December 17, 2023

December 16th, 2016 was a WILD day of riding. The entire day was stormy and was snowing non-stop. We got up to the mountain right at first chair and scooted over to the trees to shoot. I usually prefer to shoot stormy days in under the cover of the giant trees of the great northwest. The boys were good with the plan but we agreed to go for a hike the last run of the day out to the backcountry of Southback- a magical place filled with almost limitless possibilities as far as runs that could be available with full on fresh new snow.

The morning and early afternoon were productive as far as shooting goes but we were all getting anxious to hit chair six and get to hiking. So we did a bit early and it ended up being the best decision we could have made that day. We decided to summit the King, a 7,012 ft high peak. I had done it my first season and it’s definitely a right of passage if you have a season pass to Crystal Mountain. By the grace of the gods, I swear to you, as we got to the very top of the peak, the storm passed and we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine. We decided to drop the backside of the King down in Southback and to this day it is one of the most unforgettable moments of snowboarding for me.

In the first photo below, you can see the top of the King above the tree line, gold light just bouncing off of it. I snapped that at the run out from Southback.

I love snowboarding.

Thanks for reading,

David