He/Him

Wellsville, PA

Breckenridge, CO

Freelance Web Engineer and Splitboard Guide

AIARE Rec 2

I was introduced to snowboarding by a friend at the age of 12 and it quickly became a huge aspect of my life. I was fortunate to grow up 20 minutes from my local ski hill, Ski Roundtop, where I worked in the rental shop and terrain park throughout high school. The snowboard scene that existed at Ski Roundtop had a huge influence on me and I eventually became a "local," spending my weekends and nights after school with a diverse crew of hardcore shredders, many of whom were older riders that mentored me in the craft of riding half-pipes. While I loved to ride park, half-pipe riding became the discipline I channeled most of my energy into and is the foundation of my snowboarding technique today, providing the edge control and precise turning that steep, technical splitboarding mountaineering lines demand. The love of snowboarding eventually lead me out west to Breckenridge, CO in 2011, where freeriding and powder days continued to fuel my passion for the sport. In 2014 I made the decision to quit my day job to freelance, allowing me the freedom to snowboard more. That same year I decided to pursue splitboarding, opening up a new chapter in my snowboarding career that would become my main passion in life and help evolve me as a person, taking me to extraordinary places and diversifying my skills in the mountains.

In early May of 2019, Jeremy Anderson and I climbed and descended a steep, technical couloir on the north face of Quandary Peak. It was a line I had been looking at for years and one that helped motivate me to progress my climbing skills early on, as it contains a short mixed crux at a difficulty of around M3+. After a recent storm Jeremy and I knew it would be in good condition, but never thought it would be this good. The crux was coated with ice and snow making it moderate at around WI2, while the couloir above and below held deep and stable powder, perfect conditions for steep snowboarding. The experience of turning hard the entire way down the line while maintaining careful slough management was one that I'll never forget.

I triggered a wind slab avalanche in April of 2019 in a steep, north facing couloir off Pacific Peak's east ridge in my local Tenmile Range. It had been a spring with a very deep snowpack and I already had a few experiences where I managed wind slab surface instabilities. On this particular day the wind slab got thicker as I neared the top of the line and seemed nonreactive. When I dropped into the line and made a turn in just the right spot the wind slab fractured and propagated across the slope. Luckily for me I was able to dig into the snow and exit the slide early in the event. This incident exposed the heuristic trap I fell into, thinking since I managed wind slab a few times in the season safely, or so I thought, that this time it would again be nonreactive. It was a humbling learning experience I rely on to this day.

Weston has always focused on family and inclusion, making anyone who wants to step foot in the backcountry feel welcome. They believe that having an educated backcountry user is as important as selling a splitboard or pair of skis and supporting organizations like AIARE should be a top priority. I highly respect their always evolving drive to make a sustainable product in a sustainable way.

10th Mountain Split 162 - I love this board for deep powder days and charging steep lines and big drops.

Range Split 161 - I love this board for playful backcountry freestyle and steep, technical splitboard mountaineering.

Range Solid 161 - Resort daily driver that excels on everything from powder days, pointing it down groomers, and sessions in the halfpipe and park.

Regular +15 front foot -9 rear foot

Weston Backcountry, Purl Wax