Mount Raymond… a 3,800 foot vertical drop from summit to road. To catch it on a sunny day with blower pow is one of the funnest things you can do with your life as a snowboarder.

This mountain stares you in the face the entire drive down the canyon with its unique summit pyramid hanging above your head…you can’t miss it.

Still dark and we’re gettin close.

People ask me why the hell I get up and start hiking so damn early… THIS is why.  The experience of a sunrise high in the hills is one of mind blowing beauty. The sun hasn’t even popped over the horizon and there are just grips of people flying up the canyon to grab a chair while we have an entire mountain to ourselves.

Alecs is new to splitboarding this season but is slaying it nonetheless. He has no problem when I tell em to be at the trailhead by 5 am and has the best attitude about the whole game.

All of my other homies are chillin down there…

Gettin closer.

The notorious Twin Peaks massif… I’m comin for ya.

This final push required some serious teamwork. With powder so deep and a ridge so wind blown at times, taking turns busting out the boot pack was crucial… don’t trip!

I let Alecs pass me for this perfect photo opp and as soon as I looked up after putting the camera away, he was gone. I started yelling his name thinking he must have broken the cornice he was standing on.

I ran up to see him just laughing down there. “Well that was fun!” Good thing this was one of the mellower spots on the ridgeline. Still enough to pucker your ass a little bit.

I gotcha buddy.

Woooo eeeeeee!! Summit!!

On top and happy to be alive!

The chosen one.

After diggin in and pokin around… just as I suspected. This is probably gunna pop. My whole reasoning for this couloir was that if it slid, it would be confined to this small area and not crack out really wide. Considering the only way out was to go back up and over the summit and down the knife edge ridge, we thought we’d give it a go.

Sure enough, I made a few ski cuts and it fractured less than a foot deep but only as wide as you see here. It was your classic surface instability… a little scary but manageable nonetheless. The middle was blown out so we made surf style slashes on the right hand wall all the way down… just hootin n hollerin.

The rest was glorious.

Then made the non-stop shred down the endless half pipe. Slappin high fives with huge smiles on our faces every time we leap-frogged.

Theres hips, tree ollies and other little pillow hits for miles. Powdah all the way till ya hit the road… Threw up a thumb and caught a ride back to my whip from my buddy Darren headed to Soli.

THESE are the days we live for.