GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — The family of a Glenwood Springs man is remembering him for his life of adventure.
Joel Shute loved Colorado's backcountry and even learned about its danger, yet the 36-year-old is one of Colorado's latest avalanche victims.
He and two others were caught in an avalanche Friday in Gunnison County.
"Where he is right now, he's skiing and he never has to sharpen his edges," his mother Lisa Gerstner, said as she sat in her son's garage.
A number of skis are hung behind her as she talks about a man who spent most of his life enjoying the snow.
"He was skiing before he was 2, and just never looked back," Joel's dad Steve Shute said.
"He was also very safety conscious," his stepmother Jan Shute added. "He got certified for backcountry first aid. He would go on these raft trips and he was the one assigned to be the person to help someone."
Help was what Joel needed on Friday. He and two friends were caught in an avalanche southwest of Marble near Chair Mountain.
One friend was able to hike out, and the other was rescued by helicopter. Search crews found Joel's body the next day.
"Yeah, backcountry skiing is a risk, but so is getting in your car," Joel's mom Lisa said. "He did everything right and sometimes nature's just stronger."
"He died doing what he loved, you know," Joel's brother Aaron Shute said.
But rather than focus on how he died, Joel's family wants to remember how he lived. They said he constantly found ways to help people and make them happy.
"He was so funny. He made me laugh from daylight to sundown," Joel's partner Ela Jaszczak said.
Joel's friends created a GoFundMe not for funeral expenses, but for the mountain search and rescue crews who help bring people back to their loved ones. His family said it's what he would have wanted.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center reports nine people have been killed in avalanches this year.
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