Keep in mind that back then they were shooting 16-millimeter film. Mike Hatchett once told me that every time he turned the camera on it was about twenty bucks. You buy the film, and then you would have to send it off to be processed. It wasn’t like today where you could have unlimited shots, then just put a new card in the camera or watch the footage to see if you got the trick. It was more like praying that the dude got the shot and you would have to wait until they had enough money to process all the film. Sometimes that would be months later. It made you hyper-aware of any weird arm flaps or suspect landings, and it was vital that the riders these guys chose were the best at what they did and looked good on film. If you couldn’t land, were getting lost in your lines or not flowing, you were out. It was simply a matter of economics—they seriously could not afford to shoot you. Lots of guys could ride lines and do tricks but it had to translate well onto film. Standard Films was the pinnacle of snowboarding, it was as high as you could go back then.
“I was too young to understand. I just wanted to see some rails and halfpipe airs. The more I snowboard and learn about its transportation capabilities, the more I respect how fucked up and historic this snowboarding is.”— Scott Blum: The handplant master.
“When I was contemplating the first descent of the Mendenhall Towers there was a lot of negative feedback from the people I was with. No one thought it was doable but I knew it was doable. I knew the snow was good, so I went to the top and I dropped in,” remembers Dave. 12 miles from the town of Juneau, Alaska in the Coast Range, Dave set the helicopter down on top of potentially the biggest line anyone has ever stood on, Mendenhall Towers. The crew he was with that day included Chris Roach, Noah Salaznek, Mike Hatchett and Tom Day, who were strongly advising him not to go. He was told that he was going to die if he tried that line.
“When Dave was about to drop in on Mendenhall Towers I was thinking, ‘I hope my brother does not die right now riding this line.’ I was totally freaking out and could barely hold the camera steady to film it. There was a heated discussion before Dave rode Mendenhall Towers for the first time. Our guide and most of our crew were very concerned that Dave was pushing the limit to far. We thought he might die riding it and we tried to talk him out of it. Nobody had ridden anything that steep and exposed, so there was nothing to gauge how crazy it was. The conditions were perfect and Dave knew it was a total go. Once he rode that line the big mountain game was changed forever.” — Mike Hatchett: He made 20 snowboarding videos in the TB series…. I mean really?
“30 seconds!” “Cameras are ready!” The calls rang out, with Dave knowing in moments he will be in the unknown on a massive face with huge exposure. An avalanche or getting sloughed-out would be certain death with the massive 500-foot cliff directly in the fall line from his starting point. It must have been a long 30 seconds for the crew on a peak a half mile away. “Dropping” crackles through the radio and the crew holds their breath, not sure if this is the last time they will see their friend and brother. All those days at Squaw, the hiking in the Tahoe backcountry, all of the route finding experience learned from month-long climbing trips to Joshua Tree and Yosemite while living in his truck comes down to one long moment.
“Dave and I got to ride together quite a bit. The day he chose Mendenhall to be ready I chose not to go with him. That line will be with me forever as I watched him tear it from across the valley. That moment opened up the endlessness of shreddable terrain. Mad respect!” — Chris Roach: No explanation needed. If you don’t know who Chris Roach is stop snowboarding and buy a Razor scooter.
Words can’t really do it justice—in my opinion, it’s the single most progressive moment in snowboarding history. He shattered what was possible in the mountains with that one run. Once that hammer was dropped, big first descents were going down like nitrous balloons at a Grateful Dead show. This is evident in the Alaska segments that would follow in both snowboard and ski films for the next 10 years. Once people saw it was possible, it was game on!
“Dave’s line on Mendenhall Towers had a profound impact on my life to the point I remember the exact spot I was standing when I saw the pic in Surfer Mag. In a single line he changed both skiing and snowboarding by showing us that you could ride lines that steep and big in powder. It was a quantum leap in big mountain riding that kicked off a decade of major progression.” — Jeremy Jones: Non human guru of big mountains.
While following and filming Tom Burt on Donner Summit in 94’ Dave hit an ice wind lip coming out of a chute, hit a tree and busted his femur. After two years of being out of the game Dave had to make some decisions. He would start picking up the camera more and ride in front of it less. His motivation was shifting from being in the spotlight to making the spotlight. He became an invaluable asset to the Standard Films team in organizing crews, finding new zones to film and as a mentor when the sponsors would throw backcountry rookies into the Standard Films mix.
“The first time I saw Hatchett on Mendenhall Towers I thought he might be riding on another planet! I thought to myself, ‘This guy is out of his mind.’” — Rob Kingwill: The most underrated rider in snowboarding and he beat Terje in a pipe contest! How many people can say that?
Motivation has never been a problem for Dave. He still wakes up early, gets the kids ready for school, then ventures off into the woods in search of first ascents on the boulders of the greater Lake Tahoe area. He has already published two guidebooks on the area and has a third ready to hit the shelves in July. His rock climbing is almost equally as impressive as his snowboarding, starring in the Masters of Stone videos and putting up hundreds of routes. Most notable is probably Big Chief in the Truckee, California area and at least a thousand boulder problems in the Tahoe Basin.
He plays in a band called Fortress with Jeff Martin, formally of Racer X, with cameos at shows from the likes Whit Crane of Ugly Kid Joe and Scott Travis of Judas Priest. Mix in a month of surfing every year in Baja and an annual fishing trip to his cabin in Elfin Cove outside of Juneau to get fish for the family, and you have a very busy man in search of every thing life has to offer him. I’m proud to call Dave one of my best friends and I am thankful for everything he has done for snowboarding and for me!
YEAH GUY!
