Reader’s Digest India – August 2019

Drama In Real Life

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The transatlantic production had just

wrapped months of shooting in the

Swiss Alps and was now gathering

last-minute footage of the teen in the

backcountry of British Columbia—the

birthplace of commercial heli-skiing.

T

he competitive surfer from

Carlsbad, California, and rising

talent in the world of slopestyle

snowboarding was a breakout star

of the Winter X Games [an annual

extreme sports event produced by

ESPN], famous for his high-flying

acrobatics over obstacles in a terrain

park. But he’d never tested his

skills anywhere as remote as the

mountainside he was on that April

afternoon. Though he was capable

of taking on almost any drop, he was

reliant on his Canadian guides to help

him decide which treacherous cliffs to

descend. Chief among those looking

out for him was Shin Campos, a

46-year-old retired pro snowboarder-

turned-film producer and mountain-

safety coordinator who’d lived

around Whistler and worked in the

area’s peaks and ridges for nearly

three decades.

C

ampos knew the risks associated

with backcountry mountain

hopping better than anyone

and had dug more than a few of his

clients out of near-death experiences.

He counted himself among the more

fortunate guides in the area, but he

knew about loss. Less than a month

had passed since his close friend and

fellow guide, Lisa Korthals, had died

in an avalanche on a nearby ridge. She

was still on his mind as he monitored

the Absinthe team’s movements. He

tended to remain high on the peak,

as it gave him the ability to respond

in any direction if one of his charges

got in trouble below. He stayed out of

the frame while Crouch and another

snowboarder, Cam Fitzpatrick, carved

the slopes. Then he watched the

chopper bring them back up.

At 25 years old, Fitzpatrick was

Crouch had never

tested his skills

anywhere as remote

as the mountain

he was on that

afternoon.