Arc’teryx Forays into Hardgoods with AT Boot

Vancouver, B.C. Four years ago, Federico Sbrissa, Arc’teryx’s Product Line Manager, began designing a boot for the outdoor expert, a “technical, summit-focused winter alpinist.” Now Sbrissa, who has previously worked for Salomon and Dynafit—he was instrumental in creating the Dynafit Dy.N.A and TLT5 boots —and Arc’teryx announce the fruits of their labor. The Procline Boot debuted at […]

Cover Story: The Icons

I like this image because it’s completely unique from the typical photo shown on the cover of ski magazines. One look, and you can see the intensity, feel the frigid air and really get an intimate look at a true backcountry skier. This image is like no other cover I can remember, which makes it my favorite. I like something totally unexpected and uncommon, and it keeps me engaged and thinking.

Cover Story: Heart of Darkness

The February 2010 issue of Backcountry Magazine is my all time favorite. Biased maybe, but it was such an epic day of shooting. We had hiked up to the Heart of Darkness couloir expecting to be in the shade the whole day. We were a little behind on time, but that worked out for us because the couloir is only 12-feet wide and only gets a sliver of light in it each day. We lucked out with light. But not only that, the colors of the rock, sky and his outfit just made the image pop.

Cover Story: The Pinnacle

To me this photo represents the pinnacle of backcountry skiing: climbing to the top of a mountain or couloir and skiing down in deep powder with aesthetic mountains in the background. It showcases a photographer and athlete unknown outside of their local community, climbing and skiing powder under their own power, sans hoopla, which makes it more inviting and attainable to readers. Therefore, to me, it depicts the essence and integrity of what inspires Backcountry Magazine and Couloir and the sport of backcountry skiing in general.

Cover Story: The Contemporary Age

This was the first issue that we finally branched out from our stagnant orange or red banner. Just look at it in the library, and you finally see green among the black spines. And the sell line ‘Catching A Ride’ in a font that became part of our style brought us into the contemporary age of design and in the snow industry. And yes, it sold really well.

Cover Story: Glacier Bay, AK

Of the covers I shot, I probably like the one of ‘Grom’ from Haines the best. The shot was taken near or in Glacier Bay National Park on a plane-drop trip that took off out of Haines in May 2000. It certainly wasn’t the earliest plane-drop ski trips, but there were few people doing it compared to nowadays. Dave Richards sent the fall line on a good pitch, and the rimed background screamed coastal AK.

Cover Story: Big Air

I was looking over covers I worked on more than a decade ago, and the 2004 Photo Annual caught my eye. Not sure if it’s because of the photo of the guy catching air or typography—I think it’s the mix of both. Also, at the time, Backcountry didn’t have a ton of air shots and, if I remember right, using this photo added some tension between art and editorial departments (not that there ever was tension…).

Cover Story: Remembering Carl Skoog

From 1994 through 2003, my brother Carl had nine cover photos in Backcountry Magazine, more than anyone else, ever. Each of those shots displayed Carl’s knack of placing a skier in a setting that made you want to be there. My favorite is the photo of Brian Sato on Mt. Baker in Issue 24. It’s a picture that—in the Lower 48—could only have been taken in Carl’s beloved Cascades.

Cover Story: Eastern Pow

The cover that means the most to me is not from while I was Photo Editor but from when I was a freelance photographer. I was on my first assignment ever with Backcountry Senior Editor John Dostal. Matt Mancini “Johnny Bravo” is the cover boy. We were doing a story for Skiing Magazine about the slides on Whiteface, and the snow looks better than it was in this photo—good thing there was no audio because it was loud.

Cover Story: Trevor Petersen

With just a few minutes digging in the basement, I unearthed a box of old BC Mags. I laid out the covers with the old design on my dining room table and was surprised to see that I was only missing three. They brought back lots of old, good memories (Backcountry started just a couple years after I started backcountry skiing, and my first article was in Issue 8). Some of the shots are funny, some just bad. Some have that super-staged look, where all I can think is, “What the hell were the shooter and skier and editor thinking?”

css.php