My heart is broken and this is a pure hell that we are living in! I lost my brother on Friday to an avalanche. We are trying to deal with the grief and sadness. The slide that happened up above bear river service took the life of my brother Ryan Noorda. It damn near took the life of my twin brother Kevin. They had climbed that hill earlier in the day and were making their way back to the motor home to meet up with my father and Ryan's young 11 yr old son. Ryan triggered the slide as he was high up on the hill. Kevin was about 100 yards below and out ran it. After the slide stopped my twin brother raced back into the slide and began searching. He didn't know where to start, but started. It took about 20 minutes for him to find Ryan via beacon and dug him out. Kevin tried to revive him with CPR but failed. He then sat and talked with Ryan on the hillside. He made the long ride out without him. He then had to tell my father that Ryan had passed. Kevin then called me and I had to tell Ryan's wife, daughters and my mother. Their are no words in the English language to describe the difficultly and grief that this is. To stand their and tell everyone that Ryan has died will forever haunt me. My brother will carry the burden of loosing him on the mountain. It hurts!!!!
We as a family grew up in the sport. We were just as addicted as the next guy. We all eventually sold our sleds and moved on to other hobbies. Ryan loved snowmobiling. He eventually got back into it to continue the tradition with his son. That was the first time he had his son in the mountains. He wanted to go on a ride one last time with our dad. My father and twin brother rented some sleds to go re-live an old annual trip we made for many years. I will never ride a sled again. I will never let my son one as we are in a living hell. You always think it happens to someone else.
Funeral is set for Friday. God I miss him!!!!!! Ryan left behind a wife, 3 kids, 2 loving parents and 4 brothers who are just grief stricken. Just remember that when you have that urge to go up that hill one last time, someone will be at home who has to tell everyone else that your not coming home. That is the reality of this!!!
We as a family grew up in the sport. We were just as addicted as the next guy. We all eventually sold our sleds and moved on to other hobbies. Ryan loved snowmobiling. He eventually got back into it to continue the tradition with his son. That was the first time he had his son in the mountains. He wanted to go on a ride one last time with our dad. My father and twin brother rented some sleds to go re-live an old annual trip we made for many years. I will never ride a sled again. I will never let my son one as we are in a living hell. You always think it happens to someone else.
Funeral is set for Friday. God I miss him!!!!!! Ryan left behind a wife, 3 kids, 2 loving parents and 4 brothers who are just grief stricken. Just remember that when you have that urge to go up that hill one last time, someone will be at home who has to tell everyone else that your not coming home. That is the reality of this!!!
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