Ryland Bell isn’t much of a talker—he’s more of a doer. As a result, some people find him blunt. Rude even. But it’s not intentional—it’s more a product of his environment as a snowboarder and fisherman in small town Alaska. Nowadays, he lives up there near Haines, in a cabin with his wife Holly, who he first met as a child in the fishing community of Elfin Cove. They’ve got a cat named PowPow and a dog named Granite, who’s a Russian laika bred to sound the alarm for bears that might pass through the property. They’re about 30 miles up the Chilkat River from Haines proper, in a dirt-road community where the pop of a neighbor’s rifle isn’t really cause for alarm. It’s the kind of place well-suited to doing what you want, when you want. For Ryland, that thing is snowboarding. 

As a child, Ryland learned self-sufficiency from his vagabond fisherfolk parents, who took him from their home in inland Fairbanks to far-flung locales on a shoestring budget. He gained perspective, work ethic and independence, eventually migrating to Tahoe as a late teen, where he linked with Dave Hatchett and took the first steps toward pro snowboarding. That’s where Ryland discovered big mountain riding. But he never really fit the pro snowboarder mold—he never really compromised his own riding in favor of sponsor obligations… 

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