Shred Nation

“”It’s gonna be a great night tonight!” shouts Gabe Moody, raising his arms before vanishing down the slope.

Decked out in goggles and neon snow pants, the 21-year-old and his three teammates blend into the mass of skiers here for the fresh powder and nighttime skiing at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver.

The native artwork on their matching snowboards, however, sets this crew apart. “It means sea to sky,” Mr. Moody, of the Squamish First Nation, explains on the chairlift ride back up. He points to the ram mask, killer whale and two eyes between his feet and says, “They’re watching over us.”

Mr. Moody and his friends grew up near some of the country’s greatest ski resorts. Yet, when they started snowboarding at places such as Whistler, B.C., they rarely saw other natives on the hill.

Now in their 20s, they’re part of an elite squad of athletes with the First Nations Snowboard Team, a development program that’s introducing scores of aboriginal youngsters to a sport many otherwise couldn’t afford. Since it started four years ago, the program has spread across British Columbia, with more than 130 youths at the recreational level, 24 on an all-aboriginal competitive squad, and four on the B.C. provincial team.”

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