Bio
Stephan Drake has spent his life cultivating high-performance powder skiing. For a decade, he lived a roaming existence with his friends centered around global storm chasing, but over the past three seasons Stephan has focused his winters on Southeast Alaska, where he hunts lines deep in the Chilkat backcountry during the spring months.

Stephan has his Mom and Grandfather to either thank or blame for his powder addiction, "I have been wearing Patagonia® since I was big enough to fit into the adult sizes. I grew up in New York City, and by the age of 12, I was obsessed with skiing. It was all-consuming. My world revolved around the yearly visit to see my grandfather in Colorado. To support my skiing obsession while in the big city, my Mom got me a subscription to Powder magazine. We also always received the Patagonia catalog at the house. Through those two books, I daydreamed of a life riding mountains. I have always identified with the Patagonia ethos, the authentic environmental connection, and felt at home in the clothing, so it's a really natural and proud feeling to be connected with a company that not only has a good compass, but acts on it."

Stephan is the founder and currently a designer at DPS skis, www.dpsskis.com. He has been a leader in the powder ski design revolution; his work shaping skis and centering a brand around powder culture landed him an invitation as a featured speaker at the National Design Conference in 2005.

"Back in the late 1990's, I started to see what snowboarders were doing in deep snow, and was blown away. Skiing had that potential, but needed some serious equipment changes. I pointed my own skiing style and design mindset toward that direction and aesthetic." Stephan has also written for a slew of magazines, and produced and authored the acclaimed book, The Powder Road.

His focus however, is on the art of riding deep snow, "All the other stuff we do in the world is just a reflection of how we feel about standing on skis and moving down a steep fluffy mountain. It's cultivating the act and art of skiing itself that drives me - it's an expression of how you stand on the earth - the most beautiful dance: full of angles, raw power, and fluidity."