A number of Hawks’ fellow competitors from the freeskiing community were in attendance; longtime friend Scott Seward of Burlington said that many of them had “maxed out their credit cards” in order to book short-notice flights from such places as California and Idaho. One of Hawks’ closest friends, Hannah Davis, flew all the way from India to be at his funeral.
Dylan Crossman, a native Vermonter and 10-year veteran of competitive freeskiing who won last year’s Tour stop at Kirkwood, was one of several skiers who were present for Hawks’ accident in California, kept vigil at the Nevada hospital where he died and then made it all the way across the country in time for Saturday’s service.
“I got a last-minute red-eye from Salt Lake City and got in [on Friday],” said Crossman, who is originally from East Montpelier but now lives in Utah. “We were all running low on funds, but this was something we wanted to be here for. We weren’t going to miss it.”Crossman said that he was not surprised at the show of support from the freeskiers at Saturday’s service, given how much Hawks’ death has affected the close-knit community.
“It has hit really close to home, because we all ski on the Tour together,” Crossman said. “It’s real, and it’s right there in front of all of us.”
The church’s seating was filled, with many mourners forced to stand in rows up to five deep at the back of the room or listen from the entrance hall to the approximately 90-minute service. Family members said that 600 programs had been printed for the service, and the entire supply was exhausted well before the 11 a.m. start.
