Adam Merriman
Marriages
Jamie Merriman
Obituaries
Slush The Magazine - September 15, 2022
For full obituary, please contact EVLD.
Vail Daily page A4 - September 19, 2022
Vail resident Adam Merriman died Wednesday after sustaining head injuries during an electric skateboard crash Tuesday.
A nearby pedestrian who heard the crash said he suspects Merriman hit a joint in the pavement between the North Recreation Path and Red Sandstone Park in Vail.
An officer arriving at the scene said he found the rear wheels severed from Merriman's skateboard deck and described the joint in the pavement as "about 2 to 3 inches wide, with a depth of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches."
Merriman is a legend in the local snowboarding community; a Slush Magazine story published Thursday describes him as "a snowboarding pioneer, an innovator and a patriarch of the Colorado snowboarding scene" who was featured on magazine covers in the 1990s and designed K2's game-changing "Fat Bob" snowboard.
Merriman was also an experienced skateboarder who was known to take runs down the Vail Pass recreation path. He had just received the electric skateboard the day before the incident, according to the report.
Officer Brad Porter said it was a Halo Board Beast 2 electric skateboard.
"I observed one end of the board to be completely broken, with both wheels on this portion of the board to be broken and completely severed from the rest of the skateboard and skateboard's deck," Porter said in his report. "These wheels were still attached to the board, connected by wires that led to the battery pack. I observed these severed wheels to be the driving wheels (mechanism) that powered or moved the skateboard."
Merriman was traveling eastbound on the North Recreation Path, which runs parallel to North Frontage Road in Vail. A person walking westbound said he heard the crash and rendered aid.
The person "had observed a 'dip' in the bike path, at the intersection where the bike path intersected with the entrance to Red Sandstone Park," according to Porter's report. "(The person) thought Merriman had crashed due to this dip in the pavement. (The person) had not witnessed the crash, only heard it and then turned to find Merriman on the ground."
Another person who responded to the scene, the driver of a car on the North Frontage Road, said she thought Merriman momentarily left the bike path and traveled onto the gravel shoulder before crashing onto the bike path. But Porter said he saw no marks in the gravel to indicate that.
"I observed the bike path that Merriman was traveling was a mild uphill grade as you traveled west to east (Merriman was traveling eastward)," Porter said in his report. "I observed there to be a joint or connection at the intersection where the bike path and the entrance to the park met. This joint ran north to south the width of the bike path. I observed this joint to have similar dimensions as far as width and depth the entire length of it. This joint was about two to three inches wide, with a depth of about one and a half to two inches. This joint is the 'dip' that (the earwitness) had referenced. Just east of this joint is the portion of shoulder located on the north side of the bike path. I observed this area to be sand and gravel, with some grass portions. I did not observe any obvious marks or disturbance in the sand, gravel or grass that appeared to have been made by a skateboard wheel."
Merriman's death is not the first high-profile electric skateboarding death. In 2019, Detroit Tigers prospect Chace Numata died after his electric skateboard "suddenly stopped, as if it hit a rock, and he fell forward," according to police. Numata was a catcher for the Erie Seawolves, the Double A affiliate of the Tigers.
Merriman's death comes less than a year after the death of Gypsum local Carl Bunnell, who died after crashing on a Onewheel electric board on Dec. 2, 2021.
A complaint in U.S. district court says Bunnell was on a flat, smooth, asphalt-paved sidewalk when his Onewheel "suddenly nosedived while he was riding on the sidewalk, throwing him forward from the board." Bunnell was wearing a helmet.
In May, U.S. Air Force Academy cadet Christopher Scott Ryong Adams died after fracturing his skull during an electric skateboarding accident.
On Friday, Vail Communications Director Kris Widlak said she's not aware of anything being done to address the area where Merriman crashed.
"We do have people looking at the area as is typical after an incident," Widlak said in an email on Friday. "I have not yet heard any information on who owns or maintains that spot, or whether anything can or needs to be addressed."
Vail Daily page A3; A11 - October 3, 2022
The legendary life of Adam Merriman was celebrated at the Colorado Snowsports Museum on Saturday, with hundreds in attendance.
Merriman, 50, was a snowboarding pioneer in Colorado, but is better remembered in his later years as a devoted husband and father to his wife Jamie and 11-year-old son, Aaron. He died following an electric skateboard accident Sept. 13.
Evan Merriman, Adam's nephew who was raised by Adam's parents, considered Adam to be both a brother and an uncle, and said he plans to snowboard often with Aaron.
For Evan, snowboarding with Adam was a total sensory experience.
"The one vivid memory is the smell of Red Bull and listening to the Beastie Boys in an Audi, I knew I was going boarding with Adam," he said. "I'm gonna have to keep that going, Aaron and I are going to tear up the mountain."
Merriman's father, Dan Merriman, thanked everyone in attendance.
"You're all family," he said. "Adam's going to live on forever in our hearts."
Aaron's friend Jake Bastien, 10, shared a few stories about Merriman, as well, saying one thing that will stick with him is something everyone else who knew Merriman also knew, "how much he takes care of his car," Bastien said.
"We went out to eat, and we took an entire pizza box, and when we were done, Adam was stuffing the pizza box in this little trash can, and he couldn't get it through, and we walked around the corner and there was a dumpster," Bastien said. "We all miss Adam. He was such a great person to all of us."
The event was hosted by Vail snowboarder Rob Bak, who said he was among a movement of snowboarders who came to Colorado after seeing Merriman in magazines or videos.
Trent Bush helped put together an exhibit at the Colorado Snowsports Museum that contains some of the boards designed by Merriman, some of the magazine covers he was featured on, and other artifacts related to his snowboarding legacy.
Bush, on Saturday, thanked the Snowsports Museum and Executive Director Jen Mason for hosting the celebration of life and making space for the Merriman exhibit, which will remain on display throughout the winter.
"We pulled this all together pretty quick, and really appreciate everybody digging in and getting it done," Bush said.
Bush said in his teenage years, before focusing on outerwear in the ski/snowboard industry, he wanted to become a professional snowboarder.
"I was really working toward that, until I found out about Adam, who was two years younger," Bush said. "He was 14 or 15 or something like that and just kicked my ass, like so much better. My entire career kind of changed trajectory from wanting to be a rider to making clothes."
Bush said Merriman and him enjoyed a special time in snowboarding together, growing up in Boulder in the 1980s.
"The was the best day of my life, when my teenage nemesis rival Adam Merriman started riding for Twist for our first brand," Bush said.
Later in the evening, the crowds moved to Vendetta's in Vail Village, where Merriman enjoyed hanging out. Friends continued to share stories about Merriman throughout the evening.
Eagle County native Rachel Nelson said she has fond memories of herself at age 10, watching Merriman and company fly out of the halfpipe, "wishing I could be as cool as all of you," she told the crowd.
"But I was roommates with Jamie on and off for 20 years, I got to see her and Adam fall in love," she said. "Yes, we all know him as am amazing snowboarder, I was lucky enough to see him become a husband and father, and I feel like I got to see the real Adam emerge. The love he had for his son was unlike anything in this world … the love he had for snowboarding was nothing compared to that love."
