Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/732873
photography by ace Kvale (coombs); courtesy of robert cocuzzo (cocuzzo, booK, alasKa) magazine (and a contributing writer to Boston Common), first came to Coombs in the ski movies he would watch with his friends in his parents' basement growing up. Amazed at Coombs's ability and ease on treacherous terrain—often, terrain that had never been skied before—Cocuzzo says he was also impressed with Coombs's unassuming nature in interviews and videos. "I was drawn to the fact that he was a humble hero," he says, that a man of such astronomical talent carried not a hint of ego. To find out what he did carry, the writer decided he needed to step into Coombs's boots. The book recounts Cocuzzo's journey to ski where Coombs had skied—Jackson Hole, Alaska's back- country, the French Alps—to the slopes, ridges, and gullies where Coombs claimed his first descents and made his name. At first, what he found were similarities to his own path: Cocuzzo grew up in Arlington, less than 10 miles from Coombs's native Bedford; both learned to ski at Nashoba Valley, a 240-foot hill in Westford; both moved to, and ultimately away from, Jackson Hole. From there, says Cocuzzo, "His life became this roadmap for me to follow." He followed Coombs's trail all the way to its end, in La Grave, France, where, after more than three decades of frontier skiing, Coombs succumbed to the moun- tains in the shadow of La Meije, a peak 13,000 feet taller than Nashoba Valley. Following the path of the world's finest skier, says Cocuzzo, taught him more than routes and angles. From Coombs, he says, "I learned about the power of the human spirit." Cocuzzo speaks about Tracking the Wild Coomba at TEDxBeaconStreet on November 20 and the Harvard COOP on November 30. mountaineersbooks.org; robcocuzzo.com . "DOUG COOMbS WAS A HUMbLE HERO. FROM HIM, I LEARNED AbOUT THE POWER OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT." —robert cocuzzo clockwise from here: Coombs (left) skis with his wife, Emily, and friend Mike Hattrup in Alaska; Cocuzzo on the trail; proceeds from the book's sales will benefit the Doug Coombs Foundation, a nonprofit run by Emily that helps immigrant children in Jackson Hole learn to ski; Valdez, Alaska. 44 bostoncommon-magazine.com Scene read