In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off on a presidentially-mandated mission to find a viable passage to the American West following the Louisiana Purchase. Two hundred years later, a group of snowboarders follow their trail on a mission to find their own Northwest Passage—Montana’s Northwest Powder Passage, as it were.

Only an hour on the road and we were already in trouble. A tire had blown on the sled trailer and the jack was buried under a four-guy mountain of gear in the back of Karl’s Isuzu. We had already left Missoula, MT, two days late and it looked like our Camp Fortunate rendezvous might be delayed once again. But The Raven came to the rescue.

A weathered blue Chevy pickup pulled out of the line of semi-trailers and an exceptional man stepped out. Six feet and pushing three hundred pounds, he wore thick, square glasses and held a sparkling seven-foot jack, painted bright red. It stood in stark contrast to his disheveled appearance, a two-week beard and grimy plaid shirt rolled up at the sleeves…

Subscribe to see the entire piece.