Aaron Karitis was incapable of doing anything halfway. When the 31-year-old Bend, Oregon-native decided to do something, whether it was a golf game with friends, landscaping his backyard or starting his own business, he prepared, made a plan, and then tried for perfection. He took his guiding seriously. He went to Canada for his avalanche education, where his level-two certification required more rigorous study and testing than it would have in the U.S. In work and life, Aaron held himself to the highest standards.

That aspect of his personality is one reason that his death was so shocking. On Saturday, while guiding clients as a subcontractor for (SEABA), Aaron was caught in an avalanche near the Kicking Horse Valley, west of Haines. He was buried under four feet of snow for 15 minutes. He died Monday night, after many of his friends and extended family had gathered around him at the Providence Alaska Medical Center, in Anchorage. He鈥檚 survived by his mother, Beverly, and sister, Ashley.

I met Aaron through the Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation, in our hometown of Bend, when we were in elementary school. Though Aaron was a talented ski racer, he never took it too seriously. He would sneak away from training to find jumps and fresh powder. Skiing was the foundation of our friendship. After college, we helped each other pursue careers in the ski industry. We took a trip to Japan together and scored the deepest turns of our lives. Whenever we were both in town, we made a point to ski together, like last month when we battled President鈥檚 Day Weekend crowds on a powder day. Aaron came over after skiing to meet my 4-month-old son. He gave him a handmade quilt.

Friends in Bend knew Aaron as 鈥淏ig Haas.鈥� A lean 6-foot-4, Aaron wasn鈥檛 built to ski, but his smooth style and perfect technique landed him in magazines and advertisements. A shot of him skiing at Mount Bachelor became the cover of magazine in October 2008.

Aaron loved a good story. As he recounted a day on the hill or a wild night out, he鈥檇 vigorously rub his hands together, clap, lean back in his chair laughing, and then slowly lean forward, chuckling and shaking his head. He was a listener. When he asked how you were, he really wanted to know. He used social media but preferred one-on-one chats鈥攅specially on his back porch over a Mirror Pond Pale Ale poured into one of the frosty pint glasses he kept in the freezer.

With so much of his time spent on the road for work and play, Aaron appreciated home: the routine of office work, ski, gym, yoga, and dinner at his mom鈥檚 house or a nightcap with a friend. Aaron didn鈥檛 cancel plans. He was never late. If he said he鈥檇 call you after skiing, he called. If he said he鈥檇 pick you up at 8 a.m., he鈥檇 pull his red Jeep (his first and only car) into the driveway at 7:57.

Though guiding well-heeled clients from big cities is inherently social, Aaron was guarded. It took a lot to break down the walls, but once you made it into his inner circle, you were there for life. Aaron valued loyalty, honesty, and respect. As one friend said, he asked a lot from his friends, but he gave a lot in return. He expected the best from you because that鈥檚 what he gave of himself. Beyond his tough and stubborn exterior, Aaron was sentimental and generous with his love and affection. Even when he wasn鈥檛 around, Aaron had a knack for reminding his friends that they were still on his mind. Whether it was a thank you note after a short visit, a Christmas present he saved for the entire year, or a postcard from an exotic locale, he made his friends feel special.

Aaron first discovered Alaska a decade ago, when he interned at Valdez-based while attending the University of Utah. Under Dean and Karen Cummings, he worked his way up from office manager to lead guide and director of operations. Aaron built his client base, skiing with many of the same return guests season after season. Last year, he founded his own international adventure guiding operation, , to keep him busy outside of the March-to-May Alaska heli season. In his first year, he organized trips to Japan, British Columbia, and Alaska and took surfers to Nicaragua. When the avalanche swept him away on Saturday, he was living an enviable life that he鈥檇 worked hard to create.

After being dropped off with his clients at the top of a run called Tele 2.5, Aaron dug a snow pit and ski cut the slope. He told his clients that they鈥檇 ski one at a time as soon as he stopped at a midpoint on the run. (Early reports that Aaron had deemed the slope unsafe to ski were inaccurate.) As he skied toward his safe zone, the slope released above him and swept him approximately 700 feet downhill. He wasn鈥檛 wearing a helmet or one of the avalanche air bags that have become popular in recent years. According to another guide, his injuries were mostly the result of asphyxiation. It was the second time in two years that a SEABA guide has died in the field.

Although both accidents can probably be attributed to bad luck, heli-ski guides do take on risks unique to their profession. Alaska鈥檚 terrain is far too big to use explosives to control for avalanches. Meanwhile, the economics of the trade mean that most groups have only a single guide. Keeping a seat on the helicopter for a second tail guide costs an outfitter roughly $1,500 per day in wages and lost revenue, and each airship can be responsible for servicing up to four groups at a time. That means that each heli guide is alone in the backcountry with his or her group and a two-way radio. Guides are right there to dig out clients but when a guide gets buried, clients are rarely up to the task of performing a rescue, and the calvary usually arrives by helicopter for the beacon search to begin. That鈥檚 what happened in this case. Other guides arrived by helicopter to help, but it was too late.

Despite the inherent danger of heli ski guiding, the job is one of the most coveted anywhere in the adventure industry, and Aaron wouldn鈥檛 have traded it for anything. A week before the slide, along with a photo of the Lombardi trophy and wrote, 鈥淎laska… Simply put, the Super Bowl of our sport. Not many places change lives鈥� this place is one of them.鈥�

Aaron seized every day and encouraged those around him to do the same. To waste time or miss out on an opportunity was simply unacceptable. His skiing philosophy was always quality over quantity. He鈥檇 traverse a slope farther than anyone for those few extra fresh turns. It鈥檚 kind of an ironic metaphor for his life鈥攕hort, but of the highest quality.

Aaron told one friend that death taught him something at a young age. He said, recalling an old Mae West quote, that you only live once but if you do it right, once is enough.

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Four years ago, the current reigning world-champion slalom skier Mikaela Shiffrin, then all of 14, realized timing was everything. The more she skied slalom, ski racing鈥檚 most technical event, the more she felt a unique tempo. She honed in on the sound of the gates hitting the snow. She heard a beat鈥攗sually drums, but sometimes the rhythmic strumming of a guitar. 鈥淭empo鈥� became her trigger word.

Check out our slideshow of the young skiing phenom.

鈥淚f anyone said 鈥榯empo鈥�, I鈥檇 search for that correct feeling,鈥� says Shiffrin. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 worried about the technical movements; I was just looking for perfect timing. It changes with every course, but I鈥檝e gotten to the point where I can inspect the course and feel the tempo before I ski it.鈥�

On January 14, 2014, Shiffrin race of the season, solidifying her position as Olympic favorite in the event. The 18-year-old has also podiumed twice in giant slalom this season, another discipline in which she’s a viable medal contendar in Sochi. Last season, her second on the World Cup circuit, Shiffrin won the slalom race at the world championships in Schladming, Austria, becoming the fourth youngest woman鈥攁nd just third non-European鈥攖o win the World Cup Slalom title. Oh, and she also graduated high school from Vermont鈥檚 Burke Mountain Academy.

Off the slopes, the rosy cheeked, curly haired American teen looks as wholesome as her friends describe her.

鈥淪he鈥檚 the epitome of a normal girl,鈥� says her BMA roommate Brayton Pech. 鈥淪he’s not afraid to make fun of herself. She doesn’t swear. She does these great impressions from Pixar movies. She loves to nap. She鈥檚 a good listener. She’s never fake鈥� she’s exactly who she is.鈥�

But when it comes to owning technical ski races, she鈥檚 all focus and hard work. 鈥淚鈥檓 not the most athletic person,鈥� Shiffrin says. 鈥淪ports are in my genes, but there are a lot of other girls who I鈥檝e gone up against who are better athletes鈥攖hey鈥檙e stronger, bigger, faster, scrappier, and mentally tougher.鈥�

But nothing could deter Shiffrin from improving. She was鈥攁nd still is鈥攈ell bent on becoming tangibly better everyday.

鈥淚鈥檓 always hungry to ski,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here are times when I do need a day off but it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 fatigued, not because I don鈥檛 want to put my boots on.鈥�

At BMA, a small boarding school with a ski-racing emphasis (alum include Erik Schlopy and Diann Roffe), Shiffrin was usually the first one on the hill, warming up and helping set the course. After training, she鈥檇 ski another five runs on her own, working on various drills to perfect her technique.

鈥淪he鈥檚 a student of skiing,鈥� says Kirk Dwyer, her coach at BMA, who Shiffrin credits with establishing her work ethic. 鈥淪he鈥檚 probably spent more time analyzing video than any skier out there.鈥�

Pech remembers a powder day when class was cancelled. After a few runs, Shiffrin disappeared.

鈥淚 was on the chairlift and looked over at our training hill. Half the fencing was covered in snow and Mikaela was doing drills on her Super G skis. What most of us see as work, she sees as fun.鈥�

Shiffrin鈥檚 parents, Jeff and Eileen, noticed her talent early on. 鈥淪he had the fundamentals dialed by the time she was six,鈥� says Eileen. 鈥淪he was already arcing these awesome turns.鈥�

In 2003, her family left Vail, Colorado, for New England, where Shiffrin and her older brother Taylor enrolled at Burke. A brief stint back in Colorado proved to Shiffrin that the east coast, with its challenging conditions and efficient vertical, was the optimal place to develop as a ski racer. Her modus operandi: high volume.

鈥淭here are few skiers who can ski the amount Mikaela skis,鈥� says Dwyer.

When she was 14, while most of her peers were competing in up to 30 races a season, Shiffrin only raced a dozen times. Instead of traveling to races around the country and skiing two timed runs, she skied all day, everyday, working on her technique.

鈥淎t that stage, and even now, I need a lot of training,鈥� says Shiffrin. 鈥淚鈥檓 racing with girls who have 10 years mileage on me, so I have to take every chance to train.鈥�

Shiffrin explains that because 60-second runs take up a small portion of a typical five-hour training day, a lot of her time revolves around visualization.

鈥淵ou can pretty much simulate training,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you visualize well enough, your brain can鈥檛 tell between skiing and visualizing. Then, you can get double or triple the amount of training.鈥�

Shiffrin started her first World Cup race at the age of 15. Two years later, she won her first World Cup race in Are, Sweden, becoming the second-youngest American ever to win an alpine World Cup event. Instead of traveling with the U.S. Ski Team鈥攁nd teammates ten years her senior鈥擬ikaela chose to travel the World Cup circuit with her mom. Eileen has spent the last two winters driving around the Alps with her daughter, taking care of meals and laundry, and helping her study and complete high school while on the road. She even plays a coach鈥檚 role from time to time.

鈥淪he has a good eye,鈥� says Shiffrin. 鈥淚f I have a tough day I can look at video with her and we can start to figure out what happened. It鈥檚 been like that ever since I can remember.鈥�

With Shiffrin鈥檚 work ethic and determination, she most likely could have succeeded in a number of sports. But when her coach recently asked her why she didn鈥檛 pursue soccer, she answered confidently:

鈥淚鈥檓 a ski racer. That鈥檚 how I identify myself, with skis strapped to my feet.”

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