On April 10, 1998–Good Friday–snowboarding lost a very talented and gifted rider when Teal Copeland died tragically in a car wreck on the Mt. Baker Highway. A friend of Teal’s was driving and misjudged a corner, causing the car to leave the road.

Teal wasn’t wearing his seat belt, and as a result, he’s no longer with us.

His accident was a big wake-up call for us here at Baker and across the world.

Teal grew up in Cordova, Alaska, pioneering snowboarding in the area with his longtime bro Andy Johnson. They came to Baker three years ago and started breaking down the doors.

Teal was starting to come on strong–he finished sixth at the Verbier Extremes in Europe with the world’s best, and he was no stranger in Valdez around King of the Hill time; he took second behind Matt Goodwill in ’97.

You couldn’t help but love this guy. He was soft-spoken but carried a big stick. He was really hungry to ride and loved

snowboarding more than anyone I know. His riding did all the talking.

When I thought all of the lines at Baker were done, he proved me wrong by laying down super-sick lines into the canyon from Hemispheres. When I was burnt on snowboarding, he recharged my batteries and got my motor running wide open. I could go on and on, but words can’t describe what a strong person Teal Copeland was.

A couple of days after Teal’s death, a few of his friends were on the chair at Baker. The forecast had called for clear and warm, but instead a big storm moved in.

Someone noticed a bird high above in the middle of the blizzard. Everyone looked up, and the bird dive-bombed straight down. As it got closer, they noticed it was a bald eagle. The eagle swooped just above them before climbing back up into the sky, gaining altitude.

The eagle then plunged again, this time spinning 360s into O.I. Valley, an out-of-bounds run where the group was headed.

Was the eagle carrying Teal’s spirit? Or was it just a bird lost in a storm? One thing’s for sure–Teal will be missed here at Baker as well as in other corners of the world. If there is a bigger mountain in the heavens, we know Teal’s on top of it.