chunder,the man

[matts]

hobie just called me. max - you are the man, even when you are in full melt down in the corner of the bar at a mountainbuzz party! even when you face plant off tunnel falls and bleed all over my foot....especially when you lived on the front range and told people to go back to the front range! did you guys know he pulled the same pranks in cali when he lived there? max, you are and always will be the man. (i hope you keep instigating laughs, smiles, and frustration wherever you are)

matt solomon

[K2boater]

As like many, I only knew of Chunder from his posts and had no idea who he actually was until i just saw the pic posted by Matt and then it hit me that who he was and how we had a fun sesh at Lyon about a month ago. My kind of boater----pounding beers on the shore then getting worked in a trashy hole.

RIP and trow a ball to my doggie in the sky.

so many lost this year

DP

[clevedave]

Max, man, he was about my best friend. He introduced me to kayaking 6 years ago or so, he spent an hour and a half in the swimming pool at his maintenance job's pool (The Ranch at Steamboat). I didnt get the roll in the pool that day, but did i ever smack him around with that paddle, still trying to roll while he was trying to help me up. Please forgive this rambling post, i'm still in shock. After not getting the roll, it came in my first rapid (Damn Gigante, no wonder you can roll well with those big ol' monkey arms!). He had me all over colorado that same year, Cross big water, Gore Canyon runs (with the prerequiste Kremmlling jerky, Mrs Z's bbq, ice cold beers, plenty of jokes), Gauley, OBJ, let alone all the trips thru town. I have almost infinite funny tales of Chunderboy, and enjoy these as precious memories. I would love it if as a sort of written memorial, all who had run-ins with Max, good and bad, and all of us who loved him, could take time to write them down here on this board, or please feel free to call me, I plan on having some sort of Memorial Service/Party for him here in Steamboat. 970-870-0515, the real name is Dave, but you can call me gigante. Max- I love you, miss you and will always have laughs in my heart that you gave me. Many miss you

[jmack]

Thanks for posting the pic. I didn't even realize that I had met the chunderboy. Last time I saw him was down at lyons. We were all getting worked in the A-hole, and discussing the SBC incident. He was talking about how kayaking and other activities are just dangerous and that at some time your number is up- but that it is worth it anyway. He seemed like a really nice guy. Sorry to all who knew him.

-Josh

[deepstroke]

Max is the second great writer to die in the Aspen area in recent memory. I'm very saddened to hear this.

[Roy]

That sucks! I only had the honor of being heckled face to face by the chunderboy a couple times, but he was a hoot, as everyone has said.

The Buzz and the world in general will be a little less without him...

[Gary E]

Just posted a pic of max...This was at gore 5yrs maybe 6yrs ago...Jared and I took dibs on the learning how to do stitches and what a great canidate...We used 2 suture kits and must have added 10 extra holes in his chin..Took us about 25 minutes for 7 stitches and I believe I added one to make sure I had it all figured out...No scar either,what are friends for...

Gary

"I'm just a fat man getting it done"Sully

[THorton]

Sad news, I hung out with him about a month ago in Lyons. We sat in the eddy and shot the sh#t for about an hour, laughing about Dexter Routecki and Go Back to the Front Range. He was raving about his paragliding, how much he loved it and that he figured all the fat bastards in the sport would hit the ground before he did. I havent laughed that hard with someone I just met ever and left that day genuinely psyched that we had met... Sad news, he seemed like a great guy

[kayakingkate]

I'll always remember meeting Max on the paddle out from Gore 5 or 6 years ago. He was super outgoing and friendly and he shared his PBR stash with me at the take-out. He was full of life and just had the biggest smile! For some reason the sunshine at the end of a great day, meeting a new group of people who were super friendly and just hanging out and shooting the shit just stands out as one of those days that define what boating is all about! I've ran into Max a few times since then, but in my mind that day is how I will always remember him!

Thanks for sharing your PBR and trying to convince me to come up to steamboat and creek! I hope your days are filled with big runs, sunny take outs, cold beers and lots of friends.

I know I'll never quallify for the chunderposse, but I will always remember Max.

(Hopefully he has a different type of Halo now... Although I'm not sure if I can picture that...)

[matobs]

Wow what sad news.

I ran into Max once -

I was scouting Gore Rapid and this little man comes up to me and starts egging me on to run the meat saying its the only line to do, why would do anyting else . . . etc, etc. I asked him what he was running and he said he never runs this rapid since he broke his neck, it's too dangerous. He picked up his boat and portaged after berating me for not running the meat. That was funny as hell. Never really had the opportunity to get to know him but my condolences to those who did.

I've run every line at Gore Rapid, next time I'll run the meat for Chunderboy.


http://gobacktothefrontrange.com/ Funny Stuff!!