Eric Blehm

Eric Blehm graduated with honors from San Diego State University's School of Communication in 1994 with a BA in journalism and a minor in outdoor recreation. During his time there he was awarded the William Randolph Hearst Award for Excellence in Feature Writing for The Darkest White, an account of a near-fatal avalanche in the Colorado Rockies that was published in Powder magazine. The article inspired Blehm to obtain his own Level 1 Avalanche Safety Certification with the Canadian Avalanche Association, which in turn became the acclaimed feature story, Seven Days at Avalanche Boot Camp, which was published in TransWorld SNOWboarding. Capitalizing on his love of the then-renegade sport of snowboarding, he became the editor of the world's most highly circulated snowboarding publication, TransWorld SNOWboarding. After five years as editor, Blehm took a one-year sabbatical to travel the world and begin a successful freelance writing career that uses photography and digital videography as mediums for documenting popular culture. His main focus has remained snowboard mountaineering and adventure travel.

In 1999, Blehm became the first civilian journalist to keep pace with a U.S. Army Rangers Special Forces platoon on one of its fabled training missions an experience he documented in the feature Painted Demons, published in POV magazine. He has also published articles about his journey into the mountains beyond Tehran, Iran, during the country's governmental elections in 2000.

In addition to his freelance work in adventure journalism, Blehm has consulted and/or written for MTV, the U.S. Army, EXPN, Burton Snowboards, Ford Motor Company, Patagonia, Gatorade, K2 Snowboards, Colorado Ski Country USA, Marmot, DC Shoes, Whistler/Blackcomb Resorts, Winterstick, 900 Entertainment, The Board Channel, Mammoth Mountain, Abercrombie and Fitch, Aspen Mountain, Vail, Telluride, Steamboat, Winterpark, Copper Mountain, and TransWorld Media. He has written articles for Outside, GQ, Couloir, Men's Journal, Climbing, Spin, Playboy, and Mountain Sports Europe, San Diego Union Tribune, Los Angeles Times, as well as almost all international snowboarding publications, including those published in the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, Italy, and New Zealand. Blehm's previous books include Agents of Change, The Story of DC Shoes and its Athletes (Regan Books); an essay in the anthology Patagonia, Notes from the Field (Chronicle Books); and Ultimate Snowboarding (Carlton Books, London). He also cowrote P3: Pipes, Parks, and Powder (Regan Books) with Olympian snowboarder Todd Richards.