The Darkest White
A Mountain Legend And The Avalanche That Took Him | A Post-Release Book Preview:
“There where the path is intercepted by the glistening slope, [he] Hannibal pierces the resistant ice with his lance. Detached snow drags the men into the abyss and snow falling rapidly from high summits engulfs the living squadrons.” — Punica, by Silius Italicus (25-101 AD)
— Part II: Freerider / Chapter 9 “Wild Snow”
The Darkest White at its core is a riveting ride and emotional read about Craig Kelly, an ’80s latchkey kid who went full-on shred-mode in the early years of snowboarding to become the winningest contest killer (of his era), earned and deserved a World Champion title — times over. He was considered the godfather of free riding and is the most respected snowboarder ever, alive we ride, spoken in great reverence even today, as an outlier, athlete, innovator, and human.
Essentially, four books in one: the posthumous biography of Craig, an insightful origin story of the sport, a thorough study in avalanche and snow science (for the layman), and an epic accounting of the deadly 2003 Durrand Glacier slide in British Columbia, Canada, that took the lives of seven, including C.K. himself.
Written by New York Times best-selling author Eric Blehm, former Editor of TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine, he spent five years in the figurative hurt locker, literally at times sleeping under his office desk, disciplined to the end, to deliver a painstakingly researched, exhaustively interviewed, overly documented deconstruction of discussions, data, and events leading up to that ultimately tragic day. He tells the story of the life of a performer, a pioneer, and once a living legend that would be ripped from the backcountry by an avalanche that took no note of who you were or meant to anyone.
It’s quite likely you missed this book when it first dropped back in February 2024. Few were widely clued into its writing and release, not for any lack of caliber matter or compelling quality, but for its considerable delay in development. This was due to the immense expectations Eric placed upon himself: to truly capture C.K.’s character and spirit, to understand his life trajectory, and to reconcile how a tragedy could befall him and the others.
The FINAL draft was late on delivery after multiple extensions due to Covid, which halted Blehm’s research travel, as well as a literal mudslide in his own backyard during the torrential rains that hit California. But many speculate, and Blehm confirms it was an avoidance tactic. He was so meticulous in bringing Craig to life on the page, that he didn’t want to face that dark end to the story, and Craig’s life, because Craig was more than just a subject, he was a mentor, a hero, and a friend. Yet for all that, The Darkest White is a sleeper hit of such a substantive high standard in the journalistic recording and reporting of said topics.
The arduous undertaking was rewarded. The book has garnered rave reviews, including this one: “The most unremittingly exciting book of nonfiction I have come across in recent years. I found myself reading late into recent nights wholly transfixed by every paragraph, every word.” — Simon Winchester, New York Times Book Review.
To know where you’re going, you need to know where you came from. And for those with a ravenous appetite for snowboarding culture, whether new to the sport and the life or a veteran to it, to the former who may or may not have heard of Craig Kelly, this is truly, without exception, a must-read and a foundational addition to anyone’s library.
Sure you could wait until the movie comes to theaters at some speculative time in the future, as it has been optioned for adaptation to the big screen … which will be awesome (if it actually happens). But then, the book is always that much better and you’re smarter for having picked it up.
Available in hardcover from World Boards Snowboard Shop and paperback, Kindle, and audiobook via Amazon.
For added supplements to this post, check out: The FNRad Podcast and / or The Low Pressure Podcast, both featuring EB.
