Contributor Dave Dornian saw it coming back in 2001—the bike-helmet-wearing, spandex-clad, skinny-ski toting explosion. Citing races like the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse and European events sanctioned by the International Council for Ski Mountaineering Competition (ISMC), Dorian predicted a boom in ski-mountaineering racing. “The ISMC’s current five-year plan calls for an increasing number of continental and intercontinental races,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, in the North American backcountry, the though of organized competitions is about as foreign as raclette or glügwein.”
Video: Northern Iceland, The Water’s Very Edge
Shot on the snow-plastered, seaside steeps of Northern Iceland, this season’s first episode of Salomon Freeski TV is dedicated to Andreas Fransson and JP Auclair, who died last week in an avalanche on the Chilean-Argentine border. “Iceland is famous for its stories, mythical legends of land and people,” the narrator says, “even stories of heroic skiers.”
Land of the Rising Skintrack
Editor Tyler Cohen takes a look inside Japan’s ascent to backcountry-skiing prominence.
Remembering Liz, Andreas & JP, Pretty Faces World Premiere, Backcountry’s 100th Issue
Remembering Liz, Andreas & JP, ‘Pretty Faces’ world premiere kicks of in Boulder, Colo. and Backcountry ships the 100th Issue.
Mind Over Mountain: Andreas Fransson’s Story
Andreas Fransson defined modern extreme skiing with fearless firsts and repeat descents that ranked among those of steep-skiing pioneers who, before him, delimited what was doable on skis. He shattered those limits. Editor Tyler Cohen spent a few days in 2013 skiing in Chamonix, France to ski in the shadow of a legend who died Monday, September 29.
Splitboarder Liz Daley Killed In Argentine Avalanche
According to the Argentine news outlet OPI Santa Cruz, splitboarder and AMGA guide Liz Daley, of Tacoma, Wash., was killed in an avalanche on Monday near El Chantél, Argentina. Daley, and her party of five, were reportedly descending Cerro Vespignani (2,146 meters) when the avalanche struck, carrying her 200 meters.
Andreas Fransson & JP Auclair Confirmed Dead in South American Avalanche
According to a news report published by Chilean news outlet Publicmetro.cl, extreme skiers Andreas Fransson and JP Auclair have reportedly died in an avalanche that occurred late Monday on Monte San Lorenzo on the Chilean-Argentinean border. Fransson and Auclair traveled last week to southern Chile with filmmaker Bjarne Salén and photographer Daniel Rönnbäck. The group planned to spend two weeks in the Patagonia region to film and shoot a collaborative webisode project.
Avalanche on Shishapangma, Nepal Kills Two
According to a press release, Sebastian Haag and Andrea Zambaldi died yesterday in an avalanche on Nepal’s Shishapangma (8,013 meters). The two, who were ascending with Benedikt Böhm, Martin Maier and Ueli Steck, were within 100 meters of the summit when the avalanche struck. Maier was caught but survived the slide, which reportedly ran 600 vertical […]
The Smartprobe: AvaTech Launches SP1 and AvaNet
“Saving lives starts with understanding the snow under our feet and avoiding avalanches before they happen,” says Brint Markle, co-founder and CEO of AvaTech, a new company focused on developing proactive avalanche safety technology. Their new probe, the SP1, launches today alongside AvaNet, a cloud platform for sharing avalanche data.
Dynafit Announces Beast 16 DIN ISO Certification
On the heels of Marker’s Kingpin tech binding launch, Dynafit is announcing the TÜV certification of their Beast 16 binding. Both products now meet DIN ISO 13992:2007, the TÜV certification standard for safety release in alpine touring bindings. And while the Kingpin and Beast are the only tech bindings with this certification, the Beast is the sole DIN-certified tech binding currently available.
