Craig Kelly (snowboarder)
| Craig Kelly | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | April 1, 1966 |
| Died | January 20, 2003 (aged 36) Revelstoke, British Columbia |
| Cause of death | Snow avalanche |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Washington |
| Occupation | Professional Snowboarder |
Craig Kelly (1 April 1966 - 20 January 2003) was an American professional snowboarder. He attended the University of Washington where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity and studied Chemical Engineering. Kelly is known as the 'Godfather of Freeriding'; Terje Håkonsen called Kelly the best snowboarder of all time. Over his 15-year professional career, he won 4 world championships and 3 U.S. championships; he won the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom snowboarding competition in 1988, 1991, and 1993.
Craig grew up in Mount Vernon WA, a mid-sized town, centrally located for equidistant travel to ski areas such as Mount Baker, Stevens Pass and Snoqualimie. Craig spent a lot of time at the Pac West ski area (Hyak, WA) in 1985-86. He used to come up on Mondays when the ski area was closed and would set up gates with some of the workers and run them using a snowmobile to get back and forth. He also won the first snowboard contest held at Hyak, in the 85-86 season. It was done in conjunction with another founder of the sport, Bob Barci. Craig Kelly Starred in a Wrigleys Gum commercial in 1988/1989 where he was featured doing a 540. Craig appeared in Warren Millers movies in several consecutive years. In 2003 Warren Miller dedicated a segment in his film titled "JOURNEY" to Craig. Craig had starring roles in Siberia, p-tex lies and duct tape which were both Gregory Stump films. Craig Kelly was the first snowboarder to appear in an Imax movie.
He shocked the snowboard industry by walking away from multimillion-dollar deals at the height of the snowboard craze to pursue his passion for "freeriding," at the time an unheard of strategy for a pro snowboarder. It was in the mountains where Craig felt the happiest.
He was part owner and on the board of directors of Island Lake Catskiing near Fernie B.C. where he spent a lot of time freeriding and filming.
The distinctive fluid manner in which he rode was recognized and acclaimed in the snowboarding community. He was called a "style master" by TransWorld Snowboard Magazine editor Jon Foster. Kelly also appeared in an enormous number of video and photo shoots. He was known for looking straight at the camera, even in the midst of a difficult aerial manoeuvre. Craig was a Sims Snowboards team rider for a few years early in his career, but spent most of his life riding for Burton Snowboards owned by Jake Burton Carpenter.
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