Hight Life: Spines

“We need men who can dream of things that never were.” —JFK

After seeing Noah Salasnek ride “Super Spines” in TB5, my view of the ideal snowboard run changed forever. Since that time, I have searched all over Alaska and Canada seeking that perfect wall of spines. The more I looked for spines, the more I realized finding rideable ones was not easy.

Spines are usually hidden behind bigger peaks or surrounded by glacial ice. They are formed by a precise combination of wind currents and snow densities. They consistently get two to three times the amount of snow as other areas and seldom see light. I am obsessed with spines because they are so elusive and technically difficult to ride.

Getting a good view of what you are riding is hard. There is your standard blind rollover at the top of the run, and then every time you cross over a spine, there is also a moment of darkness. They are so steep that riding them is like standing next to a wall, and your whole body is touching the snow. Oftentimes, both arms are needed to hug the spine to help keep you from getting peeled off the wall. The spray from each turn instantly transforms into small avalanches, and there is no way to beat your sluff, so you are forced to work around it and often ride through it. Meanwhile, gravity is doing all it can to pull you off the aspect and generally you cannot stop if you want to. One slip or misjudged sluff and you may find yourself cartwheeling down a face at 70 mph.

Surprisingly, when it comes to high avalanche danger, spines can be the safest feature to ride. Because they are so steep, the snow constantly sluffs off them making it hard for slabs to form. If a slab does release when you are riding one, you can switch to the other side or to another spine. Also, retaining all that gravitational pull helps when riding them. You can go from zero to 60 mph as if you were in a sports car, and a small ollie can result in an 80-foot drifter. Having all that speed at your mercy allows you to push down hard on every turn and throw huge rooster-tails.

Spine hunting is not limited to helicopters and Alaska. During the right winter, any mountain can hold spines. The best part is they are often the last things to get hit because most people do not see them as rideable. Although finding a good spine takes extra time and effort, when you

This particular spine zone lies on the outer edge of Canada and Alaska and is a 30-minute flight from the heli pad, which makes it a big financial risk to see if they are workable or not. Year after year, I would check them in an airplane to save money. These spines were always caked with snow but the outrun was littered with crevasses and open bergshcrunds. Finally, on one of my last days of the season with the rest of the range covered in tracks, my gut instinct was telling me to go take a closer look. The crevasses and open bergchrunds were still there making most of the spines unrideable, but upon a closer look, I realized there was a clean exit in the center of the wall. So after a five-year wait, I finally got to ride one of the best lines of my life and came one step closer to realizing my goal of finding the ideal run.