From Thunder Bay’s Slopes to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted: The Rise and Manhunt for Ryan Wedding

Ryan Wedding’s life reads like a script Hollywood wouldn’t touch for fear of being too outrageous. Once a promising Canadian snowboarder, carving powder on Thunder Bay’s slopes, he now finds himself plastered across FBI “Ten Most Wanted” posters with a $10 million reward dangling over his head. From Olympic dreams to international manhunt, the trajectory is as wild as it is jaw-dropping.

Olympic Glory…Almost

Born on September 14, 1981, in Thunder Bay, Ryan’s early years were all about speed, snow, and adrenaline. By 15, he was tearing it up on Canada’s national snowboard team, and by 20, he represented the country at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Though he didn’t medal, finishing around 24th, he had officially earned the title of Olympian – a badge many dream of but few achieve. Life seemed set on a straight path: snowboards, medals, and maybe a life coaching wannabe shredders. But life had other plans.

Slopes to Shadows: Enter the Cartel

Post-Olympics, Wedding swapped his snowboard for a far darker ride. Dropping out of Simon Fraser University, he slipped into the world of illicit marijuana deals, which soon escalated into full-blown cocaine trafficking. His operations reportedly stretched across borders, connecting him with Russian and Iranian networks and eventually landing him in league with the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. From the slopes to smuggling, Ryan had become a kingpin in the international drug trade – a leap so bizarre it reads like a cautionary tale about snowboards, ambition, and questionable decisions.

Violence and the Rising Price of Infamy

The story only grows darker. Authorities claim Wedding orchestrated multiple murders spanning from 2023 to 2024, including attacks on family members, rival gang associates, and those who crossed him over unpaid debts. One victim survived with serious injuries, while others were killed. His right-hand man, Andrew Clark, has already been arrested in Mexico, but Wedding remains at large, a ghost slipping through borders while law enforcement scrambles to pin him down.

From Local Hero to Public Enemy

March 6, 2025, marked another dramatic twist: Wedding’s face hit the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list, replacing another fugitive and bringing with it a $10 million reward for tips leading to his capture. Agencies from the FBI to the RCMP, DEA, and LAPD have mobilized cross-border task forces to locate him. Rumors swirl: Mexico, Canada, the U.S., maybe even further afield. Some speculate cosmetic surgery could help him dodge detection, though no one knows for sure. The former Olympian is now a top-tier fugitive, a cautionary tale wrapped in intrigue.

Thunder Bay’s Wildest Export

Think about it: a kid growing up at a ski hill, dreaming of Olympic gold, now a figure of international law enforcement obsession. Ryan Wedding’s story isn’t just a tale of crime – it’s a saga of transformation, hubris, and an utterly improbable descent from snowboards to global infamy. Thunder Bay produced a star, but this star took a detour straight into the kind of headline that makes people question reality.

From carving slopes to evading authorities, Ryan Wedding’s life is a reminder that truth can be stranger than fiction – and that sometimes, Olympic dreams and criminal notoriety are only a few bad decisions apart. The world watches, waiting for the next chapter in this real-life thriller.