THEME: Portraits
PHOTO: Andy Wright
RIDER: Blair Habenicht
LOCATION: Haines, Alaska
RUN: Sexy Sisters
CAMERA: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
WRITER: Arlie Carstens ©
Blair Habenicht is a world renown professional athlete with several adventure films to his credit, including segments in six Absinthe Films features; Ready, Now/Here, Twe12ve, Resonance, Dopamine, and Heavy Mental. When Habenicht is not riding big mountains, dropping behemoth cliffs, or catapulting himself down some of the world’s steepest chutes, he often spends his days at Crystal Mountain in Washington State, stacking clips for his @blairhabenicht Instagram account. For you see, like the old Depeche Mode song, he just can’t get enough. Habenicht is a snowboarder’s snowboarder. No matter the conditions, he goes snowboarding. Rain, yes. Fog, certainly. Blizzard, definitely. Sunny skies, sure, why not.
In this image captured by photographer Andy Wright, Habenicht stands on a run dubbed “Sexy Sisters” because of its many spicy terrain features. With his board raised aloft, he signals his readiness to drop in. In addition to Wright and Habenicht that day, the crew also included filmmaker Justin Hostynek and the riders Eric Jackson and Lucas Debari; all heavy hitters.
According to Hostynek, “The year was 2012, we were shooting for the film Resonance in Haines, Alaska. Our guides were from an outfit called Alaska Heliskiing Company. We went to ‘The Back Nine,’ which is the farthest region to the west of all the tenure that can be accessed by their helicopters. As you can see from the photo, the terrain is beautiful and unique but heavily glaciated, so it is always important to be super careful and maintain a line of sight on the rider. Ever ready to rise to the challenge, Blair stepped out of the heli, strapped in, and set to work on these pillow lines. Definitely a team player and the people’s champ.”