The Snowboarder's Journal - frequency 16.1
Bonus Time: 36 Hours in Pemberton with Jake Blauvelt and Austen Sweetin
Words, Photos and Captions: Colin Wiseman 2018-09-17 18:30:36
Winter’s over.
It’s a Tuesday afternoon in mid-April. I’ve just returned from a week off the grid in interior British Columbia and my inbox is stacked with emails, my body drained from months on the road. Time to rest up for the spring touring season.
Then a text from Jake Blauvelt: “Seeing if by some far-off chance you can make two heli days up in Pembie tomorrow and Thursday. Let me know!”
We’re now on bonus time.
Few folks have the luxury of a private heli in BC’s Coast Mountains, but Jake’s a 1-percenter when it comes to his ability to bring freestyle snowboarding to big mountain terrain. The Sea-to-Sky has been his favorite filming locale for the last decade.
So, I get in Jake’s Tundra at a park and ride in Ferndale, WA before dawn. We point it north and he explains his current project, “Full Circle.” His wife Kristin gave birth to their baby girl, Nella, the third week of January. He’s been working with cinematographer Gabe Langlois on a short film about the Blauvelts’ transition to parenthood, living off the land back home in Vermont, and Jake’s continuing drive to ride natural terrain around the globe.
By the time the sun rises, we’re ordering coffees in Brittania Beach. By 7:30, we’re loading into an AStar in street clothes to shuttle to Pemberton, overnight bags in the gear basket. It’s piloted by a Squamish local named Dazza. He greets Jake as old friends do, with talk of family and domestic life. A mosquito buzzes around the helicopter’s cabin. It’s the start of a warm spring day. As we lift off and make our way north past the Black Tusk and Whistler-Blackcomb, the landscape shifts from green to white. It’s still winter in the alpine.
The rest of the crew meets us in a field north of Pemberton: fellow all-terrain savant Austen Sweetin, Gabe, and drone operator Jason Fentiman. Gabe’s got jet fuel in the back of his truck. The field belongs to his friend, John Wright, as do assorted boats and trailers parked nearby. John brings his kids out to say hi. We gear up, refuel, and head north to find lines. Headsets on, Gabe, Jake and Dazza chat about lines and zones they’ve hit in the past—they’ve clearly spent more time than most flying in these mountains, and sometimes make multiple passes around a peak before settling on what to ride.
By early afternoon, clouds will move in. We’ll park the helicopter at John’s, spend the evening at Gabe and his wife Leah’s beautiful property a few minutes south, eat a home-cooked meal, and fly again the next morning at sunrise. Austen and Jake will each ride a dozen lines. Jake will be back home with Kristin and Nella by dinnertime. But for 36 hours, we’ll travel in a world reserved for the few lucky souls who’ve built a life around flying high.
cabin. It’s the start of a warm spring day. As we lift off and make our way north past the Black Tusk and Whistler-Blackcomb, the landscape shifts from green to white. It’s still winter in the alpine.
The rest of the crew meets us in a field north of Pemberton: fellow all-terrain savant Austen Sweetin, Gabe, and drone operator Jason Fentiman. Gabe’s got jet fuel in the back of his truck. The field belongs to his friend, John Wright, as do assorted boats and trailers parked nearby. John brings his kids out to say hi. We gear up, refuel, and head north to find lines. Headsets on, Gabe, Jake and Dazza chat about lines and zones they’ve hit in the past—they’ve clearly spent more time than most flying in these mountains, and sometimes make multiple passes around a peak before settling on what to ride.
By early afternoon, clouds will move in. We’ll park the helicopter at John’s, spend the evening at Gabe and his wife Leah’s beautiful property a few minutes south, eat a home-cooked meal, and fly again the next morning at sunrise. Austen and Jake will each ride a dozen lines. Jake will be back home with Kristin and Nella by dinnertime. But for 36 hours, we’ll travel in a world reserved for the few lucky souls who’ve built a life around flying high.
Photo Caption: Austen Sweetin, second line of the day, second frontside air of the line. Drop in a few gouging turns and call it the most fun one could probably have on a snowboard.
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