Bjorn Leines’ 36-foot RV barrels westward on the Trans-Canada Highway at a modest 70 miles per hour. The beast of a rig keels side to side like a boat at sea with its snowmobile-laden trailer trolling like a dinghy behind. The RV is sandwiched between a number of other trucks and sleds as the caravan descends toward Chatter Creek, BC. The ship exits the pavement and begins treading along a dirt road as night falls. The road soon becomes filled with sodden tire trenches, mud bogs and rocks in the headlights’ haze. Radio chatter fills the cabin with warnings of road hazards and Leines keeps the throttle steady to maintain momentum through it all.

After 40 miles of rough road the group finally parks on a perch above the valley floor. Most RV-goers would never dream of driving wintery roads, let alone a decommissioned logging road far into the Canadian bush. Most pro snowboarders don’t have a career spanning more than two decades, either. Total commitment to snowboarding has brought Leines here. He’s progressed from riding a blank skateboard deck down a snowy backyard knoll in rural Minnesota to calculated travels and exploration of the world’s finest mountains.

Over the past two decades-plus Leines has been through it all: filming with Mack Dawg, a spot on the Forum 8 team of the late ’90s, multiple X Games appearances, close calls with avalanches, backcountry snowmobiling, time in the streets, injuries, fatherhood, Alaska. At age 39, he’s not simply an ambassador for snowboarding. He’s still charging with riders half his age, showing them the ropes and filling their ears with stories of winters past…

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