Enni Rukajarvi | P: Gabe L'Heureux
Enni Rukajarvi | P: Gabe L’Heureux

EPILOGUE – The Mountains Always Win

When I agreed to write this feature, my goals were dedicated to making the US team. However, after a yearlong rehabilitation for my knee, I have spent days pondering what that goal has meant to me. My realization was that no destination, result, or video part will be fulfilling unless the journey getting there is worth a story. My path has shifted and I realize now that my happiness comes from the mountains, in whatever shape they may be. The Olympics were just a façade for me. The Olympic dream is meant for the riders mentioned above who have prepared and developed mentalities capable of managing this monumental event and now get to share their creative outlet to the masses. These Games, with all their prestige, will connect cultures with these athletes’ passions, experiences, commitments to progression and love for snowboarding. Whether it’s a goal of going to the Olympics, landing a new trick, finding the perfect pocket of powder at a local resort, or just simply making it down the groomers, snowboarding gives us all that sense of fulfillment that nothing else in the world compares to.