Craig Kelly is my copilot 🏂
The Darkest White
A few months ago, a package arrived at my house. Inside was a book, The Darkest White, by Eric Blehm. Within a small black square on the cover read: “Uncorrected PROOF, not for sale.” Busy with plenty of other reading and editing for upcoming issues of Backcountry, I didn’t immediately dive in. It didn’t help that shortly after receiving the book, I packed up my Subaru Outback and made the 3,000 mile journey from the small town of Norwich, Vermont, to the slightly larger Nelson, B.C.
But upon arrival, alone in an empty house and a new town, I began to read. I’ll be honest, as a skier who has only been involved in the snowsports industry for a few years, Craig Kelly was a name I recognized but an influence I was unfamiliar with. Flipping from page to page, that quickly changed. Through Eric’s thorough reporting and writing, an image of Craig, built upon the perspectives of those who knew him, took shape.
As it turned out, Craig, too, had once made the move to Nelson—the same hamlet, nestled into the Columbia Mountains, that I had just arrived in myself. It was a thread, a synchronicity, that drew me closer to the story. When I called up Eric to chat about the book, I was moved to learn that his own synchronous threads were woven into the context behind The Darkest White—from a title that was pulled from his very first published article in Powder to his bond with Craig, built over a shared love of the backcountry riding and good books.
Perhaps that’s what struck me most. That this story, which on one end could seem so niche, was written to draw any person, snowboarder or not, into its fold; into the sport and into the life of Craig Kelly. And it’s filled with these threads, in a way that seems many could find resonance with. It’s a book I couldn’t put down, and one that I don’t want to put away. For more from my conversation with Eric, check out “Into The Darkest White”, then pick up a copy. It’s a book you don’t want to miss.
Greta
More on The Darkest White
Into “The Darkest White”: Eric Blehm Discusses His Latest Work, a Deep Dive on Craig Kelly
From slalom racing to splitboard guiding Craig Kelly shaped the sport of snowboarding. Now, roughly two decades since his death, Eric Blehm traces Kelly’s life from his first snowboard to the fatal avalanche that killed him.
🎧 Eric Blehm: Meet Your Heroes | The Backountry Podcast
Eric Blehm’s roots in snowboarding run deep. He started riding during the sport’s infancy, and after college became an editor at Transworld SNOWboarding Magazine. Years later, he was in a lift line when a fellow rider saw the “Craig Kelly is my Co-Pilot” sticker on his board, and asked Blehm: “Who is Craig Kelly?” He was floored by the notion that there were snowboarders out there who didn’t know who Craig was. And this inspired him to write The Darkest White.
On my Coffee Table
Issue 156 | The Backwoods Issue
This one is a shoutout to my fellow editors, Tom and Betsy. Both have amazing profiles in Issue 156, which they wrote in addition to working on three other issues. Betsy goes deep with hard charger Caite Zeliff, who, after some harrowing injuries, is reshaping her relationship with skiing, while Tom brings the whiskey-drinking, Mount Hood legend Asit Rathod to life. They’re two of my favorite articles from this volume, and if you haven’t grabbed a copy, subscribe and get one today, because both are worth a read. —Greta Close
What’s on Your Coffee Table?
Are you a collector? Do you have a favorite issue? Snap a photo with it and tell us why in a few words—send it to greta@backcountrymagazine.com—and we’ll share it in our newsletter and on social media!
Backcountry Basecamp Tour
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Gearbox: 2024 Helmets
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Gearbox: 2024 Goggles
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Gearbox: 2024 Avalanche Airbag Packs
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Gearbox: 2024 Avalanche Safety Gear
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Editors’ Choice Splitboard Bindings
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Editors’ Choice Ski Bindings
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Tele Mike Russell: Turns for All
Tele Mike Russell grew up as a sharecropper’s son in Delaware before attending college and becoming an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Then he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center and decided he’d better follow another path, this one to skiing in Colorado, where he’d go on to find a family in the National Brotherhood of Skiers and help found its backcountry program.
Eric Blehm’s roots in snowboarding run deep. He started riding during the sport’s infancy, and after college became an editor at Transworld SNOWboarding Magazine. Years later, he was in a lift line when a fellow rider saw the “Craig Kelly is my Co-Pilot” sticker on his board, and asked Blehm: “Who is Craig Kelly?” He was floored by the notion that there were snowboarders out there who didn’t know who Craig was. And this inspired him to write The Darkest White.
Mountain Skills
Resort Skinning Policies
We’ve compiled a database of U.S. resorts with a little about each individual policy—where and when skinning is allowed, whether or not it’s free during operating hours and the link directly to the resort’s guidelines.