The Ring of Fire
This journey began with ambition. Nicholas Cahill, he’s full of it. A dream of his for quite some time now was to snowboard the majority of the Cascade volcanoes, referred to as the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’. It all really started with the invitation extended to Danny Kern and me, Tailer Spinney. Nick and Danny went to college together, Danny is my partner in crime, and Nick and I have been friends for many years now. We were both honored to be invited on such an adventure. With Danny’s snowboarding experience and filming/photographer expertise, Nick said “he was the first person to come to mind” for a partner on this project. I was brought on because of my background as a splitboard and alpine guide. The three of us make up a dream team to make this vision a reality.
Nick and Danny have been documenting the entire journey, intending to create either a documentary or film series that will hopefully inspire others to live for the moment and make your dreams a reality! The trip is supported by a handful of amazing companies, including RovR Products. In return for the support, these two very talented cameramen are creating valuable content!
As a team, we successfully summited and snowboarded Mt Lassen, Mt Shasta, Mt McLaughlin, Mt Theilsen, Mt Bachelor, and Mt Hood. Unfortunately, I had an accident on Mt Bachelor. Hitting my head in an aggressive fall, resulting in a concussion and several bulging discs in my cervical spine. To say the least, I had to pull out of the trip early after Mt. Hood. Together, Danny and Nick were able to climb and ride the North Sister on the day that I rested and saw a Concussion specialist in Sisters, OR. We all met up with some rad friends the next day and rode the Cooper Spur on Mt Hood. It was such a fun line and I am so glad I was able to pull myself together to accomplish that with the team, however; afterward was when I had to officially tap out.
On the road to recovery, I have been able to follow the trip virtually and assist in trip planning for the guys. It was great timing, in the sense that we had originally planned to take this following week off. Nicholas had a job back in Elko he had to squeeze in, I had a scheduled trip on Mt. Shasta, and there was some weather that would have put the trip on hold no matter what. Danny had planned to just cruise in Welches, OR and do some mountain biking and score the ‘brown pow’. With my head being injured I decided to go home, back to Tahoe, and take care of myself, canceling the work I had scheduled. Nick went to Elko, and Danny scored some ‘brown pow’, another climb/shred of Mt Hood, and was able to take one for the team and climb Mt Jefferson.
Well, that worked out great for the timing of the project. Once Nick and Danny were reunited in Welches, the weather lined up to send it to Mt Adams. They continued the adventure bringing on a rad group of ripping female splitboarders, the group that Danny had the pleasure of joining on Mt Jefferson. Their names are Marissa, Amanda, and Jaime. It worked out serendipitously for the guys to jump on the girls’ permit for Mt St Helens, following their successful climb of Mt Adams. Nicholas, Danny, Jaime, and Amanda continued north and cruised up to Mt Rainier!
Danny had family obligations that had him and Nick going their separate ways after Rainier. Nicholas will be joining one of my mountain partners, Jeff Quande, for a shot at Mt Baker to bring the project to a close. It's supposed to snow quite a bit before their summit attempt and we hope they are going to score a pow day! What a way to close out the project, if it lines up!
What a trip! Everyone has learned so much, about each other, about themselves as individuals, and about the mountains. Making dreams a reality, saying YES to opportunity, and maintaining motivation.
A highlight of the journey has been sunny summits and practically perfect weather. It’s like the universe wanted us to succeed and be able to share this journey with everyone this story can possibly reach. With all the sunny summits, it was so necessary to return to the bus to a cold beverage, and all thanks go to ROVR Products for providing a cooler that made thirst-quenching closures possible!
- Tailer Spinney
