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Michael Gardner reflected on death and life in the mountains in his piece “Worth the Weight?” in Alpinist 77.

Remembering Michael Gardner

In January 2022, I was leaving Grand Teton National Park’s Bradley Taggert parking lot when I spotted Michael Gardner hitchhiking at the corner of the road. It’s not a common place to hitch, and I hadn’t caught up with Mike for a while. Intrigued, I offered him a ride.

“We left our car in the Death Canyon lot this morning and traversed over here,” Mike explained after climbing into my backseat. The traverse was a linkup of several peaks and canyons, most of which the average backcountry skier won’t even look at in their lifetimes. For Mike, it was an average Sunday spent training for Alaska or the Himalaya.

The thing was, Mike was more interested in what I’d done that day. Every time I asked about his epic, he’d tell me he’d been moving since 3 a.m. and the snow above 10,000 feet was windswept and horrible. Then, he asked my ski partner and me about conditions on Maverick, a commonly skied subpeak known for its low-angle glades and protected powder stashes. He wanted to know how things were going at the magazine. We shared some story ideas, he said he had a few projects he was planning to send to our sister publication, Alpinist, but wanted to pitch to Backcountry next time.

My greatest regret as an editor will likely be that I never worked on a story with Mike. He died while climbing Nepal’s 24,501-foot Jannu East with his longtime friend and climbing partner Sam Hennessey this week.

Mike will be remembered for his laundry list of skiing and mountaineering feats: first descents and ascents, speed records, link ups that challenge what’s humanly possible. But Mike didn’t want to be defined by his mountain pursuits. Instead, he fought to form a different identity. He loved to skateboard. I would often see him at the local Driggs skate park when I was walking my dog. He also took part in our annual Teton Valley Skijoring event. While most skiers would get towed behind a horse once, maybe twice, before deciding it was enough, Mike would lap the course all day in his old purple windbreaker before swapping to be the one on the horse.

Most of all, he was just as stoked to hear about the most average day out climbing or skiing as he was to hear about your first descent or speed record. He didn’t care for spray culture, boasting about doing things the biggest or the best or the fastest. Afterall, he’d probably quietly done something bigger, better or faster. Instead of the achievement, it was the experience, the simple joy of finding a perfect hand crack or hidden powder stash. It’s what made him a great alpinist, a great guide and a great person.

After learning of his passing, I went back to Alpinist 77, in which Mike wrote about his father’s death on the Grand Teton in 2008 and the complicated feelings that came with a life in the mountains. It can now be read on Alpinist.com along with Editor-in-Chief Derek Franz’s eulogy. —Betsy Manero

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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. 

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Gear


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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.

  • Summer Gear Roundup: Mountain Biking

    Summer Gear Roundup: Mountain Biking

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  • Summer Gear Roundup: Trail Running

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  • Après Shoes

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MORE GEAR

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    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…

  • Gearbox: 2024 Electronics

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  • Gearbox: The Cozy Collection

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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.

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.

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: 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.

  • Mountain Skills: Take the time to be prepared for early season turns

    Mountain Skills: Take the time to be prepared for early season turns

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  • Mountain Skills: How to Prepare for Your Level 1 Avalanche Course

    Mountain Skills: How to Prepare for Your Level 1 Avalanche Course

    Beacon. Shovel. Probe. For years, these have been the standard required tools for heading into the backcountry. But what good are they without the proper training in how to recognize hazards and use them effectively? That’s where a 24-hour Level 1 avalanche certificate course comes into play.

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