Melissa Belongea: Cultural Junction

In this guest post, writer and creative commentator Melissa responds to my recent What Is Snowboarding Culture? column

Photo: Brittany Delph

It’s hard to imagine my life without the influence of snowboarding. I went to school with mountain kids. As a suburban kid, I remember the mystique and enchantment that lay just beyond the foothills of the I-70 corridor on the way to Loveland and Berthoud Pass. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was life-changing to be exposed to snowboard culture so early on. Raucous, rugged, at the edge of everything I knew. Snowboarding changed the way I saw the world and became a reliable vehicle for personal and outdoor exploration throughout the past two-and-a-half decades. The self-possessed creativity of snowboard culture resonated immediately, and gave me the clues I needed to continue forging a path off the beaten track. But instead of marching along to the strict order of snowboard culture, I found myself on a different trail altogether.