Thirty days (and a few close calls) later, Cahill topped out on Mt. Hence my involvement in the rockfall incident. His plan was to splitboard up as many volcanoes as possible across the American Northwest within a 30-day span, snowboard down them, and film the entire journey for a documentary film.Īfter recruiting two capable teammates - Tahoe-based snowboarding filmer/photographer, Danny Kern, and splitboard guide, Tailer Spinney- Cahill loaded up his 1988 converted school buswith boards, gear, and cameras, and on May 6, 2021, the team set out for Mount Lassen.Ī small handful of friends, me included, joined to support them for the first summit. As chairlifts halted at every resort in town courtesy of the global pandemic, Cahill conjured up a silver lining to his snowboarding woes. Rewind to winter 2020 when that same sentiment hit Tahoe-based snowboarder, filmer, and leader of the Ring of Fire expedition, Nick Cahill, like a probe prodding through an avalanche. Not before one of the best runs of the season. We’ll debrief the rockfall, and other sketchy lessons of the day, when we arrive safely at the bottom. and skin/boot-pack 6 miles, only to let a slight brush with catastrophe spoil the winnings. Snowboarding the Ring of Fire: The Missionīack to the mission at hand - 4,000 vertical feet of sweet, spring slush waiting to be carved into infinity symbols. So it begins - day one of the Ring of Fire. I’m about to find out when - with one lucky bounce - the boulder takes flight and careens past me so close I feel its whoosh through the open vents of my jacket. Bracing for impact, I wonder briefly if, while hurling through thin air, I’ll still enjoy that outer-body DMT trip that people say happens when you die. With my snowboard in hand, I dig its edge into the snow above me to gain purchase and quickly sidestep toward the gully’s southern wall, kicking my toes into the icy slope. My footing in the mixture of rock, ice, and snow was precarious enough without basalt cannonballs hurling at my head. Suddenly our plan to downclimb this steep, chossy corridor feels foolish. I spin around to spot a pitbull-sized boulder bounding directly toward me. The first and smallest summit of 12 volcanoes our team seeks to conquer in the next 30 days, and already, rockfall. The walls corralling me in this narrow gully beneath Lassen Peak begin to rumble. Stillness, accompanied by the hush of wind and the drum of a hard-beating heart - it’s an orchestra that only plays when earned through grit, sweat, and legs on fire. There’s no better tune than summit silence.
In spring 2021, photographer, filmmaker, and backcountry snowboarding maven Nick Cahill set out on a mission to splitboard up 12 volcanoes across the American Northwest and ride down them in less than 30 days.
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