Stakes were high for Sam Kuch atop a steep, misty venue at the 2017 Kicking Horse Freeride World Qualifier. Lace this run, make the Freeride World Tour. Stumble, and the 19-year-old would return home to Nelson, BC, empty-handed, just in time to pick up the hammer for a sweltering summer of backbreaking roofing work. The FWQ rookie and 2016 junior champ had a Taos four-star win in his pocket, and he’d qualified first for finals. A dream he’d had since joining the Whitewater Freeride Team at 13 years old was within reach, but when he crashed, Kuch watched it evaporate.

“I felt deflated. That was a turning point. I didn’t know if I wanted to compete anymore,” Kuch says, looking back. All that work, just to fall short? The Freeride World Tour was supposed to help him get into ski movies—was that path erased too?…

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