Who
My name is Kyle Miller and I was born and raised near Seattle Washington where my family immigrated from Finland back in the 1880’s and was the third generation to call that corner of the world home. Growing up I was the exact opposite of sporty with a life filled with video games, television and more video games until I turned 20. After experiencing a fatal car crash and developing PTSD I was introduced to snowboarding. What was supposed by be a quick fix became an obsession as I bought a seasons pass to my local ski hill (Crystal Mountain) after the first few days of snowboarding not realizing that this would forever change my life. After a single season of riding the resort daily a friend had bought a splitboard and basically said if you want to keep riding with me you need to get one too. At the time (2001) Splitboards were unheard of and through the kindness of the local Burton rep he gave me one that was collecting dust in his storage and I was off on yet again another life changing sport.
What
By the end of my 2nd season at the resort it was closing down but there was still months worth of snow in the mountains so it was time to take out the Splitboard and try my luck with touring, to say I had no clue what I was doing was an understatement. Back then you would occasionally see ski tourers but never another Splitboard so we were always the black sheep and people were happy to give us crap about what we were on and how unsafe our gear was to be out in the mountains, but as time went on and after many catastrophic failures I really started getting used to it and what it allowed me to do, there was no turning back. I had caught the bug of the backcountry and the freedom to go wherever I wanted and this was a game changer in both abilities and mindset.
When
Progression was slow as every year there would be a few Splitboarders in the whole Cascade Range but finding untracked snow was as simple as putting a little bit of effort in and over the next 5 years I slowly progressed getting a bit further each year into what seemed then to be the unknown. What at first was simple single run powder fiascos turned the corner to climbing the volcanoes of Washington in a single season than the 25 volcanoes in the Cascade Range the next. It was nothing more than a personal challenge to keep me motivated and after testing my luck with the volcanoes I started feeling comfortable with crampons and a bit more technical terrain so it was time to up my game the next season. I decided to go and explore the much more rugged mountains of the North Cascades being as green to mountaineering as one can imagine but I teamed up with a photographer Jason Hummel and since both of us didn’t have jobs and were poor we turned out to be a great team and through his decades of experience telemarking we decided to do a week long base camp mission in the Olympic Mountains where we tagged a few first descents which got the attention of a few companies that were interested in helping support my passion. By now the Splitboard scene had blown up and it was time to come up with new plans for the upcoming season. Feeling more comfortable with my skills we went to be the first people to ride the 10 highest peaks in Washington and then the following season we went for all the 9,000 foot peaks in Washington (10 in total). In-between these we started doing ski traverses and started switching our focusing on steep lines over to week long traverse to test our skills as well as see what was out there. The following season we pulled off the first complete 16 day American Alps traverse and I had gained the label of a sufferfest athlete, willing to bushwhack wherever and destroy myself in the process. After pulling off demanding trips almost weekly I wanted to go and explore different mountain ranges and see what the world had to offer.
Where
I’d put myself into a category where I was getting known for my sufferfests and I decided to put it to the test heading to New Zealand and finding remote lines before heading to Northern Norway where brutal weather in Lofoten drove me north to the Lyngen Alps. I fell in love with the possibilities of the big mountains in these areas and for the next two years really focused on these areas. It wasn’t long until the stress of big mountain riding took its mental toll on me so I decided as a reward and for some needed stress release I would head to Japan and get back to my original passion of resort powder riding. This would become a cycle over the years spending December and March in Washington, February in Japan, April and May in Norway than August through November in NZ. I found myself going back to these areas 5 times and having an endless winter that went 4 years straight (winter in the Northern Hemisphere followed by winter in the Southern Hemisphere. On one of the trips to Northern Norway I met a girl in the Finnish Arctic who became my wife the next year and I found myself moving from Washington to Finnish Lapland. By this time I was still doing a lot of traveling between the 4 locations (Washington, Norway, New Zealand and Japan) and started exploring the NW corner of Russia which had its border just 2 hours from my home. All the while I was still finding time to head to Washington for two months at a time and finished up my final big goal linking Mt. Rainier to Mt. Baker through 14 separate traverses and over 600 miles.
Why
Split boarding had become who I was and I was constantly finding ways to reinvent myself along the way. Splitboarding was booming now with half of the people in the mountains on riding a single plank. I was traveling the world, doing talks at different Splitboard events and meeting awesome people along the way. I was challenging myself both physically and mentally and getting to express myself through the traverses and different unique descents I was doing along the way. I was insanely fortunate to have my hobby become my profession.
How
Now you are probably asking how Kyle Miller did this and the truth of the matter is I was traveling the world well under the U.S. poverty line but by the time I started traveling I had mastered the art of being frugal and when in these places I was sleeping in mountain huts in NZ, occasionally staying in an igloo I built slope side in Japan and eating dehydrated food and cliff bars in Norway, by no means was it glamorous but I was a rich man living off a poor mans bank account and the truth is anyone can do it if they are willing to sacrifice comfort in exchange for experiences.
This website reflects those trips, experiences and the mindset I had to make all these things possible. Thanks for visiting Where is Kyle Miller and I hope it can inspire you to get out and find yourself like Splitboarding did for me.