Your Peoples

There’s nothing like having your peoples in the back country with you. It’s late March in Summit County, Colorado, and it’s the first time that I have met face-to-face with the Change Collective squad. Shredding with the Change Collective squad is like meeting your past life regression friends in this life who have reincarnated as backcountry ski and ride partners. The Change Collective squad came through from the Pacific Northwest, Lake Tahoe, and Jackson Hole to sample some of that uncut P-Funk freestyle flow in the soft Colorado Backcountry. Blessed are the Collective, as the good Lord delivered kilos of white cocaine rain the entire week before their arrival, setting a blank canvas to hit some Kodak courage encouraged backcountry booters. Our theme song for three days of bottomless riding was OT Genasis’s “I’m in Love with the CoCo”!

Introducing The Change Collective Squad

Culese Lee

First, there is my man, young buck Culese Lee. My brother Culese is ill-matic with it in the air like he’s floating on clouds 9, 10, and 11. I call Culese “Bird Man” because my man spends more time in the air than he does riding the snow. 

RT Wright

And then there’s RT. I’m not sure what’s more majestic… watching RT ride or looking at the photos that RT takes of people skiing and riding. Check out this cat’s IG page (@RT_Wright). RT has traveled the world and his photos just drip off the screen like Salvador Dali paintings and makes you feel like you are on location with RT, co-chilling in the moment of his photos. The opening sequence of the film features RT’s artistry where he beautifully framed the shadows, the light, the snow, the sky, and the skier (Tele Mike) to make any powder loving junky say, “that’s a sick shot”.  RT makes a brother look damn good!

Korey Hopkins

Korey “K-Hop” Hopkins is a hallmark story of the type of athlete that we love to introduce to the backcountry. Although for K-Hop we more so threw him into the deep end of the pool on his very first backcountry trip which was an expedition to ski mountaineer the mountains in and around Wanaka, New Zealand, last year. Yes, Korey had only been skiing for 2 years. But K-Hop is a D1 track star turned pro mountain bike racer. We trained K-Hop in the essentials of the AIARE Framework and gave him a couple more pointers about skiing backcountry snow. Then sent him down the hill as if he had been skiing the backcountry for ages. K-Hop’s drone camera work is simply stunning, along with his impressive resume of action films and photos. Hit that brutha up on the IG @KHopShoots. His work is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious good!

Sasha Dingle

A veteran of the free ride extreme tour, Sasha Dingle skis like she is signing her signature on a deep white canvas with her silky ski strokes. I love her hustle & flow way of skiing. Sasha’s turns are smooooove. And yes, I said that Sasha is Smoove, not smooth. But don’t let the smoove taste fool you. As she greases over a jump with the ease of a Cirque De Soleil trapeze artist, watching Sasha Dingle ski will Jedi mind trick you into thinking, “Oh she made that look easy. I can ski that line and make that double jump just like Sasha did”, knowing damn well that you would end up in traction immediately after the first jump. 

Jared Trouillot

Tele Jared Trouillot is an American Mountain Guide Association apprentice. Jared is a ride or die tele skier with the swagger of a French ski guide yodeling De La Soul songs, and rolling their own cigarettes. Well, he is half Haitian with a side of Swedish. So he comes by the French influence honestly. Tele Jared is that old mack from way back cat living 365 degrees of that mountain life, ski tour guiding in the winter, and Mountain Biking, Rafting, and Rock climbing in the summer. Tele Jared definitely has a better office view than 90% of us slugging it out from the cubicles and rush hour traffic.

Dr Justin Stearns

Dr Justin Stearns not only has his doctorate, Dr Stearns also has his PhD in snow rider. Dr Stearns can ski, snowboard, ride sleds, and drive snow cats all at an exceptionally high level. Bitten twice by the travel bug, Dr Stearns is only one continent away from backcountry skiing and splitboarding all 7 continents. The expedition to ski the final continent is scheduled for 2026.

Whether it was making mule assisted corn snow turns in Africa or waking up crusty eyed to 4 feet of fresh snow in Asahidake, Japan, Dr Stearns and Tele Mike are often strangers in foreign lands who are graced with open mouthed smiles and instant friendship that is found in the safe harbor of the ski communities that take us in as if we are family. Because no matter which country you travel to visit, if you are a skier or snowboarder, then you will always find your peoples in the Mountains. 

Khai Bhagwandin

And the ring leader of the Change Collective is Khai Bhagwandin. Bhagwandin is cooler than a polar bear’s toenails sitting in front of a fan. Khai has that cool girl-next-door from around the way vibe. Petebuilt, Khai was that one Sistah on the block playing tackle football in the backyard with all the fellas, bloodying noses and pick sixing the quarterback on the huss just when you doubted her because she’s a girl. 

The Leader of The Change Collective

The Change Collective (@The.Change.Collective) has more flavors than Bask & Robins as the collective cultures hail from Vietnam, Haiti, Sweden, African American, Native American, French Guiana, Pakistan, and more. The Change Collective has more cultural ingredients than Heinz 57 sauce. And just like Voltron, the Change Collective comes together to help you find your peoples and address the lack of diversity in snow sports by creating a supportive environment where BIPOC individuals can participate without feeling marginalized or excluded. 

And Bhagwandin doesn’t call you out. She calls you in. Although the Collective has a focus on BIPOC, all are still welcome as long as you like powder. If you don’t like powder, well then you might get the “what you talkin’bout Willis” side eye. But hard pack riders are welcomed too, LOL. Khai Bhagwandin achieves inclusion and belonging through curating events and initiatives that specifically cater to and celebrate diverse backgrounds and experiences. This includes Community Building, Empowerment Programs, and Partnerships & Collaborations.

Khai Bhagwandin’s Change Collective highlights the importance of moving beyond superficial diversity marketing and creates meaningful and sustainable representation in the backcountry, just like Voile’s V-Team Program.

One Love,

Tele Mike

Photo credit: RT Wright

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