Bryce Barnes started snowboarding at the age of five in his home state of Maine. His first runs were on the local sledding hill with a cheap Walmart board strapped to his feet. Since then, he’s worked as a snow maker at ski resorts for over a decade, and he’s carved out a career path for himself in the snow sports world. Today, he’s pursing big objectives in the Alaska backcountry while also working to increase representation and inclusivity across the industry.
Barnes says that though he started snowboarding at a young age, he was slow to progress to an advanced riding level. He got his first “real” snowboard in the second grade and began taking lessons soon after. “I was really bad for a long time before things started clicking,” he says. “My mom remembers when I came home from my snowboard lessons crying because my butt hurt from falling all day.”
Barnes joined an after school program that bussed him to a small ski hill in his hometown. The mountain had about 400 vertical feet and one chair lift, which took 15 minutes to ascend. He lived for snowboarding. He began working as a snow maker at 18 and moved to western Maine, where he had access to bigger, wilder mountains. It was around this time that he began hiking to ride — spending most of his free time chasing soft snow outside resort boundaries, often wearing snowshoes and carrying a machete to cut trail. He got a splitboard around 2017 when the technology was still rough around the edges. “The first one I had was awful,” he says, laughing. “But it changed everything — I could finally go anywhere.”
Barnes spent several winters exploring Mount Washington, learning to move safely through avalanche terrain and embracing the patience that backcountry travel demands. In 2022, he moved to Juneau, hoping to pursue a career in guiding. But after chasing AMGA credentials, he realized that — for now — he wants to bring the fun back into riding. “I moved to Alaska because I wanted to chase my dream of being a ski guide,” he says. “But for right now, I just want to have fun snowboarding, gain experience, and live.”
In 2023, Barnes joined the Scarpa Athlete Mentorship Initiative, which connected him with “Tele” Mike Russell and the National Brotherhood of Skiers. Russell invited Barnes on an international trip for a film project, skiing in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. For Barnes, who had never traveled beyond North America, the experience was transformative. “It was wild,” he says. “I felt more at home walking around Morocco than I often do in the U.S.” The trip was a full-circle moment: riding with an all-Black crew and documenting a story that expanded what representation in snow sports can look like. He hopes the film, Ski Africa, which is currently on the festival circuit, will inspire others to see themselves in the mountains. “It’s sweet to be able to show people that look like me that have never thought about snowboarding themselves,” he says.
Barnes’ commitment to inclusion runs deep. Before moving north, he helped grow Inclusive Ski Touring, a Northeast-based nonprofit dedicated to introducing underrepresented groups to backcountry skiing. Looking ahead, he hopes to build a similar initiative in Alaska. He says that though there are so many opportunities for Black and Brown people to enjoy the mountains, the dominant narrative implies that adventure sports aren’t meant for people of color. “Representation is so important because there’s so many more outlets out here than people are aware of,” he says. “You’d have to pry me out of [the mountains] — there’s so much joy out here for everyone,” he says.
Barnes is now a snowboard athlete for Mountain Hardware. He recently moved to Southcentral Alaska, and looking ahead, he’s most excited to explore the sense of freedom, purpose, and excitement he’s found in the Chugach Mountains. “What makes me want to get up everyday is snowboarding and being outside,” he says. As winter approaches, he’s excited to carve new lines and new stories across the landscape that’s welcomed him home.
Emily Sullivan is a photographer and writer focused on outdoor recreation, environmental wellness, and community empowerment. She is based on Dena’ina lands, where she can usually be found skiing, packrafting, or berry picking.
