Book Review: The Darkest White

 

Perhaps no modern figure has had a greater impact on a snow sport than Craig Kelly.  He was the first truly big legend in snowboarding, ushering the sport from its nascent fringe to mainstream, although he might object to the word "mainstream." Many people consider him the greatest snowboarder of all time. 

Kelly's life is the subject of Eric Blehm's book, The Darkest White, which was released earlier this year. It covers his transition from BMX to snowboarding and his ascent to world champion at a time when snowboard racing and freestyle competitions were not well structured.  Kelly excelled in all competitions.  It was the early days, but imagine if Mikaela Shiffrin, in addition to racing everything from slalom to downhill, was also throwing in some half pipe for the hell of it.  Kelly walked away from all of that to pursue freeriding and eventually train to become a certified mountain guide at a time when there was considerable prejudice against snowboarders. 

The book covers those aspects of Kelly's life, although I found that part of it a bit chronological and maybe too focused on competitions.  I suspect snowboarders will appreciate it more. 

The real page-turning part of the book is the description and diagnosis of the avalanche that sadly took his life and the lives of six other people in the Selkirk Mountains.  While working on his guideship skills, Kelly joined a group at Sellkirk Mountain Experience to work with the famed mountain guide Reudi Beglinger.  While ascending La Traviata in two groups, an avalanche was triggered catching 13 tourers.  Several were recovered successfully, including Ken Wylie, an apprentice guide, who was rescued after 35 minutes of full burial.  However, seven died including Kelly who was buried 9 feet deep and recovered after abount an hour. 

I was quite aware of the avalanche as well as another that season that killed seven others because I spent a week on a ski touring trip nearby with Golden Alpine Holidays.  It was on our collective minds during our tours and we spent a good deal of time skiing in low-angle terrain and not disturbing the monster in the basement.

It's difficult for me to say if the book (or all of the discussion you can find online) paint a fair and accurate assessment of what happened and why.  Hindsight is of course 20/20, but I spent a lot of time reflecting on the snowpack assessment and human decision-making in the account that Blehm presents.  There is a lot to be learned and I often reflected upon my own experiences and lapses of judgement, of which there are many.  I suspect Craig would appreciate everyone learning from what happened, especially if it results in safer backcountry experiences. 

To conclude, I share the photo below that I took of a memorial to Craig at Seki Onsen ski area in Japan in 2017.  I don't know what it says, but I was impressed to find it at a small (but very snowy) resort in the Myoko Kogen.