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Five years and a whole head of hair ago, Backcountry intern Ethan Daly eyes up the skintrack. Logan Sands

Oh, How Far We’ve Come

My first time backcountry skiing was a college outing club trip to New Hampshire’s scrappy Mount Cardigan. The primary goal: use the alpine touring gear burning a hole in the club’s gear closet. Secondary goal: ski. We didn’t know the conditions, we didn’t have any knowledge of hazards, and we didn’t know how to use the gear. The trip ran on hormones, Cumberland Farms coffee and stoke.

Not wanting to feel like a gumby when the trip leader asked if I needed poles, I said, “no, I have my own,” accepting the risk that my non-adjustable, $20 Swix poles would make the day marginally worse.

We booted up, figured out how to click our toe inserts into the skis and started skinning. Shouts of “We’re really doing it!” and “These skis are so light!” and “I feel like a ski mountaineer!” rose from the group.

We pulled the plug 1.5 miles in. A few of us were sodden with sweat, the upper mountain looked icy and every single person had blisters. We clicked our heels in, looked down the tunnel-like trail we’d skinned up and felt every limb in our bodies tense. “We have to ski that?” I pushed off first and gained confidence with some quick turns. “It’s just like resort skiing!” I called back.

Right then, the new-to-me flimsy touring ski bucked. Hard. I’m talking thrown up off a bump, headed straight off-trail into thick woods. Luckily, my ski caught on bramble and yanked me down into the snow before I decked a tree. I fell but without injury. The one casualty? My pole was bent like I raced Super-G.

This past weekend, I bought adjustable poles for the first time. Now an intern with Backcountry, I guess it was about time.

-Ethan Daly

Get THE 3oth ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

Back in 1994, David and Betsy Harrower were exploring the backcountry on long, narrow, tele skis and having a grand old time. The only problem? “I realized there was no magazine to gain information about what had become the most fun part of my life,” writes David in his Editor’s Note in Issue 161. And so, as the story goes, David and Betsy, along with Brian Litz, started Backcountry.

In the following 30 years, the publication and the sport have both grown and evolved. Today, alpine touring setups reign, film cameras have been replaced by their digital brethren and many editors and photographers have come and gone on our hallowed masthead. In Issue 161, The 30th Anniversary Issue, we highlight three decades of people who’ve made this publication what it is, both in editorial and art, and the backcountry skiing community that’s developed alongside us. 

In the next 132 pages coming your way, we look to the past and the present. We remember late telemark big mountain skier Kasha Rigby; dive into the heli-skiing pioneers who drove the development of avalanche safety; and recognize Paul Parker’s lifetime of contributions to the sport. And we report on efforts to make avalanche education more accessible; the apps offering better tour planning; and the Italian splitboarder dedicated to uniting his backcountry community. 

As headlines fly, take a moment to recall all the things our favorite sport—and the publication dedicated to it—has been and continues to be. Then take a victory lap at your favorite zone on us.

To 30 more!

The Backcountry Team

Subscribe now to make sure a copy is coming your way 📬.


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