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Free spirit died in his 'happy place'

North Battleford, Whistler to remember two who lost lives in New Year's avalanches
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No Amateur Aaron Fauchon, 26, was one of two avalanche deaths on Whistler and Blackcomb on New Year's Eve. Fauchon was in a closed area called Secret Chutes on Whistler Mountain when the incident happened

To television networks covering his death, Steve Clark was a simple construction worker. But for housemate Alison Kemp, he was “Steve-O,” an expert skier who died in his “happy place.”

Clark, 37, was killed in a class 2 avalanche in Blackcomb’s Ruby Bowl on New Year’s Eve. A Whistler resident, he leaves behind two parents, a brother and a nephew to whom he’d just become an uncle seven months ago.

Kemp, also a Whistler resident, shared a house with him in Alpine Meadows for three years. In just under a decade of friendship, she came to know him as an exciting personality who loved the mountains like he valued his life. She would have trusted him with her life on the slopes.

“He needed to be up there like we needed to breathe,” she said in an interview. “He was good at it, he was experienced, it put him in his happy place.”

Clark grew up in West Vancouver and graduated from West Vancouver Secondary School in 1989. From there he went on to study business at Capilano College and the University of Western Ontario. He also spent time traveling all around Europe and to Australia in his younger days.

Family friend Patricia Leslie said he moved to Whistler sometime in the late ’90s — a place where his family had a ski cabin since the early 1970s. He learned to ski when he was four years old and “grew up skiing Whistler and Blackcomb,” she said.

No run in Whistler did it for him like Spanky’s Ladder — the entrance to some of Blackcomb’s most difficult runs such as the Garnet, Rainbow and Ruby Bowls.

“He was a very free spirit,” Kemp said. “He was also known to say ‘I’m going for a walk’ and he’d go up and up and he’d just go up and he’d come back down when he was ready.

“That day wasn’t one of those days, he didn’t say he was going for a walk and he didn’t come back.”

On New Year’s Eve, Clark had gone up with some friends and done several laps with them in Ruby Bowl — an area that had been marked beyond boundary due to dangerous snow conditions. The avalanche hazard was high and there was minimal avalanche control in the area.

As Kemp tells it, Clark’s friends were readying to go and he wanted just one more run in the bowl. People last saw him on the Blackcomb Rescue Road at about 2 p.m.

More than six hours passed and they hadn’t heard from him, so Whistler RCMP were contacted at around 8:30 p.m. about an overdue skier. Right away the Blackcomb Ski Search manager and Search and Rescue were notified. Police contacted Clark’s cell phone provider and used a GPS signal on his phone to confirm he was still on the mountain.

At 9:35 the next morning, Blackcomb Ski Patrol, along with dog teams and Whistler Search and Rescue found his body. He had been hit by a class 2 avalanche — big enough to injure and bury people.

Today, Kemp remembers Clark as a joyful man who gave “bone-crushing hugs” and had a smile that went ear to ear.

“He shared his acre of a smile and a ready laugh with everybody,” she said. “He was a real listener, he always wanted to know and learn more in this life. I remember he would fold his hands and lean in, he would concentrate just to hear you.”

Since the incident, people have shown up at Clark’s old house to give “Steve-style” hugs to both Kemp and his family.

This Friday at Dusty’s Bar and BBQ, friends will be holding a “big wake” for Clarke — organizers haven’t yet agreed on a title.

Kemp hopes people remember him as “hip deep” in powder and grinning from ear to ear. “One person has suggested ‘Steve-O’ fest,” Kemp said. “He was Steve-O, he was Clarkey and he did everything Steve-O style.”

A second New Year’s avalanche claimed the life of Aaron Fauchon, a 26-year-old snowboarder from North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

An experienced rider, he was carving in an area known as the Secret Chutes, near the Symphony Bowl. Like Ruby Bowl, the area had been designated “beyond boundary” due to snow conditions.

The Whistler RCMP heard of his death at about 3 p.m. Jan. 1. Fauchon had been riding on his own when he, too, was buried in a class 2 avalanche. Whistler Ski Patrol and dog and handler teams with the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association combed the area thoroughly and ensured no one else was caught in the slide.

Lifelong friend Brennan McFaul remembers Fauchon as a persistent, upbeat “go-getter” who rarely backed down from a challenge.

“He’d always get these ideas in his head and he’d go and do it,” he said. “He’d get ideas and he’d follow through… (he) climbed a mountain this summer and it was almost a ‘for the moment’ thing. Whatever he set his mind to he could do.”

Fauchon and McFaul had been friends since pre-school. They went on to attend John Paul II Collegiate together, a Catholic School in North Battleford. Fauchon graduated from North Battleford Comprehensive High School, a public school, in 2000, and later moved to Grande Prairie, Alberta to work in the oil and gas industry.

Through it all, Fauchon and McFaul remained close friends.

“You kind of go your separate ways after high school,” McFaul said. “Me and him were always the ones of the original group from back in the day who still hung out with each other.”

Fauchon was an avid snowboarder since he learned how to do it in 1995 — “since it became cool,” according to McFaul. He honed his craft on Table Mountain near North Battleford and loved fresh powder — and he rarely took an easy route.

“He wasn’t a guy who took an easy way in any things he did,” McFaul said. “He liked to challenge himself, whatever it was, whether it was work, whether it was figuring out what his next move’s going to be.

“He definitely was a guy that liked to challenge himself and his friends.”

Fauchon had taken his craft to Whistler on a number of occasions over the past few years, according to McFaul. He and his uncle recently bought a house in Squamish, a place he could go and hang out whenever he wanted.

McFaul now remembers his friend as someone who was “always in good spirits” and was a positive influence on those close to him.

A memorial service for Fauchon will be held Thursday, Jan. 8 at 3 p.m. at the Don Ross Centre in North Battleford. His family is asking for donations in lieu of flowers to the Whistler Search and Rescue Team Fund.