A Tribute to Jordan Niedrich

Jordan Niedrich, doing what he loved best. 

On April 17, 2016, a somber group gathered at the top of Idaho’s Bald Mountain to say goodbye to a dear friend. Passing around the turn to speak with an old snow blade, the friends, family, and community of 24-year-old Jordan Niedrich took turns bidding farewell to a cherished young man who’d brought light to all who knew him during his inspired, passion-filled life.

One by one, loved ones expressed the impact that Jordan had on their lives, trying with words to encapsulate the grief, loss and utter injustice of a life cut short. After all had spoken, a procession of skiers and snowboarders led by Jordan’s younger brother, Michael, descended the mountain in honor of their beloved brother, son, teacher and friend.

A day earlier, Jordan Niedrich was at Bald Mountain enjoying one of his favorite activities in life: speed flying. At around 10:30 a.m. on Bald’s Upper Greyhawk Run, Jordan attempted an aerial maneuver, miscalculated and crashed into the mountain. During his evacuation to the hospital, local responders and ski patrol fought to resuscitate him, but his injuries were significant, and a short time later at the hospital, he was declared dead.

The following day on the top of Bald Mountain, grief animated the wake. Yet even more powerful than grief was the overwhelming gratefulness that all expressed at having had the luck to know Jordan during his life. The tribute ceremony’s emcee Kent Kreitler, a personal friend and ski partner of Jordan attested to his fallen friend’s unparalleled graciousness.

“Jordan was the kind of guy who would volunteer to pick you up at the bottom of a run without taking it himself,” Kreitler said. “He’d share his lunch with you on the chair if you didn’t bring any food. He always made sure that everyone around him had what they needed.”

A consummate friend and loved son and brother, Jordan was a talented blogger, videographer, musician and mentor who was also a natural at almost every sport he tried. At the time of his death, Jordan was just days from graduating from Utah State University with a degree in business marketing and entrepreneurialism.

As an individual, Jordan loved being outside, but he was also passionate about passing on that love to a younger generation. In the years preceding his passing, Jordan and his brother, Michael, started Pro-gression Sports Camp for kids ages 8-12. The camp’s mission was to help local Idaho kids get out and learn how to more fully enjoy the mountains. More than a few kids at Jordan’s Bald Mountain wake were former students and campers who he’d personally mentored on the slopes, rock walls and forests of Idaho.

Like other young people enamored with the outdoors and the pursuit of action sport, Jordan sacrificed to live and play in accordance with his own dreams and beliefs. After a close-call speed flying crash in 2013, he told an interviewer that he wasn’t afraid to die, but that he was afraid to not fully live.

After the tribute ceremony at Bald Mountain, Jordan’s father, Doug Niedrich, told  local Idaho TV station KTVB that despite the tragic manner in which his son passed, he and his family understood that “Jordan was doing what he loved to do. We couldn’t stop him — he had a passion for life.”

Like a star that burns hot and bright, Jordan passed away too soon. But in the process of living his own dream — of sacrificing personal comforts and societal norms — he acted as exemplar to all of those in his life, young or old, friend or student, that would seek to live like he did.

In a social media post preceding his death, Jordan wrote that his greatest aspiration in life was to inspire the people around him to get out, enjoy life and seek meaning for themselves along the way.

“Competition is not what life is about; I want to spend my time meeting amazing new people, skiing and speed flying in incredible places, and embracing the beauty of the world on my skis and in the air,” he wrote. “And if, through my pictures and videos, I can inspire other people to get out and follow their passions and dreams, I have lived a truly meaningful life. ... I feel that a lot of people in this world are rushing to work long hours and trying to make excessive amounts of money so they can retire and ‘enjoy life’ later. I say we need to take advantage of our incredible lives today and take time to make wonderful memories. I want to be rich with experiences and strong relationships, not money. Do what you love, and love what you do.”