“From Snapping Terje’s teenage years as a summer camper on the Blackcomb glacier to chasing the Whiskey crew with a point-and-shoot to recording Devun Walsh’s textbook switch style in the era of booters, the images captured by Dano Pendygrasse’s camera over the past quarter of a century have inspired countless individuals to live the riding life. Yet, despite his place as arguably the most influential and prolific Canadian snowboard photographer of all time, perhaps Dano’s biggest impact lies more in what he didn’t become than in what he did. Dano’s story started as a skier in Vancouver who packed up for the higher alpine of Whistler in 1987. Upon his arrival in the mountains Dano quickly channeled his skateboard roots by giving snowboarding a try and soon became one of the first riders employed by Blackcomb. Next came a stint managing the famed Snowboard Shop where he became a sponsored rider representing brands like Crazy Banana, Sims, and Westbeach. Dano’s tenure in the glamorous world of athlete endorsement was short, but it was significant in that by picking up a camera in the early 90s, he became the first rider to parlay his affinity for snowboarding into a photographic legacy few in our sport can match, and in the process, he broke trail for other aspiring shreds-turned-photogs like Ian Ruhter, Dean “Blotto” Gray, Andy Wright, Ethan Fortier, etc…”
Luck is everything. But when luck meets passion and a work ethic, the impact can be seismic. I’ve been lucky countless times in my life but none so much as when I stumbled into the snowboard world at the end of the 80s. It was a risky prospect to walk away from the tried and true route of post-secondary education and career to plow headlong into this new thing that was, at the time, mostly regarded as a fad and a joke.
Snowboarding was the thing that my life had been leading to though, and it seemed less of a risk and more of a duty to find out where it would take me. So I strapped in, made a commitment, and worked my ass off. Snowboarding and photography took me around the world. By the time I was 25 I had seen more of the planet than my parents and most of my friends, and I was getting paid well to do it.
That road eventually led to doing creative work with brands both large and small and in 2020 I split my time between photography, consulting with brands, and building something new that is challenging and allows me to work with people I respect. My foundation in photography still drives my work, and pursuing the visual art aspect was inevitable. Eventually every road leads back to the mountain.
Dano