Billy Boy
January 24, 2008
by julian carr

Billy Poole was quite a spectacle/specimen. A spectacle specimen I saw in Billy Poole. Billy’s agile nature and the clever way he went about could only be described by first simply shaking his hand/paw and seeing the kindness in his eyes then quickly realizing what a physical specimen he was. I think people that strong inherently know and understand the responsibilities that come along with it. Billy took his physical responsibility seriously and decided that skiing would be the sport.

Throughout the years since I met him we have traveled many places and Billy had that ability to meet and connect with people – all sorts of different people from all over the world. He was a genuine human with talent, humor, kindness, and a beautiful warmth about him. The only animal our close friends could compare him to was the Bengal Tiger. Watching Billy ski was intense, powerful, graceful, and moving. I have lived in Utah my existence in life, skied for half of it – anyway, Snowbird is one of my favorites and I always had, notice my use of the word ‘had’, a special dream line that I would daydream and stare at every year. You could say it was attainable as the 14 year old boy deciding that he wanted to marry Pam Anderson – not gonna happen. Within a month of Billy moving to Utah 4 or 5 years ago, Billy skied my fantasy line, my daydream, my Pam Anderson. He had his way with it. This line is a guaranteed first descent and I would run around the world in one pair of shoes if anyone ever skied it again – not gonna happen. Billy, in any other country especially in Europe, would/should have been revered as a hero and been acknowledged, praised, and admired for this feat – frustratingly he was greeted with an indefinite ban from Snowbird and nearly arrested, I myself realize the other side of the coin and understand the other perspective. That’s just it though, Billy didn’t realize the zone was closed, he just moved here. He looked up at the mountain and saw a line and skied it. I can’t tell you how many times I witnessed him look at a mountain and see a line and then Bengal Tiger the shit out of it.

His legs were firmer than any hard landing. Billy would lay down the landing gear on airs that I would be locating my kneecaps in outerspace if I attempted. His vision in the mountains was to be appreciated. His skiing ability was hard to comprehend at times. His bellowing laugh was always contagious. And he was always looking out for his fellow friend. I will always have fond memories of just simply communicating with each other in the mountains. What are looking at? Rad. And you? No way. What about this? Did you look at that? And so on.

It’s rare to have such a special blend of qualities all in one human. It is always a pleasure to spectate these types conversate, play, compete .. to be human.

To become acquainted with Billy and become best friends with him has been quite a spectacle of life for me.

He will be missed tremendously by me and everyone that had the opportunity to develop a relationship with Billy.

Billy Boy is now at hero status more than ever – I miss and love you buddy.