This Boulder Snowboarder Climbs, Then Rides, Towering Peaks Around The World

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Photo: Rafael Pease Yugen Snowboard Movie
Rafael Pease (upper left corner) eating with various artists, chefs, musicians and hunters in a Yurt in central Kyrgyzstan.

Professional snowboarder Rafael Pease has carved powder where few have trekked before. The part-time Boulderite has climbed atop and flown down 90 mountains and volcanoes, some of them more than 20,000 feet high, from Kyrgyzstan to the Andes, and Japan to Canada.

Pease's journeys are now the subject of a documentary called "Yūgen," an ancient Japanese word to describe a wordless connection to the universe or nature. Pease talked to Colorado Matters about his travels and his slipboard, a variation on the snowboard that allows him to essentially cross-country ski up slopes and then ride back down.