LEFT TO RIGHT Jerry Mark beats the crowd to the famous San Joaquin couloir not far from the resort. The Y Couloir is another gem that’s a relatively short hike from the resort. Jerry Mark on New Year’s Day after sweating out the poison. Harry Kearney rocketing out of the rocky choke of the Hairy Banana couloir. Like all the other couloirs pictured, you can literally ride back into town for lunch, then switch boards at home for afternoon park laps. I once rode the Heaven Elevens cou-loir with Jerry Mark and some other folks a day after another group. The old tracks froze overnight and it was one of the scariest lines I’ve ever rid-den—most everyone descended with their ice axes in hand. We laughed about it later. Here’s Jerry getting a rebate—not pictured is me behind the lens, dying on the inside because I’m not with him this time. And yes, there’s an exit slot in the cliff at the bottom. Despite its abundant terrain and easy access, Telluride has never been at the forefront of snowboarding’s collective consciousness. It’s remote—the nearest cities of Denver and Albuquerque are six-hour drives in opposite directions. Unless you have a couch on which to crash and can afford the $120 lift tickets, it’ll drain your bank account. The often thin, sharky, unstable continental snowpack has scared away film crews with the exception of jump-building on nearby Red Moun-tain Pass. Only Rocket Reaves can claim true pro snowboard status as far as locals go, and his heyday was in the ’90s. Snowboarders are outnumbered by skiers 15-to-one and most shredders who make it to the northern San Juans find their way to Silverton, not even realizing that Telluride is two drainages away. But those who make it over here when it’s good are always blown away, especially people from other parts of Colorado who had no idea what was lurking in their backyard their whole lives. Like me, once. But maybe the next generation will help put it on the snowboard map. Some of the kids that grow up here not only learn to ride park, but because of the backcountry accessibility, are also exposed to serious terrain early on. You’ll hear high schoolers in the lift line talking about getting in trouble for skipping school to ride one of the resort-accessible couloirs. Most of the time they’re introduced to the backcountry by the same crew of longtime locals that have been riding behind the ropes since the ’80s and ’90s. The result is a crop of all-terrain rippers with mountain skills and experience of riders 10 years their senior. Guys like 23-year-old Harry Kearney, a two-time Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom winner—the youngest to ever take the Pro Men’s division—and his brother Hagen, a U.S. Boardercross team member. They’ve gone from park rats to making names for themselves as racers, but they’ve also climbed up and pointed it down more rocky couloirs at this point in their young lives than many of their peers ever will. Jerry Mark, another young local, just returned from a snowboard ascent/descent of Denali. Of the current crop of Telluride’s hungry high schoolers, Lucas Foster is probably the most self-motivated rider I’ve seen—he’s on top of filming and posting edits, is doing well in the USSA contest series, and even brought home the Duct Tape for his age division in the LBS this past winter (someone had to since Harry didn’t).
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 14.1: Page 52
