The Darkest White | Eric Blehm | E35

“Snow is blissful, it’s pure, it’s white, it’s serene, it’s a siren call. But it’s also very dark, it’s death. The darkest white is the perfect analogy for an avalanche,” said New York Times bestselling author Eric Blehm on Episode 35 about his latest book, The Darkest White, chronicling the life and untimely passing of legendary snowboarder Craig Kelly. Widely regarded as the Michael Jordan of snowboarding, Kelly was a pioneer in this uniquely American sport, and in his book, Blehm dives deep in to Kelly’s life and his pivotal role in the history of snowboarding and splitboarding. Blehm also goes into remarkable detail about the 2003 La Traviata avalanche in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, where Kelly and six other skiers lost their lives, including Truckee local Kathy Kessler. Our chat with Blehm covers a bit of the history here in Lake Tahoe, a bit about Kelly and an insightful discussion around the human factors involved in the tragic avalanche. Learn more about Blehm and purchase his award-winning non-fiction books at ericblehm.com.

2:30 – Recording from Jim and Bonnie Zellers garage in Tahoe Donner.

3:50 – Introducing Eric Blehm, author of Fearless, The Only Thing Worth Dying For, The Last Season and his new book, The Darkest White, about the history of snowboarding, Craig Kelly and the La Traviata avalanche.

7:20 – Kathy Kessler – a core lord in Truckee who lost her life in the La Traviata avalanche with Craig Kelly.

9:10 – The roots of snowboarding were on Donner Summit – Donner Ski Ranch, Soda Springs and Boreal.

10:10 – Mind the Track Superfan #1 – Scott Kessler. Thanks for the shout out buddy!

13:15 – Eric was a snowboard magazine editor at TransWorld when he met Jim and Bonnie Zellers, the original backcountry snowboarders for The North Face.

15:30 – Transitioning from being a short-form magazine editor to a long-form book author and investigative journalist.

22:06 – Learning about the formation of the Mount Baker Hard Core, the lawsuit between Burton and Sims over Craig Kelly.

23:00 – Tom Sims claimed to have invented the snowboard before Sherman Poppen, but it was never confirmed.

25:00 – Mount Baker, Donner Ski Ranch, Boreal and Soda Springs were one of the first places to allow snowboards on chairlifts.

30:00 – Parts of Craig’s story that were cut from the book – Greg Stump’s film Siberia with Kelly and Scott Schmidt.

34:30 -Craig Kelly’s unique riding style, his fall line style influenced a generation of riders and convinced Trail Whisperer that he should have been a snowboarder.

45:00 – Craig as a pioneer in being one of the first snowboard guides in Canada, pursuing the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides certification.

48:00 – Early splitboarding, Eric got a splitboard and infiltrated ski resorts that didn’t allow snowboarding, riding the lift in split, then assembling it and snowboarding down as ‘The Chameleon”.

1:01:10 – The Durrand Glacier avalanche on La Traviata, the human factor and group dynamics.

1:10:30 – Ruedi Beglinger as a lead guide at Selkirk Mountain Experience, a strong character and the changes in the guiding industry and backcountry culture after the avalanche.

1:16:30 – Hubris and its role in the avalanche incident.

1:23:00 – Craig Kelly wanted to educate the younger generation on snow safety and the dangers of the backcountry.

1:28:30 – If Eric could ask Craig one question, what would it be?

1:35:15 – The Darkest White – where did the name come from?

1:39:30 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?

1:40:30 – Go to ericblehm.com or @ericblehmofficial on Instagram