Quite the view from up there, if you can go slow enough to see it. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
The Alaskan Range is not an easy thing to get to know. It takes an immense amount of time. An immense amount of talent. Immensely strong legs. And a helicopter, of course. Those are three things that Travis Rice has — time, likely is the hardest one for him, but he’ll make it for the Alaskan Range — and over the course of his career, he’s spent about as much time as anyone up there in that rarified air. But there’s always been a line that’s evaded him: the Final Boss. Evaded him, that is, until last year.
The video you see here was shot in April, 2024. In it, Rice is joined by rising star Estelle Pensiero (daughter of Baldface Lodge owner, Jeff Pensiero), who was both excited and nervous to join snowboarding’s G.O.A.T on her first attempt at Alaska’s soaring peaks.
“The key with this,” Rice advised her from the top of a pillow line to end all pillow lines, “is to don’t stop and look.”
Over the course of a few days, Rice and Pensiero worked their way through the levels until they reached the Final Boss. Each level, as is the case with levels, got progressively more gnarly. On day two, Pensiero became the first woman to ride a line called “The Wizard.” They continued their exploration of some of the most beautiful and dangerous snowboarding terrain on the planet, and it brought tears to Pensiero’s eyes.
