Super sad news - Carl Skoog dies :(

While I never had the pleasure of meeting your brother, Lowell. I certainly admire his work and the enthusiastic approach he took to life. I'm very sorry....Jerry White

Although I never met Carl in person, I've long been amazed and inspired by his skilled photography;<br>My condolences as well to all of Carl's family and friends.

Hello Lowell,<br>It was with great shock and sadness that I read on after opening Random Tracks. It is truly a tragedy when such a good person dies, especially when so all too soon. Carl's grand spirit touched so many of us in so many ways. My heartfelt condolences to you, your family, Rene and his family. Gerry Haugen

Jill and I just arrived in Pucon, Chile and learned of Carls accident. Carl and I had exchanged information about our upcoming trips to Argentina. I was looking forward to seeing the exceptional images of the places in the Andes we could only visit through Carls lenses.<br><br>Our hearts are saddened.<br><br>Zap & Jill

I'm impressed with PI reporter Angela Galloway's portrayal of Carl's life. She did what a good reporter should do; she talked to the right people; she got the facts right, and then she wrote (IMO) a great story about who Carl was.<br>I've reproduced it here for your convenience:<br><br>Tuesday, October 25, 2005<br><br>Carl Skoog, dead at 46: Adventure skier also excelled with lens<br><br>By ANGELA GALLOWAY<br>SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER<br><br>In the adrenaline-fueled, hard-partying, intense world of extreme sports,<br>Carl Warren Skoog was as much an anomaly as a pioneer.<br><br>A relative elder at 46, the easygoing and clean-living local backcountry<br>skier quietly made a name for himself over several decades as one of the<br>Northwest's most skilled outdoor athletes and photographers.<br><br>It was during one of his signature travels -- "partly a personal adventure<br>(and) partly a photojournalism trip" -- that Skoog died in an accident while<br>climbing and skiing in the Andes Mountains of Argentina on Oct. 17, said his<br>brother, Lowell Skoog.<br><br>Descending a 42-degree slope, Skoog lost his footing while he and a partner<br>made their way down from a 20,500-foot campsite near Cerro Mercedario, his<br>brother said. He might have struck a hidden rock or another obstacle, or<br>perhaps the uneven snow shifted beneath him. Regardless, he was unable to<br>regain his balance and ultimately fell 4,500 vertical feet.<br><br>"It wasn't extremely dangerous," said his partner, Rene Crawshaw of Canada.<br>"He just fell somehow, and he just couldn't get his ice pick in to stop<br>him."<br><br>It took Crawshaw several hours to make his way down to his friend to confirm<br>his death. Crawshaw then made a day-and-a-half trek out for help. "It was a<br>pretty lonely hike," he said.<br><br>Like many elite sports, adventure skiing rewards flamboyance and bravado.<br>But Skoog, who lived in Redmond with a brother, was never a showoff or<br>braggart, friends said. At the same time, he was an aggressive skier and<br>among the first to traverse some local backcountry areas on skis.<br><br>"He was mellow," said Dean Collins, a 42-year-old heavy-equipment operator<br>from Bellingham and well-known backcountry skier. Skoog shot more photos<br>than anyone of Collins, who said he has been fully sponsored to ski by<br>clothing and gear companies for seven years. While some photographers get<br>intense and pushy, Skoog was always there to have fun, Collins said. "He<br>never pushed me too far," he said. "I trusted him, and that's a huge issue<br>in the backcountry, because it's a long, bloody way to the hospital."<br><br>"He was very cautious," Collins said. "But we never waited for him. He's<br>just a damned good skier. He could go anywhere. If you could get there on<br>skis, he could do it."<br><br>Another longtime friend and ski partner, Andrew McLean of Park City, Utah,<br>added, "Putting together interesting trips to cool places with interesting<br>people ... was more important to him than bragging rights."<br><br>During a pioneering traverse across the rugged Picket Range in the North<br>Cascades in 1985, Skoog stumbled into the profession of photography, his<br>brother said.<br><br>The Skoog brothers and a friend wrote up a story on the trip for a<br>mountaineering magazine. A national gear manufacturer was so impressed with<br>Skoog's photos it asked to use some in its catalog and in a poster, Lowell<br>Skoog said.<br><br>By the mid-1990s, the Bellevue native and University of Washington graduate<br>with a mechanical engineering degree had given up his job designing outdoor<br>gear and dived full time into photography.<br><br>"For about a decade, he was really the most active and the most published of<br>the photographers working in this small and kind of difficult niche," Lowell<br>Skoog said. "He had followed his heart, and so that's pretty cool."<br><br>Skoog's work was published in numerous outdoor magazines, including Skiing,<br>Powder, SKI and nine cover photos for Backcountry. His also contributed to<br>posters and advertisements for companies such as Rossignol, Marmot and The<br>North Face.<br><br>Skoog is survived by four older brothers, an older sister and his mother,<br>Ingrid Skoog of Bellevue. Skoog's parents had both been skiers, and his late<br>father, Richard Skoog, was a ski jumper in the 1950s and '60s. The family is<br>making plans for a celebration of his life.<br><br>LEARN MORE<br>To see some of Carl Skoog's work, go to www.carlskoog.com
His brother, Lowell Skoog, an amateur photographer and historian, has a Web site at
www.alpenglow.org .

P-I reporter Angela Galloway can be reached at 206-448-8333 or
angelagalloway@seattlepi.com.

Condolences to Carl's friends and family, spirit and support to Rene- I was only fortunate enough to ski a few Arm laps with Carl through my time at Baker. Being around someone who exudes the glow and energy of the mountains as he did makes that day stand out in my mind.