The snow crackled like lightbulb glass underfoot as Maxim Balakhovskii stepped out into the stiff wind swirling around the summit of Kamchatka’s Vilyuchinsky volcano.
Shading his face from a blinding sunrise, the veteran guide stepped clear of the door of the Mil Mi-8 helicopter, making way for a group of 11 snowboarders he’d signed on to lead to one of the world’s most unbelievable alpine adventures. Turning from the biting wind, Balakhovskii watched as one-by-one, his group stepped off into a snowboarding wonderland of colossal proportions. He took mental snapshots of the unique expressions on each face, as any professional photographer would.
