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Winter Sneakpeaks and a Historic Descent

📸 A crew returns unfazed after an unsuccessful attempt to reach the distant snowline in Cerro Castillo National Park, Chile. Liam McGee

I just returned from a trip to southern Chile’s Patagonia, exploring truly remote villages and skiing with a rad crew from Alpenglow Expeditions.

To be more honest, we spent at least half of our time bushwhacking through lenga trees and scrambling on frozen scree with skis squarely on our backs.

As it turns out, this year has been one of the worst snow years ever in Patagonia. Accordingly, each rare drift of windblown snow and the occasional corn turn was cheered with the verve of great skiing, because that’s exactly what it was.

The snow, or lack thereof, played second fiddle to fast friends, incredible culture and wild, windblown landscapes. And in my opinion, that’s the beauty of our sport.

If you’re interested, subscribe to see the full story later this year. In the meantime, I’m excited for a short stint of warmer weather and equally ready for winter again. And hey, it snowed in Colorado and Utah this week. That can only be a good sign, right?

—Liam

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Starts shipping in early October

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Gear


  • Summer Gear Roundup: Backpacking

    Summer Gear Roundup: Backpacking

    Dialing in your setup is essential to any backcountry mission. While most of this gear tested by our staff is designed for warmer seasons, plenty of it can, and will, double as essentials on winter hut trips, spring traverses and other cold-weather adventures.

  • Gearbox: 2025 Packs

    Gearbox: 2025 Packs

    The best ski touring packs of 2025, reviewed.

  • Gearbox: 2025 Ultralight Packs

    Gearbox: 2025 Ultralight Packs

    In a year where ultralight packs exploded in popularity, we’ve reviewed some of the best option for your long distance, lightweight tours.

  • Gearbox: 2025 Sunglasses

    Gearbox: 2025 Sunglasses

    Whether summer or winter, sunglasses are essential for backcountry sports. Here’s a few of the best shades from this year, reviewed.

MORE GEAR

  • Gearbox: 2025 Camera Gear

    With these packs, storage options and drones, capturing your adventures in the mountains has never been easier.

  • 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.

  • 2025 Editors’ Choice Ski Reviews

    From powder skis to quiver-killers to skimo options, check out this year’s Editors’ Choice backcountry skis reviews.

  • 2025 Editors’ Choice Apparel Reviews

    Our 2025 Editors’ Choice apparel includes an assortment of layers, from hard- and soft-shells to puffies to baselayers.

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

Doug Stoup: The Iceman

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: Meet Your Heroes

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 2026 Gear Guide

Subscribe now to get our latest issue, do it by 10/6 and we’ll throw in a FREE Backcountry Voilé Strap!

Mountain Skills


Uphill Travel Guide

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.

View our resort skinning policies guide »

  • Mountain Skills: Set a Plan and Stick to It

    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.

  • Mountain Skills: Professional vs. Recreational Avalanche Training…what’s in it for me?

    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…

  • Mountain Skills: Hydrate or Die

    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.

  • Mountain Skills: Anticipating Point Release Avalanches

    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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