Retirement Goals
As we celebrate 30 years of magazines with Issue 161, editors, both past and present, offer personal reflections on their time at Backcountry Magazine. In this note, former Editorial Director Tyler Cohen contemplates some chairlift wisdom he recieved as an intern from tele icon Dickie Hall.
Get THE 3oth ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Back in 1994, David and Betsy Harrower were exploring the backcountry on long, narrow, tele skis and having a grand old time. The only problem? “I realized there was no magazine to gain information about what had become the most fun part of my life,” writes David in his Editor’s Note in Issue 161. And so, as the story goes, David and Betsy, along with Brian Litz, started Backcountry.
In the following 30 years, the publication and the sport have both grown and evolved. Today, alpine touring setups reign, film cameras have been replaced by their digital brethren and many editors and photographers have come and gone on our hallowed masthead. In Issue 161, The 30th Anniversary Issue, we highlight three decades of people who’ve made this publication what it is, both in editorial and art, and the backcountry skiing community that’s developed alongside us.
In the next 132 pages coming your way, we look to the past and the present. We remember late telemark big mountain skier Kasha Rigby; dive into the heli-skiing pioneers who drove the development of avalanche safety; and recognize Paul Parker’s lifetime of contributions to the sport. And we report on efforts to make avalanche education more accessible; the apps offering better tour planning; and the Italian splitboarder dedicated to uniting his backcountry community.
As headlines fly, take a moment to recall all the things our favorite sport—and the publication dedicated to it—has been and continues to be. Then take a victory lap at your favorite zone on us.
To 30 more!
The Backcountry Team
Subscribe now to make sure a copy is coming your way 📬.
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Stories |Look Back, Rise Up
As we celebrate 30 years of magazines with Issue 161, editors, both past and present, offer personal reflections on their time at Backcountry Magazine. In this note, sometimes editor and always janitor Adam Howard considers the legacy of Shane McConkey and his enduring influence on ski culture and ski design, while acknowledging a personal editorial…
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Wisdom: Sandy Ward
Almost two decades ago, Sandy Ward found splitboarding connected her to her Indigenous culture. In this Wisdom piece from The 30th Anniversary Issue, she talks about creating opportunities for Indigenous women and youth to experience the backcountry.
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Arctic Addictions: How I Became Obsessed with Scandinavian Splitboarding
Splitboarding in the Arctic might as well be a Schedule II drug—highly addictive, potentially dangerous, with a severe risk of psychological and neurological dependance.
Gear
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The Scarpa TX Pro: Reviewed
The debut of the new Scarpa TX Pro, our 2025 Editors’ Choice telemark boot, marks an exciting, and long awaited, development in telemark gear.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Ski Reviews
From powder skis to quiver-killers to skimo options, check out this year’s Editors’ Choice backcountry skis reviews.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Apparel Reviews
Our 2025 Editors’ Choice apparel includes an assortment of layers, from hard- and soft-shells to puffies to baselayers.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Ski Boot Reviews
The best backcountry ski boots of 2025, from 130 flex to the skimo-inspired, reviewed.
MORE GEAR
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2025 Editors’ Choice Splitboard Boot And Binding Reviews
Our 2025 Editors’ Choice boot and bindings picks feature both soft- and hard-boot setups.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Ski Binding Reviews
From techincal ascents to powder-filled descents, our 2025 Editors’ Choice ski bindings offer a seamless blend of durability and versatility.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Splitboard Reviews
Our selection of 2025 Editors’ Choice splitboards surf, charge and ollie while still delivering on the up.
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Summer Gear Roundup: Camping
Regardless of the mode of backcountry travel, a good camp setup is essential to multiday exploration. While most of the gear tested by our staff is designed for warmer seasons, plenty of it can, and will, double as essentials on hut trips and spring overnight adventures.
The Backcountry Podcast
From legendary athletes to iconic product designers, activists to guides, our world is filled with new views, wisdom, determination and crustiness.
Latest Podcast Episodes
From playing NCAA soccer to a successful modeling and acting career to being the top polar explorer of his time, Doug Stoup is an enigma. Host Adam Howard recently journeyed to Antarctica with Stoup and their conversation ranges from Doug’s personal training of A-list Hollywood actors to near death experiences; adventures with Doug Coombs; and taking novice skiers to the South Pole.
Tele Mike Russell: Turns for All
Tele Mike Russell grew up as a sharecropper’s son in Delaware before attending college and becoming an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Then he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center and decided he’d better follow another path, this one to skiing in Colorado, where he’d go on to find a family in the National Brotherhood of Skiers and help found its backcountry program.
Eric Blehm’s roots in snowboarding run deep. He started riding during the sport’s infancy, and after college became an editor at Transworld SNOWboarding Magazine. Years later, he was in a lift line when a fellow rider saw the “Craig Kelly is my Co-Pilot” sticker on his board, and asked Blehm: “Who is Craig Kelly?” He was floored by the notion that there were snowboarders out there who didn’t know who Craig was. And this inspired him to write The Darkest White.
The Outliers Issue
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Mountain Skills
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Mountain Skills: Set a Plan and Stick to It
Sticking to your plan is easier said than done. But, it’s one of the best ways to stay safe in the backcountry.
Resort Skinning Policies
We’ve compiled a database of U.S. resorts with a little about each individual policy—where and when skinning is allowed, whether or not it’s free during operating hours and the link directly to the resort’s guidelines.
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Mountain Skills: Professional vs. Recreational Avalanche Training…what’s in it for me?
This winter, avalanche education in the U.S. will be evolving. The old system of Level 1, 2, 3 will be replaced with two options: a recreational track and one geared toward professionals. The goal of the split is to deliver better, more focused courses to each user group. So how do you know which one’s…
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Mountain Skills: Hydrate or Die
We lose fluids through perspiration (sweating) and respiration (breathing). While ski touring, high elevation and drier air make this even more dramatic. And during the spring, warm weather further exaggerates the amount of fluid lost. Dehydration leads to a drop of performance—in stages from slowing down to bonking to needing medical attention.
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Mountain Skills: Anticipating Point Release Avalanches
As the spring approaches, many of us turn our attention to steeper, more technical lines higher in the mountains. The layers of snow that formed throughout the winter begin to gain strength and the avalanche problem is less complicated—it’s ski mountaineering season! But as the temperatures climb, wet avalanches become a more regular, primary concern.
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Mountain Skills: Take the time to be prepared for early season turns
It’s late fall and many mountains throughout the U.S. have seen some decent early season snow. As a result, stoke is high and people are itching to ski. Guide Steve Banks shares his thoughts on how to capitalize on the early bounty.
