Speaking of Craig Kelly

Twenty one years after snowboarding legend and Nelson resident Craig Kelly perished in an avalanche, a book launch and backcountry awareness fund-raising event is being held later this month.

The novel, entitled The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche that Took Him, was written by award-winning biographer Eric Blehm and released earlier this year.

“Craig was snowboarding’s first true professional and four-time world champion,” said Blehm. “He stood at the top of the podium more times than anybody who’d ridden a snowboard during the 1980s and into the ’90s as the sport burst to life and rapid global influence.”

In the winter of 2003, Kelly and six others died while touring in the Selkirk Mountains.

Despite global rankings, Blehm said the world’s first snowboarding superstar “followed his heart.”

“He turned his back on business deals, high-dollar sponsorship contracts and the prize money associated with competition, and returned to the backcountry that had first drawn him to his calling.”

Blehm, a New York Times bestselling author, re-tells the story of Kelly’s life and lasting legacy, exploring the icon’s origins and his prowess.

Safety first

The Craig Kelly fundraiser event, slated for Friday, Nov. 29 from 7 - 10 p.m. at the Nelson Legion, will also promote an upcoming avalanche training course.

The Risk Maturity Collective program was founded by local snow safety veteran John Bufffery and professional snowboarder Pat Moore.

Buffery is the co-founder and original lead guide of Baldface Lodge, a safety consultant for major films and senior avalanche advisor for BC Highways.

Buffery says there is no author better suited to tell the snowboard star’s story than Eric Blehm, a former editor-in-chief of Transworld Snowboarding magazine.

“He’s captured the nuances of the culture,” said Buffery, “the snow science, the mountains, the avalanche, but most importantly — Craig.”

Tragedy, conflict, and loss are common themes in Blehm’s bestselling biographical and historical accounts including Fearless, The Only Thing Worth Dying For and Legend.

His books have earned him respect and trust in the communities he’s written about, including US National Park Service Backcountry Rangers, US Navy SEALs and Vietnam era “Huey” helicopter pilots.