HAPPY DIRTY THIRTY TO US 🎉
Three decades is a long time. In 1994, two of our three edit staff were yet to be born; three-pin telemark bindings were all the rage among the still small backcountry skiing community; and classic films like Forrest Gump, Shawshank Redemption and Schindler’s List were airing in theaters.
It’s also when the first issue of Backcountry Magazine went to print. The internet was a nascent entity that year as well. While our competitors have changed direction to focus on clickbait and sponsored content on the World Wide Web, Backcountry has stayed the independent print path. Since the mid ’90s we have strived to maintain the highest standard of quality both in design and the written word. And while our annual Gear Guide now focuses on algal cores and eensy weensy AT bindings, we still celebrate the tele crew that’s been with us since the beginning.
But three decades of Backcountry goes way beyond gear and great stories. It’s about community. Our readers and subscribers, editors, interns and gear testers. All the folks passionate about twisting skinners, avalanche safety and all manner of ski epics united by a shared love of the untracked experience.
It’s been a great first 30, and with a little luck and continued support from you all, we’ll happily keep doing what we love: digging up inspiring stories, putting gear through the ringer (and writing about it), giving the greatest ski photos a home and printing a great friggin’ magazine.
See you on the skintrack,
The Backcountry Team
The 2025 Gear Guide is here…
Subscribe now to get the 2025 Gear Guide!
On my Coffee Table
No. 149 | The Evolution Issue
As winter fades into a memory, I like to try to take some time to reflect. Issue 149, the Evolution Issue, is just about that process. It’s a thought provoking read featuring stories of people pushing boundaries, asking questions, reflecting on history and pondering the way forward. Regardless of when I flip through these pages, I find the stories ask me to slow down, move with intention and reframe my standards. —Liam
What’s on Your Coffee Table?
Are you a collector? Do you have a favorite issue? Snap a photo with it and tell us why in a few words—send it to greta@backcountrymagazine.com—and we’ll share it in our newsletter and on social media!
Get The 2025 Gear Guide
When the time came to tally the number of skis, boots, boards, bindings and apparel reviews in this year’s Gear Guide, you can bet we reached for the calculator. It’s best not to leave even simple addition to chance after weeks of proofing 140 pages. It’s also fair to say that as writers and designers, math isn’t exactly our strong suit.
The official calculator-assisted sum is 197. And that’s the distillation of 1,445 forms from 60 experienced testers; interviews with multiple brand experts; hours sifting through workbooks; and a summer’s worth of writing, editing and rewriting. The product is the 2025 Gear Guide.
Subscribe now to make sure a copy is coming your way 📬.
Gear
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Summer Gear Roundup: Mountain Biking
Mountain biking is often considered a warm weather parallel to skiing. Many of our staff find the same flow they search for in the winter on singletrack in the summer. Check out some of of our favorite mountain biking gear.
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Summer Gear Roundup: Trail Running
When the warm weather takes over, trail running is a great way to spend summer days and train for the first flakes of snow. Check out our favorite trail running gear below.
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Après Shoes
While ski and snowboard boots are our bread and butter, we all have to get to the trailhead, ski hill or bar somehow. So this winter, our editors put non-buckled nor Boa-sporting boots and shoes to the test.
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Kuat Grip 6 Reviewed
Transporting skis and boards to the trailhead or resort and home again is a necessary, but not always straightforward part of the sport. Not every car comes with the space for skis, so the roof is a great sot to store them. After a full winter with Kuat’s Grip 6 on the roof of her…
MORE GEAR
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Gearbox: 2024 Electronics
When you’re logging long days, overnights or epic descents in the backcountry, these are the electronic gadgets worth adding to your pack.
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Gearbox: The Cozy Collection
Whether you’re preparing for a trip to Antarctica or just run cold, this collection of extra-insulated apparel is guaranteed to keep you warm.
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Gearbox: Litric Packs
Though less-expensive canister models still exist in airbag packs, lithium-ion rechargeable versions set the standard these days.
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Gearbox: 2024 Sunglasses
Keep your eyes protected and on the prize. From photochromic lenses to stylish frames, these are our favorite sunglasses for the job.
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.
Mountain Skills
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.