the loss of Steve and Chris. Steve I read your blog daily every winter and checked on your trail running occasionally in the summer, our paths crossed several times in the backcountry but I never introduced myself, just seemed weird since I only knew you through your blog. Now that I have learned of your death I am feeling the loss of a friend, even though we never met. Live to ski. Rest in Peace.
I remember Steve and Reed from their days as lifties at JHMR and I remember seeing them in the sidecountry when the ropes dropped in 99-00. Then I started reading this blog after I left Jackson. I probably never said more than a few words to them, but I could tell they loved skiing, and obviously were good friends. That’s what makes this picture so poignant. I’m sure it will be treasured.
I’m not usually one to offer condolences over the internet to people I didn’t really know, but Steve’s passing really gets to me. I wish all the best to those who were truly friends with Steve and Chris. As for me, I will keep Steve’s motto in my heart. There is nothing else that motivates us, brings smiles and ties us together like skiing. Rest in peace Steve and Chris.
Shock sadness disbeleif RIP Gentlemen
Haven’t been in touch with these friends in some time and now I am very sad. Two of the nicest guys I will ever know. I will forever ski in your memory boys.
I have not been in touch with these friends in some time and now I am very sad. I will forever ski in your memory boys.
Will never visit Jackson without honoring your memory. Thanks for all the inspiration!
“And when I die, and when i’m…they’ll be one more child born in this world to carry on…”
RIP Steve you were an inspiration not just to ride and tour but to start a blog as well. Thanks for all the drive.
To paraphrase another way of living:
We skiied to live and lived to ski…
Skeve,
You will be missed by all that know you. Many turns will be made in your honor even though you will be skiing freshies in the eternal backcountry! Until we meet again bro…
Your endless energy and psyche will stay with us all here in this community. Here’s to your gracious smile that you shared with so many. Thank you for sharing!
This picture is priceless. Thanks for sharing! Love & miss you Steve!
Romeo you will be missed, on the trails and on the peaks
Didn’t have the pleasure of ever being a ski friend of Steve’s. I just admired his daring exploits with awe. He brought joy with his memorable smile and wry sense of humor every time I visited with him, usually at Skinny Skis. He was one in a million and will be greatly missed by so many people near and far.
We are so sorry Reed. We are all shook up. Peter is bummed out. This photo is beautiful! We know what it is like to have a soul touch another and then have them pass on. He was so great with kids! Our son Max loved going to see Steve at the store. Steve thought our newest addition was just as ” sick ” as we are all! He will be missed. Congrats on your new bundle of boy! To Chris… you just stopped us and asked about our little ones at the village. Jackson will not be the same with you two not here.
Love and peace to you both and to all friends who knew them both and families. So sad.
Anita, Pete, Max and Anders Marsiglio
Thoughts and prayers go out to Chris and Steve’s families.
Steve’s death really got to us, even here in Canada. We’re strangers but we are part of the same community who love skiing, like he did, and we followed his exploits on the mountains with awe and amazement. He showed us spirit and spunk — we learnt how to fix our gear from his videos! We have never met him, only vicariously through his blogs, and oddly his death touches so deeply in the core of us and has made us cry today. The ski community has suffered a great loss, and we all grieve together. Our love to their families and friends who must be even more pained. May God’s comfort be with you.
I am so sad. My heart goes out to all of Steve’s personal friends and family. For those of us who followed TetonAT, Steve was a unique character in a unique time. He touched more like minded backcountry enthusiasts than most anyone ever. His ability to entertain, educate and inspire will be a lasting legacy. He along with Lou and Andrew formed a nexus of a community, one that is stunned and at a loss. Steve you will be missed by more people than you could ever have imagined. Especially me.
This picture really tugs on my heart strings. Reed, this is a perfect memory of Steve for you to have…over all your skiing adventure pictures/videos. I just hate this. Steve, thanks for all the ski tunes and great chats. Thinking of the Romeo family/Onufer Family/Randokitty/friends. Urgh.
Heartbroken for the Romeo and Onufer families, and all of your many friends. Thank you for your amazing friendship and shared adventures with my brother
Steve, you were a great inspiration to many of us and you will be greatly missed, rest as fully as you lived. Love goes to your and Chris’ family and friends. Good bye Steve
Steve and Chris,
Thanks for the inspiration over the years. Skiing has provided a lot of joy in my life and your efforts to spread the good word and facilitate some good tram rides were appreciated by me and countless others. Godspeed to both of you.
I chatted with Steve just a few times in passing, but, tetonat provided stoke & inspiration for many adventures. My condolences go out to all Steve’s friends & family. The man touched a lot of lives through his words & images. Here’s to a life well lived.
I followed the adventures. RIP, my heart goes out to the families and friends.
Ryon
I love this photo because it shows another side of Steve…he was always excited to see our kids and he played with them, too (despite the fact that he sort of lost a ski partner after we had kids). He was such a good guy! –Hatilie Lemke
I don’t even know what to say. I worked with Steve and Chris back in the day and will miss those guys. I had a bad feeling about Steve’s exploits with this year’s snowpack and when I saw tonight’s BT update I just knew. They really were some of the nicest guys you could ever meet and Steve’s passion was unmatched. I know they’re hitting some alpenglow lines with a never ending soundtrack of Pearl Jam. RIP friends.
Steve S.
This picture is really worth a million words – what moments were passed on there in a small finger shake – and the little baby looking up at Steve is so sweet! This is a photo to cherish…. Steve you will be truly missed – I still can’t believe it -
The mountain community’s voice will be subdued without steve’s presence. Onufer’s graceful tele turns will have no place to be kindly kindled. I will ski powder remembering these two but it won’t help soon. I hope we can learn from this in time. It is a year to be reckoned with caution. Please everyone watch your SE faces as this has been a consistent problem aspect this year. A tragic loss, let us use this to keep our respect and fear of the mountains strong. I miss you Chris, Corbet’s may never see a tele skier slash like that again……..thats a challenge ATrrrz!
I only know of Steve through following his blog daily for the last few year from here in Missoula. I can say I was inspired frequently and now I am at a loss. My prayers go out to everyone close to Steve.
So sad that this could happen to someone with such passion for the Mtns and such knowledge. Heart goes out to all who knew him. Love this website.
Steve, Hope you are on the summit of a peak beyond our sight……I just remembered the time you jury rigged a solution to a tele binding that had been mounted with a mis-matched heel piece that was too low. You used a grinder to shape plexiglass wax scrapers into shims under the heel piece to make it level with the toe piece and charged me nothing. It was easily $30 worth of materials and labor.That was maybe 11 or 12 years ago. Your passion and generosity of spirit will not be forgotten.
I also only know Steve through his blog, which has been one of my biggest sources of inspiration regarding ski touring. The news of his passing has saddened me, and I would like to give condolences to his and Chris` friends and family.
Rip RandoSteve and Chris
RIP Guys. You will be sorely missed.
I knew Steve from my days in Jackson as a ski instructor when he was a liftie on Casper. Didn’t know Chris as well but knew him of him. I was always inspired by Randosteve’s blog and impressed by his accomplishments. RIP Chris and Steve, you will be missed.
Big Red will never be the same without Onufer, and I’ll think of him very time I ride the tram to the Top of the World. Steve’s infectious smile will grace the Tetons forever.
I didn’t know Steve personally but I followed his website/adventures. I saw the article about his death in the Billings Gazette this morning. I feel the like the skiing community has lost a great person. I am sure he will be missed. My heart goes out to Steve and Chris’s family. Live to Ski!
Prayers to Steve and Chris’s family and freinds. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of sking with me. Peace.
So very sad to hear of Steve’s passing. As an old high school friend, I am grateful to facebook and Steve’s blog for connecting us again. I enjoyed living vicariously through him. My thoughts and prayers are with is family, friends and ski-family.
You will be missed. Thank you.
A crushing blow to the Jackson Hole Community. My heart goes out, from Bozeman, MT, to all the family and friends close to Steve & Chris. Both will forever be remembered and loved.
I’ve never met Steve or Chris, but I have been reading TetonAT for years and have always appreciated experiencing the Tetons thru RandoSteve’s tr’s. As a member of the Stevens Pass Ski Patrol, I can empathize all too well with how Jackson must be hurting right now. Trust me, it gets better eventually. My thoughts are with the families and the community out there. Steve, thanks for sharing your adventures with us all! RIP my brotha.
Steve,
Your writings, pictures, and videos are an inspiration. They provided me much enjoyment and stoke. Thank you for that.
Though I never knew you personally, you will be missed.
Best wishes to Steve’s family and friends in this difficult time.
RIP Steve and Chris, God bless your families as they try to cope.
Romeo, your passion for skiing makes me feel like I lost a brother.
Live to Ski!
Deeply touching . . . with the passing of one ‘King’ so shall another be born. So sorry I missed the memorial tour across the Lake today.
Thank you for everything Steve.
My thoughts today are with Steve’s family and friends. Listened to Eddie Vedder’s “Society” this morning and thought about a July trip I took with Steve into the Winds a couple of years ago. The skiing turned out to be a bust, but we still had a good time, drank whiskey and laughed a bunch. I remember thinking, “Wow, here is a dude who loves skiing even more than I do.” That kind of passionate energy is a gift to all of us, to the world. Thanks, Steve, for inspiring so many of us, for living your passion as so few people do.
Very difficult to grasp and accept that Rando is gone.
I think it is appropriate that these comments have turned into a running tribute to both Steve and Chris.
If nothing else, it demonstrates to their family and friends that their lives were genuinely meaningful and they had a positive impact on so many people.
Wyatt
Wow I am really sad to hear of this tragedy. I have lived vicariously through this website for years. I have never met either of these guys but my heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to their families.
Randosteve,
Though i never met you when i lived in Jackson, your post and enthusiasm for being in the Tetons makes me remember how i felt when i lived there. You’re lines and stories always remind me how special of a place northwest wyoming is and that only a few people are able to explore these magnificent peaks in the winter. Lots of love and respect to you, your family, Chris’s family and all those who spent time with you in the mountains. Next time i’m in the area, ill hit a nasty line in the park for ya.
Erik
Just heard this non comprehensible news. Steve who’s humor and energy always got me to laugh I don’t have the words for how much I’m going to miss you. There will always be a place in my heart for you.
This blog is a huge accomplishment. It represents SO much effort and pure passion for wild mountain skiing. I see it now in a completely different light, it is a legacy. I think it should persist as an homage to Steve and Chris and all that they lived for…If anyone here has an idea of how to continue this Im very interested in helping in every way I can. Please email me at jtarazoff@gmail.com
I was shocked as I read the report last night on the JHN&G website. For years I enjoyed watching Steve’s website evolve and looked forward to a time when our paths met so I could thank and congratulate him for sharing his exciting life with me through Teton AT. I regret that the possibility no longer exists. My prayers go out to the family and friends of Steve and Chris, the people of Jackson and everyone who loves wilderness and adventure. Rest in peace.
These fine gentleman was still young but their wisdom and knowledge so vast.They truly lived a life fully and saw so many awesome things only a lucky special few will experience.He shows us all to live our passions for today might be our tomorrow. Live on and ski strong. My deepest sympathy’s to all their family friends and loved ones. Even this blog has enriched so many lives and dreams.One day our tracks will all cross again. Deepest sympathy’s Joe
Steve you wrote so honestly about my brother and my friend’s death last year. May we continue to honor your memory and all of those who have gone before us. I bet you and Wildcat are shredding some sweet couloir in the sky somewhere, sharing laughs and sharing tears. Just as all of us who are left here are doing about you. I can only hope that I dream of all the adventures you will share together. We love you all so much! Try not to steal all of the pow up there!
- Chris in bozeman
This is heartbreaking news. This blog has never sensationalized or exploited extreme or back-country skiing. Steve was always a clear, rational voice of reason on all safety issues. His deeply-felt and sincere focus on safety and technique has made the back-country safer for anyone with the good sense to follow his advice. His love of the Tetons always exploded off the page and brought smiles and jealousy from this Easterner with multiple visits to Jackson. About two years ago, after Shane McC. died, I submitted a somewhat controversial post to TetonAT which no one seemed to agree with. No one was rude or insulting; they just didn’t agree with me. I went back and re-read the post tonight, http://www.tetonat.com/2009/03/27/shane-mcconkey-tribute-video/ ,and in retrospect, the other posters had an excellent grasp on what it means to love the wild and dangerous places, and I was only somewhat correct and partial wrong. I understand the powerful attachment to the place and its beauty and its omnipresent risk. And I accept the right of every man and woman to make their own choices, even if the endeavor ends in grief. I am so sorry that this accident has happened, especially knowing Steve’s meticulous approach to safety. I have no words for the unbearable loss suffered by Steve’s loved ones and friends, and for Steve’s loss of his own spectacular future. If anyone deserved another chance to climb and ski and stand in the mountain sunshine, it was this guy. Steve was a fantastic outdoors-man and a terrific writer. I know we will all miss his voice here. To his family, loved one’s and friends, I extend my deepest sympathy. May his memory always be a blessing.
Sincerely, Howard Wiseman
That photo speaks in so many ways… it’s just beautiful, poignant… thanks for posting it up. Sympathy from the Dawson family to all Steve’s circle, he was a positive influence on all three of us. Rest in peace Steve.
Steve taught me how to cut my first pair of climbing skins. I’d never met him, but he showed me in his living room through this website. To this day, while skinning steep slopes I get Steve’s voice in my head telling me I don’t want to do the moonwalk.
RIP – to Steve’s family and friends, Steve has inspired thousands through this website and his energy and enthusiasm were contagious through a computer screen. He will be missed by many.
Heartfelt condolences to all of Steve and Chris’s family and friends from the Tahoe ski community. Steve’s blog kept us informed, amused and envious. His love of the mountains was so simple and uncomplicated. His energy was inspiring. He will be missed, as I’m sure Chris will, too.
Steve, go in peace. We raced together only once, many years ago; you had a warm greeting and friendly handshake for all the competitors in the tram on the way to the race start. I’m on my way to make a few (in bounds) turns this morning and will be holding that memory close. Heartfelt condolences to his many loved ones.
Oh man . . . I saw the baby pic a day or so ago and was just so happy for Daddy . . . such a bummer.
I’ll always remember the time I first met Steve, just below the ice bulge in the Apocolypse. Steve’s last words to me, in regards to a conservative line I skied on the far shore of the lake last month:
“Why didn’t ya punch it?!”
Last memory of Chris: skiing Wally’s slide last week, I hesitated at the cliff band, and here comes Onufer, straightlines the cliff, and is at the bottom before I even realized what was happening. In a mountain full of the best skiers in the world, he truly was one of the best on the hill.
Thanks guys, for showing us all how its done.
This beautiful photo of Kershaw and Steve ,a few days ago I would have thought of it as cute,now it breaks my heart.A sort of passing of the torch? We are a community of skiers who love the mountains,until those awful but beautiful mountains take our friends.can our lifestyle be worth such loss?I don’t know the answer to this, but I do know the friends we have lost to the mountains all would choose the same life over again,and we will continue to still risk our necks. I believe we will all carry our friend with us,This community of brothers will greatly miss these two passionate brothers.
do not forget!!!!!!
A MOUNTAIN’S HUG
Many have passed this way!
Steve, Chris, Wray
too many to say
Loved mountains more everyday
Seems as though Mountain
had something to say
with the waking of the sun
Didn’t mean to take
your loved ones away
Mountain just hugged
too much that day
decided they should stay
Thanks Steve, for everything you have contributed to the North American and Teton ski mountaineering scene. I don’t know who I will trust more than you for beta on descents in the Tetons. Condolences to everyone affected. Rest easy.
Its just so tragic and sad… Steve Romeo will be dearly missed.
Fish and DG I like your posts. Not much left to say, Romeo did more laps in the Tetons than about anyone, right up there with Heather Paul’s vert. Do not forget!!!
I am saddened to hear about this. I deeply appreciated the passion that Steve shared through his website. My heartfelt sympathies go out to all of Chris and Steve’s friends and family.
I’ll miss ya Skeve. We inspired each other on occasion. I just cannot believe it is true.
Remember when you showed up in town, all smiles and enthusiasm. Will think about you just about everytime I ski from now on. Will share the story of your life to my children with a smile. Most of all I will keep skiing pal. See you sometime. Keep making turns…….
JC
RIP Steve…
Steve I love your blog, passion, and the way with which you lived your life; you and your family will be in our prayers. May you find peace and happiness in Heaven and may God provide His comfort to you and your family! Wishing you love and peace explorer.
Thanks for the informative and inspiring blog, you’re passion for the sport clearly showed. Thoughts to family and friends of both Steve and Chris.
NO WAY! I didn’t believe this when I read it. It had to be someone else. SHOOTS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I always enjoyed seeing Steve at Outdoor Retailer, Rando races & for beers while in Jackson. He always had a smile on his face, a positive attitude and a very contagious enthusiasm for the sport he loved. I found him to be both genuine and modest, qualities which often showed through in his entertaining blog posts.
May Steve & Chris find happiness and everlasting pow, and their families solace in lives well lived.
Wow, I just heard the news. Simply devastated. You will be missed!
Have been greiving in my own, silent way for many days… I knew Romeo when he wqs a lifty in the early 90′s; and Chris and I had started working on the tram as operators in the summer of 1994. Chris went on to tram maintainance within the next season or so… Regardless I enjoyed working with Onufer for many years following while I was trying to get my ski school/guiding clients on the early trams while the snow was really great…
Onufer would always offer a combination snarl/grin, and let bums be bums….
He was a great man, that I knew well for a few years. I will miss him hollering my name (and some form of derogitory effort) from him from the upper gantrys of the motor room.
Rest in [eace, old friend.
And here’s to anyone that has the notion to continue Steve’s blog… I would support it. Pretty sure he would enjoy it… Keep the same fundamental feel of the website, and I think there are many years of great info and stoke to fill Teton AT.
Cheers, my friends. I’ll miss you two.
-JAX
My sincere condolances go out to Steve and Chris’s families and friends in this difficult time. Daily visits to Teton AT and your enthusiasm has motivated me to dream big and push myself. Thank you Steve for the inspiration. May you and Chris rest in peace.
Regards,
Mike
Congrats Reed!! This is a great way to remember Rando Steve.
Rando~ I am sad. We had much more to discuss. Greg
thinking of you today… wish you were here to ski the freshies. You were a great coworker and I’m glad the only nickname that ever stuck was the one you gave me… even if those aren’t my initials.
AK
Is there any recordings of the memorial service anywhere? I didn’t know either Steve or Chris. But I sure miss this blog!!! Felt like I knew Steve a little.
I keep checking back hoping this is just a bad dream. RIP Steve and Chris, you both will be missed.
Hope the website stays up! Even if it never sees another post, it’s such a treasure of memories and resources.
SKI
I’m still numb…. The passion, the adventure, may we all keep the dream alive..