It's new year's eve 2011 and a I am sat in Driller's dining room, laughing, joking, kids screaming, playing hide and seek. The ipad is being passed round and we are showing each other pictures., videos and links we have seen, someone suggests looking at the annual round up of pictures on pinkbike.
I tap in the letters, the home page pops up and Duncan's face is there beaming out at me, the words I read leave me cold, numb, Duncan passed away whilst back country skiing in Pemberton with friends, caught in an avalanche on the last run of the day.
The environment I am in is far removed from the scene but I am immediately transported back to a day in the Chilcotins. One of many for Duncan as a ski and bike patroller in Whistler, with all that it offers on the doorstep but one of only a few for me as sometime visitor.
When I talk of riding in BC this is one of the days that stands out. I had only just been introduced to Duncan that week and here I was sat in his truck heading out for a day in the hills. The world is a darker place with Duncan's passing.
Me, I barely knew the man and can only imagine how his close friends and family must feel to have lost such a big ray of sunshine
Duncan Mackenzie. 29.12.2011.
