“Random question: What does 8s and 11s mean?”
I stare blankly, confused. “Your newsletter, you know?”
Ohh…. The same question had briefly surfaced when I took over the newsletter, but I forgot to give it much thought. And I certainly wasn’t going to ask anyone.
I’m sitting across from a regular Backcountry contributor in downtown Salt Lake City. He’s here on assignment for another magazine, and had shot me a text that he was in town for a day. The restaurant is busy, despite the late hour. A candle flickers on each table. A low thrum of quiet conversation courses through the open-air design. Date night vibes, other than the huge TVs at the bar. Unfortunately for my Seattleite friend, the Mariners are getting absolutely thrashed in the background.
My best reply is that I don’t know either. Hadn’t given it much thought. A half-truth, at least. We leave dinner with the question unresolved, forgotten again. How do I write a newsletter with a title I don’t understand? Seems like a pretty basic mistake.
Making lunch three days later, it hits me. As most profound (or just basic) thoughts do: out of the blue.
“The newsletter, 8s and 11s, they’re ski tracks,” I write in an email to him the following day.
—Liam
🔥 The Perseverance Issue HERE: Subscribe today »
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Stories |Tech Talk: Splitboards
It can be difficult to know exactly what you’re looking for in a board. Camber, rocker, core construction? We’ll break it all down.
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The Dark Art of Bootfitting
As you slip your feet into a brand-new liner, knowing how tight is tight enough and where you can get more room can seem mysterious. From our Gear Test Week bootfitter himself, these are the things to keep in mind when looking for a new boot.
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Tech Talk: Ski Construction
Cores composites, sidewalls and rocker profiles. Oh my! There’s a lot of technology that goes into our ski gear, not to mention a ton of insider lingo and technical jargon. So here’s some info on the key pieces of ski construction to use when selecting your next pair.
Gear
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2026 Editors’ Choice Splitboard Reviews
The best splitboards of 2026, from mountaineering-ready decks to slashable powder boards.
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2026 Editors’ Choice Splitboard Boot and Binding Reviews
Editors’ Choice splitboard boots and bindings for both hard- and soft-boot setups.
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2026 Editors’ Choice Ski Reviews
With the rate that ski gear is advancing, it can be hard to keep track of the latest space-age fiber blends and non-traditional rocker profiles. That’s where this Gear Guide comes in. Our editors spent their summer studying the newest features and technologies found in skis, boots and bindings. Then, they spent just as much…
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2026 Editors’ Choice Binding Reviews
Comprehensive reviews of the best backcountry ski bindings of 2025.
MORE GEAR
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2026 Editors’ Choice Ski Boot Reviews
Comprehensive reviews of the best backcountry ski boots for the winter of 2025/26.
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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.
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Gearbox: 2025 Packs
The best ski touring packs of 2025, reviewed.
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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.
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 Perseverance Issue
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Mountain Skills
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Mountain Skills: Planning a trip to an offbeat location requires more than Google
Chamonix. Hokkaido. Portillo. Certain locations are synonymous with international ski travel, meaning resources for trip planning are as plentiful as some places can be crowded. But what about planning a trip to Kosciusko, Aoraki, Vielha or some other little-spoken-of locale with limited beta, few available maps or no guidebooks? Where do you start?
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: 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.
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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.
