We are deeply grieving the loss of our Aeriosa family member, Will Stanhope. Our hearts and thoughts are with Will's loved ones and everyone affected by this profound loss. We send our deepest condolences to his family and friends, and join them in honouring his extraordinary life and beautiful spirit.
We have so many fond memories of Will at Aeriosa. He joined our team in 2009 at age 22, alongside his childhood climbing buddy, Jason Kruk. Under the mentorship of our Safety Director, Colin Zacharias, the two young climbers developed their rigging skills and contributed to years of artistic and technical growth at our company.
The artwork above, is a scan of an original watercolour created for Aeriosa by Jeremy Blumel. Jeremy, an artist and climber who rigged for us early on, originally introduced us to Will. His illustration captures Will performing as "Chester the Librarian" in our 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad show, In Situ, at Library Square.
For his vertical dance debut, Will created the awkward, dedicated character of Chester. In the performance, Chester bravely climbed the seven-story glass wall in the Library Square Promenade to retrieve a magical book for "The Bookworm," sending her flying into a sky filled with storybook characters. Will threw his heart into the role, developing a powerful sequence of dynamic, two-handed leaps to move between the window panes. We named his awe-inspiring technique “The Wolverine” after the Marvel character. We were delighted and proud that Will could perform like a movie superhero created with CGI.
Rest in peace, dear Will, you will always be in our hearts.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Blumel.
