Grant Tyler started racing for Silver Run in 1984 at the age of five. At the time, he was the youngest skier in the program. He remained dedicated to ski racing through his senior year in high school and to Silver Run for his entire life. Grant may not have been the most talented skier on the team, but he worked harder than anyone else. He was first on the hill in the morning and the last one to leave at night. Skiing was the center of his life.

Between 1992 and 1997, Grant went to Junior Olympics four times. He won Silver Run’s Outstanding Competitor Award twice, as well as the Bruce Anderson Sportsmanship Award. He was a natural leader, and was team captain during his last two years, where his concern for others and his dedication to family and friends were constantly on display. During his last year of competition, Grant won the Gold Cup, awarded to the outstanding male racer in the Northern Division of the USSA, and was ranked among the top 200 junior men in the US.

Grant was also an outstanding student. He was a valedictorian at Billings West High School and was a National Merit Scholar. He chose to attend the University of Washington, where he was a philosophy major and was involved in a project investigating liberation education. At the end of his junior year, his overall GPA at UW was 3.78.

After racing for UW in his freshman year, Grant decided to pursue a career in Big Mountain Freeskiing. Competing during the winter quarter and returning to school in the spring, he completed the 2000 season ranked third on the International Free Skiing Association’s North American Tour. He was preparing to start his senior year at UW and had secured full sponsorship for the World Tour in 2001 when he tragically lost his life in a sea kayaking accident in the San Juan Islands on September 21, 2000.