After one season in the Tetons, Stephen Shelesky went cold turkey on snowboarding.

He’d fallen into a crowd of ex-ski racers, and chasing them around with his camera on his board just wasn’t cutting it. Without giving himself time to back out, he took the plunge. He rode two Jackson Hole, WY, classics—Corbet’s Couloir and Cody Peak—on his board, then gave it away on Facebook Marketplace, bought a pair of K2 Shreditors and never looked back.

No stranger to rapid change, Shelesky found his ski legs quicker than most. Five years later he’d built the career he’d dreamed of—he was shooting with top athletes almost every day of the week, photos plastered on billboards at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. He’d built roots in the Tetons, come out as gay and felt supported by a tight knit community.

It had all finally fallen into place. So, to the surprise of many (especially his ski partners), he packed up his life and moved to Los Angeles, CA.

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