COVER “Riding powder is a transcendental experience and my lifelong goal has been to capture how the chaos of life disappears when you’re doing it. After six or seven seasons of trying to make this photo, all the puzzle pieces were finally in place: blower pow, perfectly functioning transmitters and strobes, good communication with a stylish rider who’s comfortable blasting full speed in the dark, and a bit of Irish luck. On this night in the backcountry near Brighton, UT, Forrest Shearer joined me to posthole around in three feet of fresh snow with temperatures near zero degrees Fahrenheit. At 10:01 p.m., it all came together.” Photo: Sean Kerrick Sullivan 05 “We were wandering in Moscow traffic for at least five hours every day, looking for spots. Far from the freedom and fresh air of the mountains, it was a bit depressing at times, especially when we wound up in a fight with a huge security guard that was twice the size of any of us. But in the end, the city has its own good, weird vibes, and it was nice to go deep into Moscow where Sparrow Knox found this spot for a switch backside 180 nose bonk.” Photo: Matt Georges UP TOP 01 “A flow of the wind has changed in the past five years. We play with nature, we stare at the local mountains, and we go when conditions are right. Keita Yamazaki spreads his wings in Gara Gara Gully in the Hakuba, Japan backcountry.” Photo: Tsutomu Endo 06 “There was very little snow in Haines, AK this year. When we arrived, it looked like a desert. This really limited what was rideable and made everything even a little more gnarly than usual. This shot was Victor de Le Rue’s first line of the trip. When we flew back over it on the way home at the end of the day, the runnels had melted out to pure rock.” Photo: Grant Gunderson 02 “The Quebec City crew is so good at jibbing—they’re strong dudes living in a perpetually snowy landscape who aren’t afraid of much. Although he’s not jumping over a 10-story building this time, Frank Bourgeois is riding a highly technical and critically steep spot with a heavy impact on the landing.” Photo: Julien “Perly” Petry 07 “After a long, gray morning, the clouds finally broke and it was go time. Fully committed with no room for error, Joe Lax threads the needle at the bottom of a face deep in the Pemberton, BC backcountry.” Photo: Bradley Slack 08 With powder days at a premium this year, Gabriele Torriani took full advan-tage when Ullr made an early May offering at Corvatsch, Switzerland. Photo: Aaron Schwartz 03 Benny Urban pole jams up and over a basketball hoop in Novosibirsk, Russia. He had to get the speed just right, but having traveled for days to find this spot, Benny powered through the landing in the largest city in Siberia. Photo: Matt Georges 09 “In early January, I was invited to participate in the Deep Winter Photo Challenge at Whistler-Blackcomb, BC. My subjects were a friend since birth, Zeke Helliwell, who has lived in the Sea to Sky for two decades, along with his wife Kathryn and daughter Gracey. Here’s Gracey at 1 year and 8 months old, boarding for the first time at Blackcomb’s base area. She was happily sliding along until she realized Zeke had let go of her. In between meltdowns, she lapped the kid zone a dozen times, perfecting that power stance. Word is Gracey grew fond of her Riglet and regularly went riding with mom and dad through the rest of winter. At this rate, she’ll be ripping the Magic Chair in no time.” Photos: Colin Wiseman 04 “When spending a day in the Whistler, BC backcountry with DCP, you know you’ll be there from predawn until after sunset. And you prob-ably won’t be building cheese wedges because that would be a waste of valuable powder-shredding time. This is the culmination of another great day sledding around our home mountains, shooting everything that’s rideable and finding the best feature of the day just in time for the golden hour. David Carrier-Porcheron, method at sunset.” Photo: Phil Tifo 016 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 15.2: Page 14
