Megan Michelson left her home in Tahoe City, California, last summer as the Dixie fire made air quality worse than that of Beijing on a bad day. While she was gone, the Caldor fire swept in from the south, displacing tens of thousands of people. After one of the worst fire seasons on record in the western U.S.—and one that hit particularly close to home—Michelson explored what it means for our climate, our winters, our snowpack and our skiing.
Till Death Do Us Part: Hadley Hammer’s Journey of Love and Loss in the Mountains
It took 178 days for pro skier Hadley Hammer to fall madly in love with Austrian alpinist David Lama. It took one day to lose it all. The mountains brought them together, ripped them apart and carried her back from the gutter of grief.
The Snow Hunters: Pandemic Disruption, History and Powder Skiing in China’s Altai Mountains
It was snowing heavily when a group of North American skiers and riders arrived in the secluded village of Khom, China, tucked in the Altai Mountains, this past January. “To go on a ski trip to one of the most remote places you can get to and have it snow the whole time? It seemed like a perfect scenario,” says British Columbia-based filmmaker Chris Winters. Too bad a global pandemic upended their plans, as Megan Michelson shows in this story from Issue 135.
Amid Closures, Select Ski Resorts Continue to Allow Uphill Skiing
Over the last week, ski resorts closed en masse due to concerns and restrictions related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). A few, however, will still let you skin uphill. But remember: It’s a go-at-your-own-risk affair, with no rescue services available and no avalanche mitigation at closed resorts. When ski resorts across the country announced mass […]
A Goal of Zero: The Avalanche Industry Looks To Change
Turning to a Swedish law that’s reduced automobile fatalities, the avalanche industry looks to change backcountry safety.
