Photographic evidence of the endless pillow lines of the Sea to Sky / Coast Mountains.
Where Dreams Happen
Pillows are where dreams happen, literally. And part of the magic of big-winter pillow lines is how they defy nature. They’re a mix of snow and slough and pure empty space, powder shooting upward at the same time everything else drops away. The simultaneous falling and landing and jumping of a big pillow line creates a time warp of adrenaline, endorphins, fear, joy, love, death, and everything else. A pillow line is life boiled right down to the marrow. Absolute in-the-moment truth and connection.
Stairways to Heaven
And who couldn’t use a little more of that after the year we’ve had? To help nourish our souls and stoke the flames of excitement for the winter to come, Mountain Life put the call out for the biggest, burliest, bounciest pillow lines the Sea to Sky has ever seen. Just a friendly pillow fight to help pass the time until we can get out there and bounce down our own stairways to heaven.
—Feet Banks
Bouncing Down a Staircase
“There’s just something about bouncing down a staircase that is so fun. I remember being really young, Christmas at my grandmother’s house, and all of us kids jumping the entire flight of stairs and landing in a pile of pillows and couch cushions at the bottom, we’d do that for hours while the adults were off being adults.
Now, I’m an adult and I look at pillow lines the same way I used to look at those stairs. I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited as I was standing atop this line with my homies, ready to drop into what we called the stairway to heaven. This line [below] was back during the insane snow year of 1998-99, just thinking about it again is so good.
I’m really grateful to everyone I rode with back then and to have had the opportunity to ride this line and feel that same thrill I’ve loved since those early days on grandma’s stairs… it was a dream come true.” –Dave Stirling
From the new Fall/Winter issue of ML Coast Mountains edition, out now.
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