Two men who spent their lives chasing what they loved are being remembered this month, each in his own way: getting better at their craft, bringing people together and refusing to slow down.

David Thomson Page and Nick Besobrasow lived very different lives, but a rare kind of devotion drove both — one to protecting wild places, the other to mastering his sport.

Page, 57, of Mammoth Lakes, California, and Jackson, Wyoming, built a career fighting for the outdoors.

Besobrasow, 66, of Tetonia, spent his days striving to do what he loved a little better than the day before.

Both men died July 7 in a crash on Teton Pass, though they were traveling separately at the time. What they left behind, those who knew them say, was a shared example of how to live fully.

Page built his career around protecting the wild places he cared about most. Starting as advocacy director for the Winter Wildlands Alliance, he rose to executive director in 2022, and along the way became one of the most recognized voices fighting to keep the backcountry free and untouched.

He carried a simple philosophy into that work: ski kind. Protect the places you love as fiercely as you love using them.

That belief was what put him on the road the day of the crash. He was headed to meet with advocates opposing a resort expansion, one more trip in a career built on showing up for the causes he believed in.

Anne Callison never had the chance to meet Page in person. Their connection lived entirely in phone calls, tied together by a shared fight to protect the outdoors from development. But she said his reputation always arrived before he did.

"Everybody just raved about him," she said.

What stayed with her most was how deeply he cared, not just about winning a policy fight but about what could be lost.

She said Page understood exactly what was at stake in protecting the places people hold dear. Over the handful of conversations they shared across the years, she said his commitment to Winter Wildlands and to keeping the backcountry free never wavered.

He is survived by his wife, Allison, and his sons, Jasper and Beckett.

Besobrasow's passion showed up differently, but it burned just as bright. He met Victor resident Paul Merrill through a shared love of skiing, and the two became close friends.

"Nick was passionate about a lot of things. He was passionate about everything," Merrill said.

Merrill remembers him as a purist, someone who never let age talk him into coasting. Even in his 60s, Besobrasow treated every run down the mountain like something worth perfecting. During a fundraiser for a junior ski program, Merrill recalled him taking on a coach's role mid-race, calling out corrections about hand position and technique like a man half his age trying to shave down his time.

"Most people don't get coached when they're 65," Merrill said. "You kind of do that when you're younger."

That refusal to slow down defined him. Merrill said Besobrasow split his time between different communities, but no matter where he landed, people gravitated toward him.

"He was the guy that everybody wanted to hang out with. He was the guy that everybody wanted to be with," Merrill said.

Skiing was only part of it. Biking, tennis, pickleball, fishing trips to Baja — all of it became an invitation for friends to keep up with him.

"Here's a guy who was 66 years old," Merrill said. "Ninety-five percent of people, they get to be 65, are kind of ready to retire or slow down. Nick was completely the opposite. He was ready for the next 30 years of his life."

Beyond the slopes, Merrill said, Besobrasow was also a steady presence in their shared profession, someone who constantly passed along ideas and insights just as freely as he handed out ski tips.

"Try to do your best at everything. Try to improve," Merrill said. "He was that kind of guy that just left an example."

Friends are already planning ways to honor him.

Neither man set out to leave a lesson behind. But in the way they lived, both did anyway: one by fighting for the places worth protecting, the other by proving there's no age limit on chasing what you love.