In September of 1996 I started attending Forsyth Tech Community College, in those days there weren’t as many snowboarders around and people that didn’t snowboard, for sure didn’t wear snowboard branded clothing as a badge of honor. Maybe you can imagine how excited I was when this dude walked into the first class I ever attended post high school wearing some snow brand, likely Planet Earth back then for Erik, and a Burton backpack. Of course we had to have a conversation after class! We became friends and realized we had mutual friends from the skateboard scene. Erik hated school so he disappeared for a while – like a solid year or so – and when he resurfaced it was close to snowboard season. We started to snowboard together and I instantly realized how good of a rider he was. My riding style quickly began to mimic his relaxed arms, super-squatted legs, flowy style. I’ve heard stories from other friends of ours that felt proud for catching up to him on the mountain only to realize Erik was riding switch the whole time (opposite of his normal riding position)!

Erik was born with a rare, but highly aggressive form of Cystic Fibrosis (CF)  that limited him some physically. He battled multiple trips in and out of the hospital yearly when he lived in NC because his lungs would fill with mucus from the CF causing infection, requiring hospital trips for sometimes 1-2 weeks for intense treatment; often with a picc line in his arm for meds. Even with this form of CF, he didn’t allow it to slow him down or hinder him in the parts of life that he loved – snowboarding, making money, skateboarding, playing drums, and later on, dirtbikes. Erik was determined to live each day to the fullest and have as much fun as he could in the process. Because of his “charge everything” way of life, it often meant getting up hours before everyone else to go through his medical routine for the day, which included a nebulizer, an air filled vest that would vibrate the mucus in his lungs loose, and a medicine regimen that would make most people give up. He did this every morning just to be a little more comfortable so he could enjoy his life more! 

I grew up in a conservative evangelical christian home and Erik grew up Jehovah Witness (JW). I knew a few JW’s from grade school but hadn’t been much more than school friends with any of them and all I really knew was that they didn’t celebrate birthdays and holidays like Christmas. As Erik and I began snowboarding/skateboarding together, I ended up working for a shop he started after deciding he’d learned enough in his first semester of community college. In 2001 after a couple of months of me working for Erik in the shop, he felt comfortable enough with me being there in NC that he packed up and moved to Summit County CO and left me in charge of the store front. The fall of 2001 was a wild time, we were a month or two post 9/11 and most places were having a terrible time selling through inventory. Erik had always been a fan of ebay and started listing a few items from the shop to see if we could move some inventory. Turns out, that idea was golden and we were selling through product quickly. One of our snowboard sales reps who was in his first year loved us because out of his entire territory from Northern Virginia to Florida, we were the only shop doing reorders (that means he was making some money). Turns out, this massive snowboard company had rules against this practice and slapped us on the wrist until we opened another account and started back up. Ebay was good for us for a lot of years!  

In 2007 when a job brought my family to Colorado, he was the 1st person waiting for me when we pulled into town with our moving truck. It was like a personal welcoming committee. He drove 70 miles to help us unload our truck to set up as a family in CO. He didn’t need to do that, the organization I was going to work with had arranged like 20 people to help us move in that day. His friendship brought him down the mountain that day to help me out. For the next 8 years we got to snowboard together, sold snowboards (and other gear) on ebay, and I got to watch Novik, his dirt bike glove company, come to life. His Ebay snowboard business had been his full time income and Novik turned out to be his passion project. I’m grateful that he brought me into the ebay portion as a side gig to make extra money. Erik was always quick to offer extra product he didn’t have time/room to sell, to me as a way to help me have a more comfortable life financially. When things weren’t selling fast enough for my comfort, he would always say “it’ll sell.” He had some products that stayed listed on ebay for 3-4 years. It wasn’t just me he tried to help – I once heard how he gave a car to someone that was in need. It’s hilarious to me that he gave a car away because he was so tight with his money that he wouldn’t buy food (even when he was on empty) when we were snowboarding. He would walk through the lodge and find a pack of crackers or a free granola bar (Vail resorts used to give those away), and a cup of water, ride some more laps and then go hit one of the local happy hours that he was happy to give you the scoop on when you were up riding and needed food afterwards. His willingness to give me a hand up provided so much for my family; those late nights on ebay bought season passes, vacations, more product to sell, and paid off vehicles for my family.

After many years of friendship and conversation I decided that his life as a JW and my spirituality were NOT as different as people tried to tell me we were. Honestly, someone that didn’t practice what either of us did spiritually would likely say we were both nuts.

As we grew into actual adulthood we remained friends and did business together because of relationships built in the snowboarding industry. Erik and his wife, Melissa, were supporters when Traci and I had kids, Erik tried on an almost weekly basis to convince me to move to Summit County so I could be closer and snowboard more often – he even taught my 3 year old son a word I won’t mention here – he did get in trouble with Melissa for that one.

For months in 2015 he shared stories with me of investing in a new drug for the specific strain of CF he was born with and how he poured much of his personal cash flow into it with hopes of helping himself or someone else down the road.

Complications from CF ended Eriks life early in the morning on Thanksgiving day of 2015. Three days before his death we got an early season day at Keystone with great snow to ride together (unbeknownst to me) one last time. During one of our lift rides he shared about a leaky vein in his lungs that he needed to have fixed but was putting it off because some friends were flying in to go snowboarding soon and the snow was firing and he didn’t want to miss out. On the way back to the Denver suburbs that day I had a conversation with my cousin how that day was the healthiest we could remember hearing/seeing him… less (if any) coughing and such. I always knew Erik’s life expectancy wasn’t as long as we hoped it would be, but I imagined with his type of CF we’d have to watch him suffer for an extended period before he passed. 

Was it better this way? Fast and unexpected with no real goodbye and laugh and making fun of each other like normal? Or is it better to be able to say all the things? That’s a tough call… I just know that I am thankful for that one last day of “slashes” and lift ride antics. 

Turns out the leaky vein mentioned earlier hemorrhaged causing his death that November morning. I’ll never forget where I was sitting when I got the phone call from Bryan that morning. My mom flew out to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and brought a box of Bo-berry biscuits from Bojangles for Erik (they were his favorite). Earlier that morning, I had left him a voicemail to plan a time to get the biscuits to him. Instead, I remember where I went to weep in the front room of my house. I remember the 2 calls I made. Erik’s friend and business partner with Novik called me that morning telling me of what happened. I’m so sorry you had to make those calls that day Bryan. 

I didn’t go to Summit County unless I had to for a few years after Erik passed away. I had a tough time going there because my typical habit was coming out of the tunnel and descending the hill into Summit County. I would be on the phone with Erik, making sure he was ready when I got to his house. Each time I have been there after Erik’s death 7 years ago, I realize how much I miss him. I recently visited Summit County where Erik lived and it felt different; it was like the days when he couldn’t go ride with me, but was still pumped for me being able to go. If any of you knew Erik, you know he would have made fun of me for being too sad to go ride. Processing him being gone was weird at first; I have been on the lift while enjoying some spring laps at Breck and found myself with tears in my goggles (out of nowhere). 

My last day riding with Erik turned out to be one of the funnest days I ever had on the mountain with him. I am eternally grateful for that day riding Keystone together. 

I believe we could all take lessons from Erik: 

• We should make the most of every opportunity we are given – whether that be doing something fun we love, a work opportunity, relationships, or perhaps a blend of all of these together. 
• Without Erik’s influence, it is likely that I would have stayed in at least one job I was unhappy with a little while longer just because of income and insurance. 
• We should learn the importance of skipping work or school to go snowboarding occasionally (as often as possible) on a good snow day
• That it’s okay to use your credit card to have some fun/make a memory,
• I would know less about having the most fun I can while I’m here regardless of how I feel physically – Erik lived this way because he wasn’t sure how many more good days he had left. 
• It’s always fun to do burnouts in the snow – no matter what you drive
• And, a phrase that irritated me when we were basically running small snowboard shops on ebay with promissory notes written that terrified me that first couple of times we had to sign them to get our inventory, “it’ll sell.”