28 hours by car and nearly 2,000 miles northwest of his small Georgia hometown is where snow of unavoidable proportions can be found. Montana, 4th in size, 44th in population and recently recognized by its new moniker the Last Best State, is Ringgold native Zack Ford's new home-his Zion in the snow.
Ford, 26, went chasing fresh powder and backcountry bliss after college and wound up getting blinded by snow science.
Building on a run at Breckenridge and his past as a surfer and skateboarder, Ford moved to Montana in the summer of 2010 where he worked with the Montana Conservation Corps building trails and water systems in remote areas of the state.
"I just fell in love with the state," Ford says over the phone. This week in early December, before he started teaching again at Bridger Bowl, a community-run ski hill in Bozeman, it's been the coldest, snowiest time of the year yet. And he's been hitting the slopes since October. It's a high of 2 F with a -12 F wind chill factor. It's been worse and it will get worse. But who cares, Ford says, it's his passion.
"I say to my girlfriend, 'You'll have to share me with the mountains.' They are my sanctuary," he says. He talks in love letters. The snow this, the snow that. Waxing poetic about mountains of majesty, Ford goes on about how his love of the outdoors led him to Montana, a scarcely visited state, save for its snow tourists.
"Chattanooga was a lot of the reason I love the outdoors and influenced a lot of what I came here looking for," Ford says. "As a kid, I'd go to North Carolina and Virginia and learn to ski and I always loved it. But even just getting out on the weekends and hiking around my hometown, it was special."
He's worked odd jobs in Montana in the off season with the area food bank. But when summer ends, it's a breakthrough. He takes trips to snowboard, to ski and to learn about snow. Like reading the water of a creek, you can read the snow. It can take you places, he says. It's a science. Snow science.
He's been to Big Sky to ride recently, and before that, he spent the summer in Alaska learning to be a backcountry guide.
But back country skiing and snowboarding is dangerous. You're going to uncontrolled areas, camping remotely and being prepared for the worst. Jumping out of helicopters into newly lain snow isn't for everyone. But for the few people who choose to do it anyway, Ford wants to teach them how.
"That's what I'm hoping to do. I love to learn and to teach people how to ride, how to be safe and how they can go places through back country skiing," he says. "I can be their guide. I want to show them and take them to places to explore. Not much would make me happier."
In his experience snowboarding, Ford has had close calls. Experiences that put you in danger are both blessings and lessons. The extreme weather forces you to be prepared, he says.
"I've been very fortunate. But that's why I'm learning about snow science and how to read it. About avalanches, how to turn around safely in areas prone to movement," he recalls. "It's a very natural sport for me, and it's very emotional. The power of balance is unreal."
For now, he's at Bridger Bowl as a ski and snowboarding instructor-helping people overcome obstacles and hit the pure, out of control slopes. "Bridger Bowl is like this diamond in the rough. It's a little bit of everything and it just attracts a lot of people," he says. "And I'm a people person. I love to teach and share these experiences with people. It's a sense of wonder when you're out there. It's so simple ... that's what attracts me."
He's not just being romantic; people will travel to these hubs of virgin snow and hire guides to take them on a backcountry expedition. When Ford completes his guide course in Alaska, he hopes to be leading snowboarders on back country trips.
He wants to show them how a Georgia boy could be seduced away from mild weather. He describes it the way many look at island paradise: "It's just a slower pace here, a different way of life that is so laid back," he laughs.
"We hiked through the rainforest for miles in Alaska, we hiked up this treacherous mountain where not many people have ridden before. We looked out at these glaciers, it was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. The sun was setting, it was 11:30 at night ... it was just unbelievable," he says of last summer's trip.
"The Tetons? They are majestic. The geology of them is amazing, and understanding that, what is behind these mountains, gives the landscape new meaning," he adds. "It's where I started progressing as a rider.
ABOUT BRIDGER BOWL where Zack Ford works as an instructor: Bridger Bowl is a locally owned non-profit ski area. While lacking the funds of a major ski resort, the organization is unique, Ford says. Local skiiers are alerted to fresh snow by a flashing blue beacon placed on top of a hotel in downtown Bozeman. It's been flashing blue at the sight of two inches of now continuously since 1988.
A newly opened ski area available is accessible only by those expert skiiers wearing an avalanche transceiver. The experts-only area called "The Ridge" is a big hit, and it's estimated that Bridger Bowl snowfall is comparable to some of the world's best powder skiing areas.