The Adventures of KP, Vol 3
As all of you know, Kevin Pearce was injured in the Park City halfpipe while training for the 2010 Olympics. He’s been in the hospital since Dec 31st, but continues to make some positive strides on the road to recovery. I’m posting photos and stories from my times spent with KP over the years to keep Kevin in our thoughts and send those well wishes his way. You can find the official updates on Facebook here.
In April of 2008, Justin Hostynek from Absinthe Films called Gigi, Kevin and I and asked if we’d be down for a two-week filming mission in Haines, Alaska. It took me about half a second to say ‘count me in.’ I was on the computer looking at flight times before the phone call ended.
Per usual, Alaska was having a stellar winter, so snow conditions were of no concern. Rolling with Justin and Gigi translated into an unofficial guide service to some of the best terrain any snowboarder could ever hope for. Aside from the riding aspect of Southeast Alaska, it was time to experience an absolutely beautiful part of the world as well.
Anytime you adventure into the Alaskan region, you have to set aside about two weeks on the calendar, then hope for five or six riding days. The weather comes and goes as it pleases, so you never know what you’ll get until that morning when the wake up call comes in and Justin says ‘stay in bed’ or ‘let’s roll.’ During this April session in 2008, we managed about eight days in the heli, definitely above average.
This was KP’s first time to AK, so all this big mountain stuff was really new to him. It was cool to see him have so much respect for the mountains, the helicopter, the pilot, the guides and his fellow riders. Kevin handled himself like a pro 24/7, then laid down some amazing snowboarding with his shred pal Gigi.
Off days were just as productive as the on-hill days…we found some really good cabins to call home, set up our own shooting range/gallery outside the front door, spent plenty of time at the Mountain Market, found some neighborhood street-boarding lines, sessioned the Haines big-air jump, located a front-end loader, a scissor lift and put it all together to build up one heck of an urban wall transfer. To top it all off, we ran into a school of whales rounding up fish for a feeding frenzy as we hiked through the forest outside our cabins…it was some serious nature channel stuff…unreal!
When the trip was all said and done, Gigi had put the finishing touches on yet another amazing video part, Kevin chalked up another round of new experiences under his belt and I came away with another batch of AK images I'll cherish forever...along with the memories. Blotto
