New Favorite Person

Taylor Stephens: Split-Ski Sensei

Selkirk Mountains, BC, Taylor Stephens
While the convoluted, undulating, creek-bashing exits of the Selkirk Mountains, BC, are often the bane of a sideways slider’s existence, Taylor Stephens relishes the opportunity to free the heel. He takes every crux—including this exposed step above a frozen waterfall in marginal snow—at full speed. Even on proper skis it can be hard to keep up.
Words, Photos and Captions: Matthew Tufts

Fifteen hours into an alpine odyssey—on the dark final descent of an 11,500-vertical-foot, 20-mile day—was not where I expected to see my partner skip across a small pillow and drop a knee, powder billowing behind free-heel turns in the moonlight.

My surprise implies nothing about Taylor Stephens’ teleskiing prowess, in which he’s truly in a league (or perhaps a sport) of his own. He cut back and my headlamp illuminated cable bindings, baffled boots and a split Weston Hatchet—a snowboard.

Split-skiing is less party trick and more prerequisite around Revelstoke, BC. A penance paid for single-plankers seeking Kootenay cold smoke. Undulating access and egress in the Selkirks is something skiers in Rogers Pass know all too well—and generally fuels the nightmares of sideways sliders.