STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Mike Vowels could be found nearly every winter morning at his table next to the stairs in River Run Lodge, greeting friends as they entered the lodge with his booming voice and broad smile.

As the initial 9 o’clock lift line dwindled, he’d point his wheelchair out the heavy doors and take to Bald Mountain in his monoski. You couldn’t miss him—he was the one with the powder blue Washington license plate on the back of his bucket seat with the letters “AEIOU-Y.”

River Run Lodge was quiet and subdued on Monday as local skiers returned to the mountain slopes following the busy holiday weeks. There was no Mike Vowels to greet them and make them feel seen.

Vowels, who just turned 68, died Thursday, Jan. 4, when a Ketchum man driving a GMC Sierra pickup truck crossed the center line on Highway 75 two miles north of Shoshone and struck Vowels’ 2015 Toyota minivan head on.

“He’ll be missed,” lamented Robert Shuford. “He always had such a good attitude.”

Vowels could have had a massive chip on his shoulder following a skiing accident that left the former champion aerial freestyle skier paralyzed from the waist down.

A pioneer in hot dog skiing, Vowels began skiing after seeing Stein Eriksen do a somersault on skis during a ski film shown at his Seattle high school. He began racking up wins as he flipped and twisted through the air, his wins earning him the keys to a leased 914 Porsche at age 18 and 19.

He became known for a signature trick his friends called Vowels-a-copter, which consisted of a helicopter, 360 and a daffy, in which he spread his legs like Daffy Duck.

And he found himself in the Guinness Book of World Records after he, Sun Valley ski instructor Drew Merklinghaus, Joe Flick and others took part in a 16-man backflip while holding hands.

He retired after three years as the drought of 1976-77 eliminated sponsorships and gymnasts-turned skiers began winning the gold medals he once owned. And he began working construction and teaching skiing at Alpental, the hometown ski area near Seattle.

In 1985 he was paralyzed from the waist down when he hit a tree while catching a ski tip in the snow while descending a tight double black diamond chute at Alpental.

Then 29, he vowed he would never ski again and immersed himself in his construction business, sometimes building homes for veterans who were injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was his old freestyle buddies who persuaded him to return to the slopes 28 years later as part of a ski reunion at Sun Valley Resort. Vowels hit the gym getting fit for to get ready for the occasion. Then he spent six days learning to ski using a monoski with the help of Sun Valley Adaptive Ski instructor Marc Mast and others, while reliving memories of his freestyle days during apres ski gatherings.

On the seventh day, he beamed as he skied from the top of Baldy to the bottom with 30 friends following behind.

“Sun Valley’s magical,” he said at the time.

With the help of Ketchum cinematographer John Plummer, he made a movie, “Return to Paradise—A Skiers Journey,” which chronicled his story from that of pioneering aerial ski champion to his accident to his subsequent return to the slopes. The premiere raised more than $6,000 in donations for Higher Ground when it was shown in Ketchum.

It has been shown at other ski resorts, including Mammoth Mountain, as well.

When Vowels wasn’t skiing, he could be found at The Senior Connection, serving meals and bussing tables, ferrying dishes to the dishwasher via his wheelchair.

Vowels said his volunteer work was part of giving back to a community that had given so much to him. And he encouraged the diners he came in contact with at The Senior Connection, just as he did the wounded warriors and others participating in Higher Ground’s adaptive ski program.

“I like to say, ‘There is no expiration date on what we’re capable of,’ ” he said.