I have known Lee since 2003. He was the first person I met in the Washington Alpine Club when I took the Telemark Ski Class at Snoqualmie Pass. As my instructor, he left a great impression on me of patience, knowledge, humor, and a love for teaching. We had a few of our classes in the pouring rain, and his attitude and energy was the same those nights as it was on the nights with great snow and mild temperatures. His smile was infectious. It was obvious that he loved what he did and as a class we all were in awe of his skiing abilities. I still am. I have since spent time with Lee skiing, hiking, and teaching along side of him through the WAC basic climbing class. I wish I had more time with him and more stories to tell, but a few of my favorite memories of Lee are as follows.
One of the weekends that I remember the most was a weekend of camping on the Nisqually Glacier. We were preparing for training the basic class students about glacier travel. As I was setting up my tent in the dark, I mistakenly put one of my tent poles on the snow and it took off quickly down the glacier. KP and I looked for it for all of 10 minutes and gave up due to darkness and the effort, so we rigged my tent up with ski poles for the night. In the morning, as I was trying to motivate to get out of the tent and into the cold, I look out of my tent and see Lee carrying my tent stake as he skinned back up to camp. He had gotten up early (no surprise there), put on his skis, skied down about 1000ft of the Nisqually, wandered aimlessly left and right on a mission for the tent stake, somehow found it and made it back to camp. All of this happened before the rest of us even made it out of our tents. His energy was endless and appreciated.
A few years ago, I was part of a group, with Lee, that went to the Rendevous hut for a 4 day New Years Eve trip. Fred, Eileen and Lee had skied into the huts earlier in the day. Candace, Leah and I drove over in the afternoon and were working our way to the hut in the evening. The light was getting dark, our packs seemed a little heavy, and our skis were sticking to the snow. Of course, we were not super prepared because we sent many of our ski supplies into the hut via snowmobile on the earlier shuttle. So, Lee, who could have stayed with the multiple bottles of wine that decorated the cabin windowsills and watched the sunset, instead decided to come and check on us to see how our progress was. He brought ski wax for our skis, laughter for our souls, food to fuel us along and provided company the remainder of the way to the cabin. We were plenty safe to make it to the hut without him, but it was much more fun to ski the rest of the way with him. The 'inner beaver' who couldn't sit still, and enjoyed the wine once everyone was home. He always put other people first and loved sharing the joy of the outdoors with everyone.
He was the person that everyone trusted and respected. I was no different, it was an honor to go on the few trips that I did with him... I wish that I had more opportunities. Mostly I hope that he knew how much he was respected and how much people enjoyed his company. His stories of taking care of others complemented the actions he took in caring for me. He showed his skill, patience and leadership as he and our team helped me out of Logan Peak because of a bee sting reaction. I will always remember his caring nature throughout that weekend.
I have learned so much from Lee and valued his opinion, his company, his friendship and his humor. He was an inspiration to be with in the outdoors as well as inspirational to watch as he enjoyed the outdoors. He will be missed by all the people he touched and influenced along his way. I miss him.
-Kristin Kaupang
