Original subtitles

I'm offbase, bound for Arctic North.

We'll be out scouting.

There's plenty out here. It's just a matter of finding the right one.

If we can find a base up here somewhere that looks like it'll be workable,

I'll go ahead and set down on the top.

7601. This is one of the highest peaks out here.

Let's go see if we can get in up there.

That sticks up above everything. Oh, it's gonna be "nukin" up there.

I could see somebody doing that, if the conditions are right.

It'd be one of the hairier lines, I can guarantee that.

Gotta play a really fine line getting in and getting back out.

Feels good to be back in A.K.

Alaska's so good because of the long runs and really steep runs.

And it has tons of terrain. It's just a mecca for free-riding snowboarding.

I didn't know it was going to be, like, bam, bam, bam, all around.

It's freakin'amazing.

I'm just looking to have an awesome time and learn a lot...

and hopefully gain some new skills.

I think everyday is going to be, like, the best day of my life. You know?

This is really where all the gnarliest stuff I've ever done happened, you know,

where I really pinned it to the wall and, like- and threw down.

When you're sitting down in the lodge or at your house thinking about it,

you have a lot of delusions of grandeur.

And then, the closer you get to the top of that mountain, a lot of that stuff melts away...

and you're just trying to survive.

Look at that track. Look at that track right there.

It's really strange to start out as a beginner again at a new thing.

I know nothing about the mountain.

And the scariest part about it is, you can't just, like, go on pure luck in Alaska.

'Cause that doesn't really work.

Oh, man, this is gonna be so much fun.

Can't wait to hook up with the Farm.

Can't wait to hang out with Terje, and meeting Shawn and Hannah.

You know, I've seen them on TV and in the mags and movies and stuff,

and I'm stoked to actually get up there and ride, take them to my backyard.

Anytime you can get four generations of talent and knowledge and ability together,

it's gonna be explosive.

Just to be back here with all these guys, you know, especially Farm back on our home terrain,

it's special - it's one of those once in a lifetime reunion trips that you only dream about.

And with Terje here, somebody that, you know, I hold in the highest regards...

He's the best snowboarder in the world, really.

Terje has been like the guy I've always looked up to...

because he was the best in the pipe and in the park.

He was always backcountry riding.

He's a pretty reserved and pretty low-key dude.

Once you get him out there, I mean, he's just like a cat. He flies.

Shaun and Hannah being here for their first time, and their, you know, freestyle ability level...

it's a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

There's a big gap here. We're talking 20 years.

I think that all goes away, really, once you get up here and start riding together.

It's great for me. It just makes me feel young, even though I'm old.

Nick and Farmer is one of the pioneers from Alaska.

They've been here for a lot in the past.

And it helps a lot having that experience here.

Back in the old days, it was free and wild, you know.

It really was. It was carefree, and everything was the first descent.

You know where you were going, there was no other person ever has ridden.

Nick just was all about Alaska.

He just knew that's what he wanted to do.

Now he's been guiding for 13 years.

He didn't even ride a resort ever. He just rode-pow! Rode choppers.

I'm stoked just to see...

that the top freestyle performers are willing to come up here...

and risk their lives just to ride and get better that way.

If you just take it from a money aspect or your investment,

and you look at this Shaun White dude and he's, like, worth all this dough,

and I'm thinking, I can't believe they're even gonna let him come up here,

'cause we all know that people have been taken out by mountains like this.

Back in A.K. Beautiful day

Remember what happened last time we stayed in this cabin, Farmer.

What happened?

Look at this view.

Holy schizzel.

Pop-a-whizzle.

Yeah, Nick! Yeah, Farm.

Back again.

Which do you like more, Hannah? NSYNC or Boys II Men?

I would have to say Boys II Men.

Oh, yeah!

Something like this with, you know,

all these generations of snowboarders, is definitely historical.

It's priceless. It really is.

In the 1970's, snowboarding emerged from the backwoods of America.

It was an unknown sport with roots based on freedom, flow, self expression...

and a lifestyle that offered a truly unique feeling that defied description.

During its brief, but chaotic history,

snowboarding would battle the establishment, overcome prejudice and fght to keep its soul.

And in just 25 years it would spread around the world...

and change the face of sports as we know it today.

Snowboarding is so young, and it came about so quickly,

that there wasn't really a chance...

for the history to lay itself down and be concrete.

Any town you go in in the U.S.,

there's always some old-timer that comes up with a story like,

"Oh, I was the first guy to ever snowboard.

I took a water ski and I cut the back off and I put a rope on there. I invented snowboarding."

I'm one of those guys that's, like, I'm not the inventor.

I'll never say I'm the inventor. I'll never say I'm the first.

There's always been somebody before you that's had the same idea or something similar.

To me, it was more of an evolution.

Snowboarding has been around longer than any of us even know, maybe over a hundred years.

I believe that snowboarding's more about the pioneers that started it.

Jake influenced the growth of snowboarding on the East Coast.

Tom Sims and Chuck Barfoot influenced the growth of snowboarding on the West Coast.

And then a sport was born.

He was a strange breed.

"Individualist" would be an understatement.

Jake Burton was definitely one of the visionaries,

if not the main one to put the sport over the top.

I got exposed to the whole concept of snowboarding through the Snurfer.

The Snurfer was a product that was made in the '60s.

It had no bindings, and the early ones had no fins. So it was just almost rodeo style.

But there was something there.

Tom was coming from a surfg and skateboarding background.

He went about it a different way.

I wanted to be able to surf the board.

Well, surfing in those days was all about nose riding.

So, I didn't think of having a big kick on the front.

I just wanted to be able to hang fve and ride across the hill.

Looking back, it's kind of amazing I didn't just grab a water ski out of our garage...

and go ride it down the snow.

'Cause it would have saved many years of development for me.

It was a process of developing product that could stop and turn right and turn left.

Definitely a lot of creativity and a lot of failure.

By the end of the '70s, the pioneers had firmly laid down the roots.

But snowboarding's future and its survival remained uncertain.

People didn't even know what it was. There was no instructors, no lessons.

There was no set way to do it. There was no book.

There was so much variation in where it was going.

'Cause snowboarding wasn't really a sport yet. It was only a few of us doing it.

Ah! Digger! Yeah!

It was a pretty tight fraternity, and we were all passionate about the sport.

But there wasn't this feeling of sort of, hey, we're building something.

We were just riding and, unknowingly, progressing the sport at an incredible rate.

This is a map of the Chugach Range here.

The Chugach is just one of many, many mountain ranges in Alaska.

Whatever you want's out there. If you want cornices, they're out there. If you want wind lips, it's out there.

And the whole thing is, just make sure you find the one that you want.

Back in the early days, when everything was untouched,

you could just go right across the street and get an untouched mountain.

This is a good example of most of the runs up here.

Steep, gnarly at the top. You cannot see your first four or five turns.

But once you get over that edge, everything comes into place.

Looks pretty steep, that one mountain right there.

It's always going to look steeper to your eye when you're flying in a helicopter or when you're looking at a photo.

It's still going to be steep, but not as steep as...

To me it works opposite. Really?

I get into it, but, damn, this is steep. This is steeper than I thought.

That's what I'm concerned with... going off,like, a wind lip or something and then just...

'Cause I've never really landed in powder that often. Like, landing and then rolling.

Go at your own pace. You want to come back here. You want to ride here again next year.

This place is gonna show you where your limits might be.

Just ride to your ability level.

Which, you're all the best riders in the world in the freestyle genre.

And you can be the best riders in the world in this free-riding genre too.

I don't know... I've never really been in a controlled environment...

where I had to watch out for upcoming stuff...

and look forward and be, like, "I gotta think about this before I do it" instead of just go for it.

Gotta actually visualize and map it out inside my head.

If you can see the bottom, follow Farm.

- If you can't see the bottom, don't follow Farm. - Don't follow Farm.

Alaska, to me, to my friends, is the pinnacle of snowboarding.

There's nothing as big and vast and grand.

Once we got here, we knew that's where we wanted to be. It was like, God, this is rad.

Pretty much everything you can ask for, like a big mountain rider -

somebody who wants to have a really good time on a snowboard.

There's so many undiscovered mountains out there still that no one's even seen.

It's just unfathomable how many mountains are out there.

Once you ride powder, you never forget it. It's like a drug. It brings you back every time.

I'm a little scared. At first, I was really scared.

Like, man, I've never done this stuff before!

It's just such a different mind-set out here. You get a respect for how big everything is.

Avalanches are our biggest concerns.

Crevasses. It's always scary. You never know what to expect.

You just have to know your outs, know where your safe zones are.

You have to be aware that something can go wrong.

And when it does, it's usually catastrophic.

You'll never be totally comfortable up here. Never.

And if you are, you shouldn't be here, because all around you the mountains are alive.

Unless you're fully prepared to be in a situation oflife or death,

you shouldn't be up here.

You can't get lulled into a sense of anything being routine up here, because it's not.

When you're flying and you're getting on top of these mountains,

you better pay attention to what the hell is going on.

Because one mistake is going to cost you your life or your friend's life.

Biggest thing that would bum me out is if somebody got hurt or killed up here...

in my backyard, in the place that I've been riding for 15 years.

It's always been my thing. I feel like the mother hen out here, and, you know, I would feel responsible.

It always crossed my mind that I'd end up coming out here when I was a lot older.

I always thought that I'd master everything and then take over on this thing.

I think it'd be a good time for me now, though, to get some experience.

If something spectacular happens or it's obviously just got to be that way, then I'm ready to throw down like that.

But at the same time, I'm not going to try to kill myself, really.

At least until towards the end of the project.

You're out of control.

Oh, man.

Big mountain riding is definitely in my blood.

He likes to come back here, but he'll never really ever live here.

Because he's got to either have the mountains or the ocean, I think.

If I didn't get to come back home to my parents, I'd probably... I'd be in a box.

A cardboard box by the Dumpster.

Shawn's favorite sign in the whole world is the store that has... What, Shawn?

Guns, liquor, ammo!

Pull!

You won't get that. I knew you wouldn't get that.

I thought we were going this way! We're going to.

Pull! There it goes.

Hey!

Going back to Alaska for me is... I wouldn't call it a comeback 'cause I've been here the whole time, you know.

But it's gonna be an excellent opportunity.

I'm excited just to get up there and do some chopper time.

Yeah, I want to show everybody that I've still got some skills.

And for sure up there, I know I can... you know, I can get with anybody up on a big mountain.

Pull!

I knew you'd miss.

Oh, you got it on the second one. Nothing wrong with that. How do you like me now?

Shawn had this antiestablishment thing.

And that's what appealed to all the young people.

He gave them a sense of a free-riding spirit...

that did what he and they thought was the right way...

to do and express yourself.

The bad downside to that would be,

you have to live up to some pre-concept that people have.

So everywhere you go, they expect you to, like, break bottles over your head or something, you know?

Or just do something crazy.

That was the hard part to deal with.

And I think that's one of the reasons why...

among the... what I want to call the subculture... I'll say the snowboard culture...

that's why he's been able to retain the following that he has.

I came out in a movie called Totally Board One.

I think when that movie came out, it really did rock the industry.

I ended up doing that Mount Baker Road Gap, which was a mythical beast.

Maybe some people had done it, but, mostly, people just talked about it.

And that's when I realized that was for me.

I just became a big mountain rider.

I ended up getting some money, starting getting paid to snowboard. I couldn't believe it, you know?

I'm getting checks year round, you know. I'm getting checks in the summer.

Even before that, I was already a little bit out there.

And then now, this was like gas on the fire.

I always told him,

you know, you can't just go out here and do what you want to do.

When you're in the corporate world, that doesn't always work.

And it cost him dearly.

I never had a plan. I didn't even care about money. I just wanted to have a good time.

And my good time ended.

If your, like, fairy tale goes wrong, then you have to have a backup plan, and I really didn't.

We actually bought our first snowboards together.

I think Joe bought both of them, actually.

Well, I'd just wrecked his car. I backed it into a telephone pole.

But I'd already wrecked his car way before.

So his mom was paying me some money,

and we went and bought snowboards with it instead of fixing his car.

Shawn has never quit pursuing what he liked.

He has stayed right there. He's done it and done it.

And I used to think, well, he'll finally say, "That's it," and throw up his hands.

He never has.

And as far as I'm concerned now, as old as he is and what he's been doing, he never will.

The early days of snowboarding...

were definitely something that can never be duplicated.

It's like rock and roll in the '50s or something, you know?

People didn't even really know quite what it was.

And I'm just fortunate to have lived through it and been part of it.

The next wave of snowboarders was inspired by the hard-charging skate and punk movements of the '80s.

These antiestablishment influences would fuel a clash of cultures that would last for over a decade.

Snowboarding was a direct descendant of skateboarding.

Definitely surfing had its place in influencing what snowboarding did.

But as soon as people fgured out how it would actually ride on snow,

they wanted to do skate tricks.

It was all about slashing and finding walls...

and trying those skate maneuvers on my snowboard.

I think it was a pretty rowdy crowd at the beginning.

Snowboarding was basically, you know, just punk rock kids just wanting to go out and thrash,

be aggressive and just try to express themselves.

They're, like, a lot of kids with a lot energy.

The music we were listening to told us to, you know, thrash, have fun. Fuck authority.

Freeze! Not that funny.

This whole, like, anti-authority movement...

definitely pushed the sport in the direction of free thinking - you'd go and do what you wanted to do.

The sport was yours to mold.

We were stoked to be a part of something that felt like our own. It wasn't welcome at all from the skiers.

Is that good enough? I think so.

I think when snowboarding came along...

and the skier establishment saw this new thing that they really didn't understand,

they couldn't help but reject it and try to ban it.

I remember the first day we went snowboarding. We weren't allowed on the ski lifts.

So we hiked up along the side of the run.

And I remember getting heckled from the skiers, and that look, like, what are they riding on?

There was less than half a dozen ski areas...

that allowed snowboarding on planet Earth in 1982 and 1983.

The ski industry thought that this was a fad - "We want nothing to do with this."

I'd get letters from ski companies saying, "Stop making these things."

We knew we were entitled to it. I think there was this feeling that it was going to happen.

But, yeah, when big resorts caved in you'd get a phone call...

"Hey, we can get on Vail." And it was, like, "No way!" It was such cool news at the time.

All of the sudden there was these weird people on their hill, and they didn't follow a tradition in skiing.

We were taking creative lines down the mountain that skiers weren't taking.

They thought we were going to injure ourselves or injure some other people.

Which was not really the case.

Was there a prejudice from skiers towards snowboarders? I think absolutely.

Snowboarders seem to be a little wilder and take up more room.

We were standing in line and three of them cut in front of us.

We just didn't want to bug with them because we thought they might have guns or something.

And I think, as I look back in my career, when it was really a bad boy image,

snowboarders, I must admit, deserved some of the criticism they were getting.

They're looking down at you, and you like that, though, when you're a kid.

"Yeah, I'm a scumbag. I'm riding a snowboard."

What it did is gave you that angst and that energy to go out and prove them wrong.

You know, prove to them that you could go out and enjoy it just as much or more than they could.

There was some behavior and attitude problems.

There was a lot of language from both sides.

I hope you get hit in the face. You're an asshole to everyone who goes by here.

You got a kid with a lot of freedom in his mind...

and someone turning around, telling him, you know, "I hate snowboarders."

So, he turns around and is, like, "I'm going to do what I want."

And then it turned into, like, almost a mental war.

They just weren't ready to let go of their skis and get on a snowboard.

Even though I'm a little bit of a geezer,

I've been snowboarding myself full-time for six years.

I've never been back on skis.

I took it up when I was 60 and just ride with all the young guys around here.

It's great. I've been totally hooked for six years, and I just don't ski anymore.

Usually, I don't ride with people in these mountains...

unless they're really good at using all the safety equipment -

probe pole, beacon, harness.

You need to know who's in your group and what kind of skills they have with this type of gear,

because it could be my life that they're trying to save.

Seven-four! Seven-one!

Me and Farm dug them both out in four minutes.

That's survivable time with no brain damage or anything like that. Maybe some hypothermia.

So if they beat four minutes, then I'm gonna say, "Yeah, they were listening real good."

If they don't beat four minutes and it comes to seven, to eight,

now, potentially, we have a body recovery instead of, you know, saving your friend.

All right, this way. So, we'll see.

Are we getting so close? I'm finding it.

Okay. There you go.

Here it is - point-six. Dig it.

I hit something. Is it squishy?

Oh, yes. It's right there, baby! Time!

Did you get it? Yeah!

Every time I've been told about the backcountry, they're just like, "Listen, you know,

even though your friend's buried, you still have to take your time and just find him."

I mean, there's no use in just panicking and going like this everywhere.

It just doesn't do anything.

They found the beacon in two minutes. They found it quicker than me and Nick.

So I'm sure they can handle it.

A while ago, Shaun and I were talking about, like, whoa, we've never done this before.

Like, we don't wanna die up there.

Not bugging out about it, but being, like, I don't know - feelin' a little stressed on it.

You know, I want to be safe, but I still want to learn a lot. I want to learn about backcountry riding.

And I want to progress, you know.

This is called Kiwijunior.

It's a good little run. It's not too much exposure, but there are places where you can get hurt, definitely.

It's probably some of the best snow that we've found.

So, there's four or five lines in here that we can rip.

And it's just kind of a little warm-up for the first shot of the day.

Once you drop in, the slough's going to be on either side of it.

So you gotta get on the middle.

If you don't get on the middle, you're gonna get pulled off either side.

There's a little chocolate chip to the left. See it?

We land the helicopter, and you look at this big mountain face and you're, like, "Okay, pick your line."

And I'm trying to look at the mountain that way, but I don't see it.

There's just so much going on. It's hard to focus.

They are so out of their element up here.

It's a gut-wrenching feeling when you know they can do it,

but are they gonna be able to do it?

Three, two, one.

It's just different being up here...

because it's no longer just, like, little runs.

It's like every run's its own mountain. I'm not used to it at all.

That cliff at the bottom was huge!

It was just a flat...

I'm, like, shaking. That was a big one.

I came off there just, like, oh, no!

And it's so much bigger than it looks.

I'm getting into it though. It's so much fun.

Let's do it again.

It was probably one of the coolest rides I've ever done in my life 'cause it was just so new to me.

I don't know, afterwards, I felt like I'd accomplished this huge feat.

Even though it was, like, one of the mellow runs of Alaska.

I just felt, still, that it was just such a big thing for me.

So many things could have gone wrong, but they didn't.

There's a great line for Hannah.

Just tell her to almost follow my tracks. Keep them on her skier's left side.

And just... tell her just to trust it.

Tell her to trust me and just stay on that ridge and just slowly work her way down it.

Yeah, Hannah!

Nick's always given me tips, no matter what, even if I don't ask for them.

He'll just fill me with some good information.

And he's just making sure I'm safe.

I really appreciate having someone behind my back, even though I just met him.

Oh, yeah, guys. Yeah, Nick. Thanks for radioing up and reassuring me. That was cool.

I was all, like, "Yeah! He said it's good!" Good job.

Me and Farm, just for us to come back up here...

to where our eyes got opened...

We told ourselves back in '89 that this is it - we will always come back here.

Just to be able to hang with him in these mountains, where we both got our start...

and our end of our career,

it's - it's awesome.

He's just one of a kind, man. He's a one-of-a-kind character.

If you ever wanna go ride a snowboard with somebody,

he's one of the funnest guys to ride with.

Yeah, the first day, me and Shawn went up for this afternoon run.

It's kind of cool to go with Shawn. He's got such good skills.

So, I was not, like, afraid he was gonna not make it or adapt to it. I think that was the least problem.

I was kind of stoked I'd probably get to go first.

The worst was, standing up at the top with Terje...

and then I'm just thinking over in my head, like, my mom and dad, like...

I'd gotten, like, four sit-down talks with them...

"Okay, I know Terje is gonna go with you. Don't let him take you up anywhere."

I was just standing up there like, wow, I'm just doing the total opposite of what everybody's told me.

It's just kind of getting over that fear of what everybody's telling me...

and just kind of taking my own look at it.

I'll be honest - I had a little shake going.

I was, like...

Like right before you drop in, like, the X-Games pipe, you got a little bit of a shake going.

And that's exactly what it was.

I was just like, okay, well, if it slides, you're just gonna fly that way.

Oh! It was fun.

It's just such a different mind-set out here.

I'm such a far ways away from where I was just a couple weeks ago.

Grand marshal.

You're an honored guest here of Mountain Dew...

at the final Mountain Dew Southern 500.

And you'll give the command to start the 43 engines this afternoon.

Yeah, the "start your engines!"

Jeff, real quick. Shaun White, our grand marshal.

What's going on? Nice to meet you. Good to have you here. Hey, thanks.

You're awesome, what you do on that stuff.

Actually, my snowboarding boots are your boots.

Oh, really? That's awesome!

Yeah! Did you hear that? That was awesome!

Oh, dude, Gordon's gettin' a snowboard in the mail.

And now, race fans, will you please welcome back Shaun White.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in saluting...

the running of the final Mountain Dew Southern 500!

Gentlemen, start your engines!

I never would have thought being grand marshal at NASCAR. You know what I mean?

There's just so many opportunities within snowboarding that I'm starting to realize now.

He is a mainstream celebrity, whether he likes it or not. He's on TV. Kids know his name.

They know that he's one of the best snowboarders of all time.

He's also one of the most amazing skateboarders we've ever seen.

I did Japan for, like, 10 days.

I got home from that for, like, a day or two - straight to NASCAR.

And then after NASCAR, here we are - Hollywood.

Oh, no.

The only thing that wears me out is just, like, the time zones,

because, like, you get home and you want to sleep and then you got to stay up.

There's the back.

I hate looking at the whole calendar...

'cause it's just, like, you look at this whole calendar...

and the whole thing's just covered in red ink and you're, like,

"Oh, I have to do all that."

I just try to take the one month at a time.

Stand by.

I feel that when the mainstream comes into snowboarding, it's really good, I feel.

Because the more money that gets in the sport, it ends up bringing more things back home.

The week has been crazy.

The mountains are taking half their budget to make a sick park, so kids will show up and ride.

And I think that's one of the coolest parts about the mainstream coming into our sport.

Shaun White, two-time defending gold medalist.

The man is focused. He told me at the beginning of the week, "I am hungry for competition."

We will see ifhe can get it done and get his third gold.

For me, the X-Games is just something for me to look forward to.

It's always the biggest event of the year.

There's so many people that come out to it. It's full-on live television.

It's where snowboarding really came to light.

People started to watch the X-Games on TV and started noticing faces and people.

Snowboarding is the heart and soul of the Winter X-Games, and it was from the very beginning.

A lot of mainstream sports critics said these aren't real athletes, these aren't real sports.

But the kids, they're the ones who have the same regard for professional snowboarders...

that they have for any other professional athlete.

When you're on a medium like ABC's Wide World of Sports...

and it's your run being beamed out to 1 50 million people,

let's face it-if you put it down, it's going to change your life.

If you throw down the hottest run, you're going to be on SportsCenter.

Sports Center.

You getting nervous or what? I'm sweating it.

It's pretty intense.

I train most the year just to be able to go there and do my thing...

and do the best that I can at that event.

It's the one that I think about the most.

You talk to anybody from mainstream America who wants a piece of snowboarding,

the first question is, What was your place in the X-Games?

That's pretty much what it comes down to.

Shaun is setting the bar in every event he does.

It doesn't matter if it's slopestyle or rail jam, if it's half-pipe.

I hate to use the Michael Jordan reference. We'll say LeBron James.

He's like LeBron James on a snowboard.

Shaun, we love you!

I don't think we even have any idea how big his star's going to be.

Anybody know his name? Shaun White coming home with the gold.

If he thought he was famous now, just wait till the Olympics.

Despite growing acceptance, snowboarding was still underground.

In the mid-'80s, early contests brought together snowboarders from all over the world,

triggering the sport's rapid evolution.

The U.S. Open was huge for us on the East Coast.

That's where we went to watch the other guys that were top in the sport show us what they had.

And it was our chance to show them what we had.

I started snowboarding up in Tahoe.

And not until the first time I went to my first world championships contest in Breckenridge...

did I realize that snowboarding existed anywhere except Tahoe.

There's European snowboarders and there's the East Coast Burton guys.

And there's now bigger hard-core guys.

It was just a bunch of people stoked to see that there were other people out there doing it.

As contests evolved, freestyle and free-riding became the focus.

These creative, more expressive styles of riding would become the driving forces...

that would shape snowboarding's future.

The whole birth of freestyle snowboarding came from us being able to ride half-pipes.

Back in the day, it was dominated by racing.

Racing became so serious and you didn't like the people you were racing against,

and there was all these rivalries.

Half-pipe gave it a chance for kids to just be kids.

The tallest half-pipe was probably-if it was six feet tall, that was a pretty damn big half-pipe.

And it was really just a mess.

It was really just, you know, kind of a mess.

Now you go onto these pipes and they're, like, 20-foot walls,

perfectly cut by a pipe dragon.

And kids these days get to ride that kind of stuff everyday.

A key element of contests in general was the fact that you got media out there...

and those photographers would open the eyes of millions of people.

Every single kid would look at those magazines and go, "Oh, my God, I want to do that."

Magazines were a way to show progression. It was a way to show trends.

It was a way to touch everyone all over the world about what was happening in our sport.

But then, with the advent of the snowboard video, we were like,

Whoa, snowboarding's way different than the way we do it. Let's do it that way.

When I first started snowboarding, the stars of the sport, to me, were the guys that were in the videos.

You know, Damian Sanders, Craig Kelly, guys like that.

I mean, I would watch a video 25 times, easy.

Film is the biggest influence on snowboarding. Maybe more so than contests.

All of the sudden, there was this whole generation of snowboarders...

that didn't have to go and win contests to be sponsored.

We could go free-ride and go ride powder and experience more of snowboarding...

than just traveling around doing the contests.

You're on fire!

Videos helped to look inside and see what else what was going on...

besides when the snowboarders were on the hill...

and just more about, like, their personalities.

And that's what grabbed you - like, these guys are cool.

You can snowboard all day and just go haywire at night.

And I mean haywire.

The videos were more geared towards partying...

and the Whiskey movies and stuff where it's just mayhem.

They had a different idea of what apres-ski activities might be.

Yeah!

Basically just being Jackass before Jackass was even cool.

I knew snowboarding was crazy, but when you watch those videos you really know how nuts it was.

And deep down, I think, I really wanted to be a part of that.

Farm ain't playing He's just gonna be filleting faces

After they drop him off at the top and he rips it through the bottom of the bases

But that's the way he does it every day of the week

'Cause he's a powder-ridin' longboard freak, hey

You know, morale goes down a little bit when the whiteout comes.

We had other things planned to do and now we can't do them, so it's just another Chugach notch.

Another down day.

What's up, Farm? What do you think, bro? What are we gonna do?

You're gonna get a huge storm.

You're gonna get a couple, three, four days of clearing. Then you're gonna get some wind.

That's the cycle of these mountains.

You have to be patient, because when it does break it's going to be the best that you've ever had.

You got to find things to do around here, or you're gonna go nuts.

As soon as Farm hears the rotors flying, he'll be the first one dressed and ready to go. Huh, Farm?

That's right. See?

Hopefully, it's dumping up top, up high. I'm sure it probably is.

I didn't know Travis was coming. He kind of just showed up. I'm, like, "Yeah!"

He's a good friend of mine, and he's an awesome rider.

I'd heard he might have been coming, but it's just awesome to have him here.

It's a good crew coming up here...

Perata, Farmer, Hannah, having Terje up here with, like, Shaun White.

All right, let's do it.

He'll ride anything. He's all about the backcountry.

He can do a half-pipe contest and slope south.

Alaska is a place where Travis can separate himself from other riders.

He knows it's the best for backcountry free-riding.

First couple days we got blue sky, finally, after the rainy, like, cloudy storminess.

I was so happy, you know, just knowing that we were going up.

Yeah! We're going up!

Now that we've had new snow, it's made everything unstable.

It's good 'cause we get a fresh coat, but it's also bad 'cause it now makes everything more dangerous.

Yeah, I heard that it's kind of avalanchey up top.

So today we're just gonna, I guess, plan a jump.

How do I feel about building a kicker in the Alaskan backcountry?

Well, I think it's a bunch of bullshit myself.

But I live by the motto, don't sweat the petty.

Pet the sweaty.

He's got a point.

This is probably the most popular part of snowboarding videos and everything.

Kids go out and build these jumps, you know?

Dudes like Shawn and Travis Rice here.

Terje won't have a problem either. I'm sure Hannah will do fine.

We'll see. I don't know, you know. I could throw out something.

I'm a little scared, actually. I've never really done this kind of stuff before.

Oh, God, no!

Do a couple of those, you'll be all stretched out. Yeah.

I thought we'd just be coming up here, we'd build a little one foot-high, single track jump.

I mean, when did it come to this? Why do you have to fly a hundred feet? I don't understand it.

Farmer was a little nervous because he's never really had a jump like this.

And the jump was huge.

It was a really big jump.

It was just something that was bringing the whole new wave of snowboarding right to him,

and I don't know whether he was ready for it or not.

Hannah had never been out in the backcountry to hit a jump like this,

and to start out with that was just insane 'cause it was... I was scared.

Whenever I'm put in front of a challenge, I want to do it.

I want to conquer it and come out of it feeling this sense of satisfaction that I went for it.

It was a really big jump that any other girl that was up here...

would most definitely back out of.

I give her so much credit for even going for it.

It was really scary.

I was, like, "Well, Farm went. I guess I'll go for it."

Let's give you a quick head-to-toe.

Take a deep breath for me. Careful now.

Does it feel like a broken rib at all?

Big mountain skills or hospital bills.

That's the story up here, you know?

Hematoma. A hematoma. No big deal.

That your bone sticking out? In the wrong spot? I don't know.

All the way up. Yeah, you're gonna have some bruisin'.

A little swelling right in here right now.

Ice him down.

You know, it's been a little bit of a reality check for me too...

'cause at my age I can get there and I have experience...

and I can get down stuff that a lot of people wouldn't even consider.

And then, on the other hand, it's like, you know,

maybe it's time to just relax and chill out.

Which... I'm torn. Dude, that's gnarly. Gnarly.

Those guys are all stomping it though, huh? No problem.

You just start to feel it right after that first 360.

I was feeling it.

Did another three even bigger, and then I was, "Oh, I'm gonna seven it. I gotta do it."

It was definitely one of the biggest 720s I've ever done.

It's just, like, "What?"

It's just mind-boggling, man.

Really, I mean, I was, like, "He just greased it, you know?"

That was a fun little session.

Got quick couple bumps with the heli and split just in time.

Yeah, it worked out probably better than we had hoped.

A little bit over my head right now.

But, yeah, these guys killed it, man.

You have to accept where you're at in this whole game,

so that's hard for me, but that's what I'm doing, you know.

We'll see. You never know.

It kind ofhurt my pride a little bit, you know.

Like, when I was tumbling down that hill, you just feel it.

You know, a fall I had never taken before. Just kind of bruised my little ego.

Yeah, I grew up with four older brothers just charging around, doing stuff.

And to come here and kind of get a sense of that, like,

"Wait up! I want to come!" You know.

So it was a nice, like, atmosphere for me.

I was born, raised... I've lived here my whole life - Belmont, Vermont.

It's just so peaceful up here.

I love coming home after just being on the road.

Do I have pride? I'm not changing my last name when I get married.

Keep it Teter forever.

It was nice to have four older influences to kind of guide me along, you know?

Are you going to show me how to ride a rail today?

Amen. I've been traveling with him a lot lately actually.

I'm Hannah's manager and agent, as well as Abe and Eliijah's.

So we've got the Teter family snowboarding business going on.

Abe Teter!

Yeah!

We all rode the same first snowboard. We all learned on it.

There it is. This is the old man right here.

That thing is awesome. Look at the size of that puppy!

Look at the dust on it. That's amazing.

I mean, four older brothers, and the only sister.

It's made her pretty rough and tough.

Keeping up with them all those years,

she was always determined to be right there with them.

Don't hit me with that.

I think Hannah exemplifies competitive.

She is so competitive, almost to a fault in certain ways.

I mean, she's so competitive in her head...

and so driven to win and be the best at what she's doing...

that sometimes it takes away from how much fun she's having.

Hannah Teter!

- Come on, Sissy. - Come on, Hannah!

It helps me to have a little support at the bottom.

No matter what happens, it's just that positive energy type...

that I can get from my family and no one else, you know?

He's a skeezer.

Kill it, man.

This is the first time the backyard in the Teter family has ever seen rails.

Liden, you are so skeezy.

I think they just kick-started me, you know?

Like, I started snowboarding because they were.

And then I kind of sprouted off.

Over the last couple of years, Hannah's, like,

taken it where we started it and where those guys started it...

and then taken it to that next level.

As her brother, I just find myself being just so overwhelmed sometimes.

Like, holy shit, dude! She is killing it!

Like, my little sister's one of the best snowboarders in the world,

and that's nuts.

As the decade changed, so did snowboarding.

Increased exposure, a no-limits attitude and continued progression...

would push the sport to a level that few had ever imagined.

It seemed like overnight we went from being a threat...

to being, like, the saviors of the ski industry.

We were bringing kids back on to the mountain, and lift ticket sales started going back up.

It seemed like when something flipped, it just flipped very quickly.

Snowboarding was growing so fast,

and ski resorts started to realize that they're gonna miss out...

if they don't allow snowboarding and they don't start catering to snowboarders.

They started advertising on the radio, "And we don't allow snowboarders."

The year after they were, like, "And we have a great half-pipe."

And they were, like, completely kissing ass to snowboarders.

I hate it when they do that.

Because all it comes down to is them making money.

The bus was leaving. You're either gonna be on the bus or off the bus, financially, on this thing.

Then you saw the exponential growth of snowboarding,

with double-digit increases every single year.

And who wants to miss that boat, from a business point of view?

And after all, we're running a business here.

Snowboarding just kind of started going mainstream a little bit.

There was bigger contests. There was more prize money.

It was such an accelerated path from sleeping in the cars...

and clipping lift tickets...

to be able to get up and ride to this huge insurgence of money into the industry.

Before I knew it, we were traveling the world and forgot how we got there.

'Cause it just kind of happened overnight.

All of a sudden you started seeing snowboarding commercials on TV.

Why do I use the card? I spent my whole life doing things my own way.

American Express never questioned it.

Then you started to see snowboarding more and more and more,

and it was, like, "Oh, shit. People are into this sport. Snowboarding's cool!"

There's a lot of good things that come from it, but there's also a lot ofbad things.

All these companies are throwing money at us, and all of a sudden it's, like,

"You'll have all these opportunities," which is all cool and everything.

But then sometimes you'd sit back and you're, like, "Am I selling myself out?

Am I selling out the soul of snowboarding?"

It definitely makes you feel like you got robbed, in a sense.

But now we've reached this worldly exposure, where it's actually kind of neat.

You know, like, you have kids all over the world who respect you for what you do...

and admire you.

What had once been an underground American subculture...

soon spread to Europe and Japan and became a global phenomenon.

Europe was more focused on racing,

and we were more focused on the freestyle aspect of it.

They rode fast. They rode some serious big mountains, a lot of powder.

And I think that those riders brought a lot to the development of the whole thing.

In general, the Europeans embraced it, I think, a lot quicker than the Americans.

The Japanese people are amazing, and they're amazingly fanatical about things that they love.

And they found snowboarding, and they embraced it,

and they turned us into rock stars.

We had never felt like that before in the U.S.

When you got to Japan, it was these people...

- They knew your names, and they were showing up at airports. - I love you!

And, like, asking you for autographs everywhere!

There's dudes there that buy six boards a year.

They were just so obsessive. That definitely fueled that billion-dollar industry for sure.

I don't know. This isn't really snowboarding.

But, uh, it's a show. It's an event. It's how it goes.

Please welcome...

Extreme jump in Tokyo Dome!

You know, in the U.S., snowboarding is kind of big,

but over here, it's kind of taken to the next level.

And, of course, it's sold out once again.

That's why it is the best contest.

They have pyrotechnics and smash a big old gong.

And, like, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire lighting going.

Four, three, two, one, start!

When you get to the top of the dropping deck...

and you look out over, you know, a sea...

of 40,000 Japanese who are just chanting,

uh, it's definitely a humbling, humbling view.

Travis Rice from Wyoming, U.S.A.!

What has snowboarding come to?

You definitely feed off the crowd. You know, you get out there, and there's that many fans.

So, of course, you know, you're gonna go a little bit bigger, a little faster,

try a little harder.

It's crazy that snowboarding's brought me to, like, a place like this...

where that many people are that hyped on what we're doing.

Most of the heebie-jeebies of first coming here and seeing these big ol' mountains...

are pretty much over.

It's nice that we can get out and get some runs under our belt.

Shaun and Hannah are getting more and more comfortable each day they're here.

You know, obviously they don't have the big mountain experience the rest of the group has.

But from what I've seen so far, you know, the potential is definitely there.

You know, having Travis here and Terje, I'll tell you what...

It's pretty awesome just to see how much it's progressed.

It's definitely amazing, you know. Nobody would have ever thought that the sport would have gone this far.

Well, all right. How was that?

That was really good. Uh, the snow is super good.

The sunny sides are a little sunbaked, but other than that,

it's like some wet Tahoe powder.

Riding with Travis was so good because he was so motivated, you know, just to be up there.

And then, you know, he's so top of the game right now.

You know, that helped a lot, having him just motivating me.

You snowboard long enough,

and you get an eye for trying to fgure out the line.

And shredding with Terje... He's been looking for the line ever since he was, like, 15.

You always pick the lines where it's hard to get to.

Or it seems like those are the lines that are really good.

All right, my line is, I'm dropping on the, uh, next ridge over...

from what Terje did on top of that last feature.

I'm gonna air off that into that landing -

that landing that's getting shaded right now.

You all right? Yeah.

Feel good? Yeah.

Good? If you care, I've got the power shot.

Yeah? Yeah. Nice one.

Just got to, uh, keep fighting for those ones.

That thing cracked, and I just had... I knew I had to get to the side.

So, uh, I was able to weasel out.

Just, uh... You gotta be persistent, hold that edge, keep cutting out of it.

You're pretty good at weasling.

That was right where I was trying to go. Yeah. It was perfect.

Then I just saw everything crack, and it was, like... The crack was huge. Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It's a big avalanche to wake up in the morning with, and it's not gonna stop us.

We already knew that before we came up here - that there's gonna be avalanches.

We've both seen them before, and let's keep rolling.

That's what A.K. is all about.

- I was telling them that we were gonna bump up and do another one. - Yeah, perfect.

Yeah.

So much of snowboarding is...

all you have is what nature gives you as far as features.

Like, 90% of what we do is exploration,

trying to find, you know, the perfect feature.

Some of the progression, I think, too, is, like, how good are you to play?

Travis is a really good example. He can play with any kind of terrain.

That's what makes him such a well-rounded snowboarder.

If you were to just, you know, say, "Hey, let's just jump onto the corners,"

everything would've been okay yesterday.

When? Yesterday.

Well, you went first, dude. I was waiting for you to do that so I could follow your lead.

And you just jumped the whole thing.

It was a relief to know I was just gonna make some turns.

They were like, "Okay, we're gonna go take a couple runs."

And I was, like, "Whew!" You know, no big jumps today. Scores!

She's really not afraid, you know. She throws down, and she's strong.

And it's just a matter ofher getting a little experience on this type of terrain.

But she's a superstrong rider.

Shaun White and I are kind of like classmates,

and then, like, Farmer and Nick are kind of the teacher.

You know, we're in their class. And I didn't expect that coming up here.

I thought I'd just be hanging out with a bunch of dudes.

A trip to Alaska is special for me.

And what I expect, you know, is just to get the best runs of my life.

The runs I did here 10 years ago - like, I still remember those runs.

Sometimes you just pick a line that was maybe over your head or not what you expected.

You kind of got to pick lines like that if you want to be in the limelight of snowboarding.

And that's about pushing limits...

and trying to avoid, you know, an uncomfortable situation.

Okay, there's no going back now, that's for sure.

Be actually hard to unstrap my bindings...

where it's jammed in the little snow coulier.

It was definitely a lot of rush going through my head and my body,

and I was, like, breathing pretty heavy, I'm sure.

You want to put yourself in a situation like that,

but also, again, not to be in a situation like that.

It's that fine line again.

Getting the chance to come up and shred with Terje is, like...

you know, I couldn't ask for anything more.

It's ideal.

I'm, uh, really glad I got to grow up in Norway.

I think it's a beautiful country and a good country.

Coming from someplace where, you know, as soon as you're born,

you're throwing on a pair of skis and pushed out onto the snow-

It's something that developed really naturally for him.

Terje is really... I mean, he's revered there.

He's a real icon.

Terje was the first guy to break the barrier...

and turn into, like, the full-blown snowboard rock star.

Terje Haakonsen became a household name.

And for a name like Terje to fall off the lips of some people in middle America,

that's saying something, for sure.

The platform that he's built for himself, to see him take it and to start a contest like this...

and to see him try to make a difference with it...

makes the event that much more enjoyable to experience.

Listen up, guys.

It's funny 'cause Terje was always a guy that sat back...

and kind of reacted to the powers that be.

For him to be in that position is definitely a change.

I like to have the control of what's going on for us riders, you know.

I'm still riding in it.

He's had this vision for where the sport should go.

A lot of younger riders probably aren't aware of the fact that it was that event...

and Terje making that event happen...

that brought this scale...

of snowboarding features and snowboarding competitions to that level.

That's what Terje likes. He's really, like, pushing quarter-pipe riding,

and he has to pretty much almost the limit and beyond.

Andy Finch!

Oh, my God!

I wish there was more quarters like this 'cause it's so much damn fun.

Glad to be walking away. Congratulations.

Thanks. I'm super stoked that we got, finally, to ride, you know.

Well, I'm looking really to the surfg part.

The plan is to, you know, fly in, hold all the events...

and then get on the boat and go out to this island and enjoy some surfing.

When we had to announce that we didn't have a half-pipe contest,

it was just, like, "Yeah. Cool."

It's not that important for them, you know, to compete all the time.

I think we get more stoked riding that way.

I really enjoy that sport.

It's great to me. I wish I could do that in every contest. I want to just go for surf.

Because of its rapid rise in popularity,

the Olympics soon set it sights on snowboarding.

In 1998 snowboarding reluctantly stepped on to the Olympic stage,

dividing the tight-knit snowboarding community.

Coming up to the Olympics, there was all this hype about how Terje wasn't gonna be there.

And at that point, Terje was pretty much considered...

the best half-pipe rider and the person to beat.

And ifhe wasn't there, it wasn't a real contest. And I totally agreed with that.

I think it's really wrong and not really good for the sport.

They're trying to pick countries that are up against countries.

It's not so much what snowboarding's about.

It was important that he was there to make that decision...

because there was both sides of it, and he represented that side of it.

As the Olympic team going into Nagano,

we had a lot of faith in people that weren't up to the task...

of making snowboarding look really cool to the world.

The athlete Rebagliati, Ross, member of the Canadian delegation,

is disqualified and excluded from the 1 8th Olympic Winter Games.

It was unfortunate, you know, to have the whole scandal...

with Ross testing positive for marijuana.

They wanted to strip his medal, and then they finally allowed him to have it...

Because that wasn't one of the banned substances.

So because that whole thing happened,

they cut 80% of the coverage of snowboarding...

to the American public.

If anything, he should get a bonus medal...

for actually being able to get a gold medal while stoned.

We just felt like they needed us to get over with, get on the plane and get home.

It sucked.

I'd say that's a good kick-off for the Olympics for snowboarding.

I wouldn't choose to have it any other way.

Four years later the Salt Lake City games...

would show snowboarding in a much different light...

and forever change the mainstream's perception of the sport.

Kelly Clark won the first gold for the United States during that Olympics,

and that was a huge deal.

It really got the attention of the American public.

They actually gave it the coverage that it deserved,

and America finally got to see snowboarding competition,

how it could be.

People freaked out.

Forty-seven years after the last time the Americans swept anything in the Olympics,

we get the U.S. snowboard team come in, and they do it.

And they were the perfect package.

You had the pretty boy, J.J. Thomas.

You had the consummate professional, Ross Powers,

and the dirtbag, Danny Kass.

I think it was, like, kind of like a morale booster for the States.

I was just more pumped that my family was there. A lot of them came out.

So that's where the pride really kicked in.

It was, like, made my mom proud. I think she cried. It was awesome.

Oh, God. Cut!

With the guys in 2002,

all of a sudden snowboarders are our heroes.

And they're hopeful for getting more gold medals at the Olympics for years to come.

It's kind of turned down the volume on my program a little bit.

The conditions are tough, and I jacked myself a little bit.

When you throw down and kill one, a really sweet line,

it's an awesome feeling, you know.

I can still get down some stuff and throw down a decent line, I think.

Yeah! Farm!

Every day I've gone up, it's just been some weird new experience.

And this is the only place I've really felt out of control.

I haven't felt like I was on top of my game, like I could do anything.

It's tough when you feel like that,

especially after so many years of me just feeling like I could do anything.

And I don't know... It just kind of changed my whole perspective on everything.

Hopefully this is, you know, the culmination of it all.

And this fire can chase the demons out of everybody...

and whatever they have left in 'em,

as far as looking forward to our final goal here.

'Cause that financial growth is about to happen

When the world finds out about this rappin'

Not the money and fame, yo

I don't give a damn 'cause this song remains the same

No matter where I am

Thompson Pass area traffc, Helicopter 814, Echo Hotel lifting.

Tsaina Lodge, westbound.

Oh, we like this ride, don't we?

Oh, pretty day. Follow our favorite river.

Well, you know, as we leave our backyard here,

we venture into the Arctic North,

which is kind of the last zone where nobody's been yet.

That's where the highest mountains are in this area,

so there's got to be some rad lines in there someplace.

You know what they say... There's always a better line over the next ridge.

Pretty much this is all undiscovered terrain out here now.

It's getting more and more vertical as we get back here farther.

You know, one of things that we're gonna be running up against, Drew,

is finding a zone that can please everyone.

We don't want to scare anybody to the point...

of wanting to be helicoptered off the top of the mountain.

There's plenty out here. It's just a matter of taking our time and finding the right one.

Let me call back to base, and we'll get the troops headed this way.

Sounds good.

My last day of riding. I'm gonna miss it.

This schedule has been so fun-filled,

and I'm going to miss all these guys so much, you know.

We were just being, like, a nice team.

If we can find a base up here somewhere that looks like it might be workable,

I'll go ahead and try and set down on the top.

And, uh, we'll go with that. Sounds good.

7601 - this is one of the highest peaks out here.

Let's just go see if we can get in up there. Okay. The winds are pretty strong today.

I may have to make a couple of attempts at it.

This'll be one of the hairier lines, I can guarantee that.

Being on the top of that thing, with the winds blowing, I was scared.

I didn't think. I'm, like, "There's no way we're going down this."

The true fact is, I was scared of it. I can say, "Oh, I didn't trust this, this and that."

But I was scared to fall down that mountain.

You know, when I'm scared, I know that it's not right, for me, at least at that time.

It was gnarly. It was super gnarly.

The wind was just hammering so much.

And I didn't even think the helicopter was going to come back.

Well, conditions got to be just right to do a mountain like 7601.

You know, there's no doubt that there's plenty of peaks out there to ride,

but we were kind of coming up short on time,

and we still wanted to get that one big run in before we all left.

The hardest thing for me is to actually come down to Earth...

and just be, like, "Okay, here's something I can't do."

'Cause I always look- I want to do the superhero lines.

How big do you think that was?

Middle cliff band is huge.

I don't know, dude. Probably, huh?

Looks like it's gonna be pow. I think it's gonna be killer coming down.

There's a lot of ridge on the way down. See all those things?

So, I think this is us right here on this cornice.

If you came in like that, that would be skier's ride a little bit...

to get around the rock bend and to get out where you can look at it.

I learn something every day when I'm on the mountain.

The one I talk to the most would probably be Farmer.

You know, he just puts it in such a way that it's easy to understand.

Now, just don't cut. If there's a huge river of snow or whatever there, don't get in it.

As long as you stay on that wall, you'll be all right.

When it really comes down to it, you know, it's pretty much the best thing ever.

It's way better than competition. I know that, you know.

Or, like, you don't expect anything of yourself.

You know, "I'm just gonna go out and make a few turns today."

You know, she had a special sparkle in her eye for this place. She did.

She got confdent. She knows that there's no limits up here.

I just respect somebody that charges,

that is not afraid... apprehensive, but not afraid...

to actually bust out when the time comes.

It's got a little pow, but it's decent snow. It'll be safe.

I talked to Farm, and he said, "Slow down. Just take it under control."

And I went out there, and I just took my normal speed...

and just pulled it back just a notch.

Yeah! Yeah! That's killer.

I found more cliffs. I found more little things to jump.

I found the line I wanted to do way easier...

than if I was just blazing through there.

It's been kind of a revelation for me.

Right now, I'm not in a lot of pain, but, man, in the morning,

I swear to God, for the first three or four hours, man,

I can't raise my head off the pillow.

So, I'm jacked pretty good, but it's nothing permanent.

I'm glad it wasn't serious, but I'm cool with it.

His line is sketchy. I honestly don't think he knows where he's gonna go until he's in it.

There's this huge open powder face or there's this sketchy, rocky gorge.

He's all, "Hmm, I'll take the gorge."

I had one good line in this whole trip. One good line.

Oh, man, by the time we'd finished, you know, the wind had died down,

and Terje wanted to go back and have a look at 7601.

You know, he had that mountain on his mind the whole time, I could tell.

Yeah, Terje's gonna have a real good look at 7601 and probably ride it.

So, we would like the second group to come out right now and come over to "F" top.

Copy that. Second group coming out to "F" top.

Yeah, Terje, that looks sick.

Terje's, like, "I'm going back to that one. I'm doing it."

Me and Farm are, like, "What?"

The conditions were right. There was a big line.

Just got to jump on it when you can. Definitely needed a long run before I could leave Alaska.

When nobody's ever done something, and it's a descent...

or you don't know whether it's gonna avalanche or not, it's really sketchy.

If you mess up, it's, like, big consequences, you know.

Whenever you're doing the grand finale, the biggest peak or the gnarliest line,

you have to have mental toughness.

And one of the mental toughest snowboarders I know is Terje.

Terje Haakonsen's on top of that peak right there. It's called 7601.

I think that's how high it is - 7,000.

It's gonna be a first descent.

It's really gnarly up there.

I mean, it's looking 60 degrees at the top just to get on the chute.

I know he was gripped. You have to be gripped on top of that.

Five, four, three, He's gonna rip it, man. He's a good snowboarder.

Two, one!

Oh, my God! He's hauling ass!

He's totally raging down the face right now.

- Damn! - Hard.

Gnarly. Absolutely amazing.

Killing it. You know, I was so impressed.

When you overcome that doubt and fear at the same time and you pull it,

you're just, like, jacked, man.

Jacked for sure.

It was awesome. It was awesome to witness.

I feel privileged just to even see that. It's history. Truly history.

It gives you a great rush, that's for sure.

And a lot ofbutterflies, you know, a couple hours later.

You know, I could've packed up and called it a day.

Think I did, actually.

He overcame all his fears,

which is the hardest thing for a human being to do.

It's tough, man. I can't do it.

Terje can. Farm can. Sometimes.

Sometimes. Once in a while.

Coming up here and, like, looking for first ascents and clay mountains...

the name's on them- you know, it's not important.

The thing to do - I think, it's more just...

You have to satisfy yourself,

doing what you like to accomplish.

You know, I got it all in this trip.

I'm stoked with it.

I can live with it.

He's, like, probably one of the most amazing snowboarders I've ever met.

He's so fluid, and he's a true master of his sport.

And I don't think there's anything that that guy can't do on a snowboard.

That was killer, man. Sick.

You won't forget that one for a while. Yup.

This place enlightens you.

You know, it puts you in a good mood. It... it humbles you.

It hits you with so many different emotions...

just sitting right here, looking out there...

that you can't help leave here...

and not be a bigger and better person.

That's what this place does to you. It makes you strong.

Alaska's really touched my heart in an amazing way,

and it's influenced me so much that, yeah, I'm gonna come back.

Just 'cause I've had so much fun and found so much joy here and learned so much.

You know, how could I not come back?

I feel like, you know,

if I was a warrior, I would've got... I got a badge here.

I have such mixed feelings while I'm out here.

I think this place is amazing,

but, for me, I just think I need to focus a bit more on some other stuff...

before I come back here.

It's just opening up this whole new book when I haven't even closed this other one.

I still have some more chapters to fill.

Just being in the Alaskan mountain, it's like a competition itself, you know, but for yourself.

Taking that next step to the backcountry free riding.

This is what snowboarding's all about.

Every time I think I don't care anymore, you know, I go out and I do it, and I have, like, the best time.

In fact, that's almost the best time...

is when you just lay it down for a while and then pick it back up.

I'll do it for as long as I can, which is probably forever.

For snowboarding, the diverse culture and free-thinking attitude...

that has been there from the beginning...

will always shape the sport.

And the future will be determined by the riders...

who will continue to push limits and change the way mountains are ridden.

I would say snowboarding's future has always looked bright.

What's gonna happen 10 years from now?

What, are they gonna be getting 40 feet out of the pipe or 10 rotations in the air?

Nobody can tell you where snowboarding's going to be in 10 years or what riders are gonna be doing,

but, for sure, it's gonna progress.

It's changed in size. People go way bigger now 'cause the jumps are bigger.

People go fatter in the pipe 'cause the pipe's fatter, you know.

But, really, it all comes down to visualization...

and what you can think of in your mind.

I look at a mountain completely different than a person that might just be a recreational skier does.

I see the mountain as a gigantic terrain park.

Everything's rideable, everything's doable in some way or another.

Your mind always got to be working, and that's how you learn tricks.

That's how you progress the sport. That's everything. Your mind's gotta be open.

I think the next level in snowboarding is starting to happen now.

I mean, all of us have learned all these freestyle tricks.

So, we're all starting to take that into the backcountry where the elements are unpredictable,

and you can't necessarily see over the next thing where you're gonna land.

Freestyle in the backcountry...

is the ultimate part of snowboarding for me.

And I'd tell anybody, you know, if you haven't done that, then go do it.

Or be careful because you will get hooked.

It's something that I want to do till I can't do it anymore.

It's kind of comforting to know that something that was such a struggle is so easy now.

It was a hell of a ride.

It started for the all the right reasons,

and it started with a group of people that were so 'core and so in love,

so passionate about snowboarding,

that nobody will ever be able to take that away.