The Darkest White Quotes

“It's braver and more honorable to turn back than to forge forward into uncertain terrain. Snowboarding is about living, not about dying.”
― Eric Blehm, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him – An Inspiring Biography of World Champion Snowboarder Craig Kelly and the 2003 Durrand Glacier Tragedy

“You go up into the mountains empty, even with no lunch, you come home full.”
― Eric Blehm, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him – An Inspiring Biography of World Champion Snowboarder Craig Kelly and the 2003 Durrand Glacier Tragedy

“He lit woven strands of sweet grass and waved the smoke among them. This ceremony honors our ancestors and opens us up to their wisdom. Native spirituality and beliefs say that your ancestors will help you along your path in life after they've moved on. Craig has now become our ancestor, our grandfather, and yes, he is our guide. Our job is to keep his spirit alive by passing along his stories to each other and to future generations.”
― Eric Blehm, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him – An Inspiring Biography of World Champion Snowboarder Craig Kelly and the 2003 Durrand Glacier Tragedy

“I'm honestly not that concerned with what's modern, or what's up-to-date, or what's cool, stylish... The smile after a good run, to me, is all I need to know about snowboarding.
-Craig Kelly”
― Eric Blehm, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him – An Inspiring Biography of World Champion Snowboarder Craig Kelly and the 2003 Durrand Glacier Tragedy

“CARCA, Canadian Avalanche Cat Association... look it up it's a thing.”
― Eric Blehm, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him – An Inspiring Biography of World Champion Snowboarder Craig Kelly and the 2003 Durrand Glacier Tragedy

“the weeks that followed, Poppen tinkered—and his girls tested—several design variations. On March 17, 1966, he filed the Snurfer idea and name with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, describing his invention as relating “to a snow ski, and more particularly to a surf-type snow ski which is adapted to support both feet of a skier and to be easily maneuvered therefore without foot bindings, thereby providing a new snow sport which incorporates features of certain summer pastimes, namely surfboarding, [and] skateboarding. . . .” Poppen had just foretold the future of an entire subculture of recreationalists, athletes, professionals, and world champions—most of whom hadn’t even been born yet.”
― Eric Blehm, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him – An Inspiring Biography of World Champion Snowboarder Craig Kelly and the 2003 Durrand Glacier Tragedy