[su_heading size=”18″]Saving a Friend from Avalanche Rubble[/su_heading]

After my interview with telemark skier Nick DeVore, I felt the need to further explore the allure of skiing in the back country in lieu of the dangers. Julie Kennedy, Founder of the Five Point Film Festival, sent me in the direction of Jake Sakson who was with Nick when he was swept into the avalanche.

Upon doing my research I was taken in by Jake’s eloquence on his website: “Humans everywhere are driven by the absence of true happiness. It is more properly called freedom because it penetrates deeper than just emotion; it inflicts the spirit. This freedom is not reliant on ones place in society or the globe or the type of government one lives under but a freedom that emanates from the heart.”

Jake was a child actor and appeared in a Disney movie as well as on the TV show Beverly Hills 90201. But acting took him away from his love, skiing, and he returned to Carbondale to live his passion of skiing and competing in big-mountain competitions. In 2010, he won second place at the Telemark Freeskiing World Championships at Alyeska, Alaska.