I grew up in Aleknegik, a small villiage of 250 people on the west coast of Alaska. My first board was a hand-me-down from my older brother. Most of our days and nights were spent hiking a hill behind my grampa’s house. We took snowmachine trips up to mountains all the time to ride and my brother and I would hike up where it got too steep for the snowmachines. I moved to Girdwood, Alaska, a ski resort outside of Anchorage in 7th grade.