Friends remember Justin Kautz

Jackson Hole Skier Lived Life With Intention, Generosity

By Lauren M. Whaley, 1-09-07

	Kautz in his Teton Gravity Research sweatshirt on a New Zealand beach the year before he moved to Jackson, 2003.

Fallen skier Justin Kautz did everything in life with intention, even at the moment just before he died.

Kautz, a 25-year-old Wilson, Wyo. man, died Friday from internal bleeding after skiing off a cliff to avoid being swept over it by an avalanche outside the boundaries of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

When he heard the avalanche break behind him, he pointed his skis downhill and jumped.

Friend Jenna Cropley said Kautz lived like we all want to: “purposefully and passionately.”

Just a few months ago, Kautz quit his job as manager at Stiegler’s restaurant, took out a business loan and started woodworking full time—a trade he learned from his father.

‘“This is what I’m going to do to make money,” Cropley remembered him saying. “‘How is making wood things going to change anybody? My writing is my real work, that’s what will impact people.’”

Indeed, he always carried a book of poems or politics in his backcountry pack next to his shovel and extra layers. He even laminated his skis with inspirational quotations and had the phrase "lines to ski, stories to tell" taped to the back of his ski helment.

He wrote short stories, made a complete Powder Magazine mock-up with original photographs and writing, published several articles and had nearly completed a book of short fiction to be called The Ford at Penuel.

“Justin was passionate about skiing, true, but he would skip even the biggest powder day to write,” said former girlfriend Elise Stiegler. “And yet, even then, if you came by, all he wanted to do was make tea and talk.”

Friends say Kautz lived the change he hoped to see. He donated 10 percent of all the money he made selling wooden sculptures and engravings to Invisible Children, Inc., which works to educate people about children kidnapped and forced into military service in Uganda.

“He had money on credit cards that he had to pay off and they kept building, but he would still give 10 percent of everything he earned no matter what,” said roommate Adam VanSickle, who lived with Kautz and Joel Wenger in a little cabin on Heck-of-a-Hill Road in Wilson.

“He believed every human deserves respect and that every human life is worth the world,” said friend Karla Hanson. She also recalled how he convinced Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church to toll their bells each time someone was killed in the United States under the death penalty. He was saving a bottle of Dom Perignon in a wooden cradle for the day when the death penalty is abolished in the United States.

	Kautz doing his "signature backflip," 2004. Photos courtesy of Kautz’s friends.

Kautz’s father, Will, told the Valley News in West Lebanon, N.H. that Kautz was a man of “purpose and integrity.”

“He had deep faith in the redemptive power of God, which enabled him to stand up for what was right, regardless of the consequences,” Will Kautz said. “If we don't say this about Justin, we don't capture his character.”

Friend Josh Smith—a ski coach and former ski patroller—who was skiing with Kautz Friday and helped in rescue efforts, said “He’d ski Monday through Friday, then Saturday and Sunday were his days to write; he’d go to church Sunday morning.”

Smith, Kautz and friend Joel Bettner planned to huck Fat Bastard, a 60–70 foot cliff located in Rock Springs Canyon south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, late Friday morning. The friends had scoped the cliff the day before.

After retreating to a “safe zone” on a flat area behind some big trees, Smith and Bettner, who had decided against jumping that day, watched Kautz ski to the edge twice and stop to make sure he could gather enough speed to clear the cliff.

When Kautz side-stepped back up to position himself for the real jump, Smith watched the snow fracture about 20 feet above him.

“As soon as he saw the fracture, Justin, acting according to our contingency plan, immediately pointed his skis at the cliff and went off,” Smith said.

Kautz wasn’t able to launch from his intended spot.

“He landed in a completely different direction than he looked like he was going to, like 45 degrees different,” said Thomas Gatehouse, who witnessed the accident.

“He landed in a much flatter area, almost dead flat,” Smith said. “When he landed on his feet, his knees could have come up against his chest. From that height, it would be like someone taking a baseball bat to the chest.”

Teton County Coroner Bob Campbell reported Saturday that Kautz died from internal bleeding.

Gatehouse, who captured the accident on film, said the whole thing “happened not even blink-your-eyes fast … faster.”

The avalanche also swept Smith and Bettner over the cliff. They both landed on their backs and were completely unhurt. Neither was treated for injuries.

Two firefighters, out for a ski that day, got to Kautz first. Smith soon joined them.

	Kautz and Smith check out the cliff before Smith retreats and Kautz prepares to jump, Jan. 5, 2007. Photo and labels courtsey Thomas Gatehouse.

At first, it seemed like Kautz would be OK, with his only visible injury a rotated lower left leg. He had a strong pulse and was breathing normally.

The Teton County Sheriff’s Office said that a woman called dispatch at 12:28 p.m. to report the accident. Teton County Search and Rescue – who has jurisdiction in the Bridger-Teton National Forest outside the resort’s boundaries – called on Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski patrol for help.

Smith estimated the first patroller arrived with a toboggan about 10 –15 minutes after the accident.

Patrollers contacted a life-flight helicopter from Idaho Falls, but it did not fly in due to increasingly bad weather, said Anna Olson, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort spokeswoman.

“Within about 10 minutes of the first patroller getting there, Justin’s vitals started to drop rapidly,” Smith said. “Within five minutes of him starting to drop, he stopped breathing and then lost consciousness. … We started CPR and did that for probably 20 to 30 minutes.”

“He basically died before he was even loaded into the ski patrol’s toboggan,” Smith said.

Olson said a doctor from the resort’s clinic pronounced Kautz pronounced dead at the scene.

“The rescue all happened as it should have,” Olson said in a phone interview Monday.

After watching his video footage, Gatehouse confirmed the Bridger-Teton National Forest avalanche center’s report that the avalanche was skier-triggered.

Smith thinks a natural avalanche may have occurred above Kautz, but also concedes Kautz may have hit a “sweet spot” in the snow while side-stepping up, as he was the only one of the three moving at the time of the fracture.

Avalanche forecasters on Friday morning predicted that surface slabs of 6 to 18 inches could be triggered by skiers, as seven skiers triggered similar slides the day before.

Kautz, originally from Hartland, VT, attended Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colo. and moved to Jackson Hole in Aug. 2004. Kautz, the oldest of four, is survived by younger brother Nate, younger sisters Lisa and Emily and his two parents.

Friends are holding a memorial service at 9 a.m. today at Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church on Seneca Lane in Jackson. They are also holding a benefit reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight at Stiegler's Austrian & Continental Fine Dining Restaurant. All proceeds will be donated to Invisible Children, Inc. in Kautz’s name.

In lieu of flowers, people should donate to Invisible Children, Inc.

–Paul Saieg contributed to this report.

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