At exactly midnight on Friday night, some 200 two-person teams will line up in Crested Butte, Colo., with a singular purpose—skiing and skinning through the night to cover 40 miles and nearly 8,000 vertical feet to reach Aspen. But for a few of those teams, they’re racing for more than just the finish line.
Solitude Basecamp: Day 2 Dispatch
Sunday at the Backcountry Basecamp at Solitude Mountain Resort began much like the day before, with new snow and avalanche blasting. But the sky quickly cleared and temperatures warmed as the basecamp village came to life beside Solitude’s Last Chance Lodge. Free demos and avalanche education continued through the day, along with guided tours across Big Cottonwood Canyon and across Twin Lakes Reservoir. Here’s a gallery from the day as we kick off Day 3 at Solitude before packing it up and heading to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort next weekend.
Solitude Basecamp: Day 1 Dispatch
It’s often a good sign when you wake to the sounds of avalanche blasting. That’s how Day One at the Solitude Mountain Resort stop of the GORE-TEX Backcountry Basecamp began. Some eight inches of snow fell the night before, but in the backcountry, where John from Utah Mountain Adventures led free backcountry tours, the light-density […]
Vertical Limit: Can a kid from Mass. top Greg Hill’s two-million-foot record?
Early in the summer, Aaron Rice set two long-term goals. The first was to jump into the mountain-fed creek that meandered behind the house where he was living in Stowe, Vt. every single day for the duration of the season. While exhilarating, meeting that goal won’t be nearly as demanding, mentally or physically, as his second. Over the next year, beginning on December 1, Rice plans to climb and ski 2.5-million vertical feet, which would top the two-million-foot record set by Greg Hill in 2010. “You’ll never regret jumping in,” says Rice of the creek that’s a metaphor for his larger ambition. “But it’s never easy, either.”
Gear Preview: 2016 Outdoor Retailer Highlights (Part 2)
Each year, for a few days in January, outdoor retailers, brands and media take over Salt Lake City, Utah, for a maelstrom of new technology, flashy gear, buzzwords and big news. Wade through it all and there’s a lot to talk about for backcountry skiing and riding, from new boots and beacons, to noteworthy innovations in skis, shovels, screwdrivers (yes, screwdrivers) and more. Here are more highlights of next year’s gear from the trade-show floor in Salt Lake City.
Gear Preview: 2016 Outdoor Retailer Highlights (Part 1)
Each year, for a few days in January, outdoor retailers, brands and media take over Salt Lake City, Utah, for a maelstrom of new technology, flashy gear, buzzwords and big news. Wade through it all and there’s a lot to talk about for backcountry skiing and riding, from new boots and beacons, to noteworthy innovations in skis, shovels, screwdrivers (yes, screwdrivers) and more. Here are some highlights of next year’s gear from the trade-show floor in Salt Lake City.
Food Fight: Can What You Eat Earn You Another Lap Up The Skintrack?
As a committed cyclist who logs a few thousand miles annually, I can get way too focused on nutrition. Throughout the summer, my pantry is overflowing with energy gels, powders and protein bars to fuel and hydrate for—and recover from—big endurance efforts. Come winter, however, all that meticulous planning and those gel snacks get pushed aside—trail food is whatever is in the cabinet and recovery drinks are either hopped or malty. But which approach is better? And can I really earn another lap up the skintrack with energy gels and hydration mixes?
Mountain Skills: Nine Things I Learned At The Northwest Snow & Avalanche Workshop
Last Sunday, 600 people packed into a conference room at Seattle’s University of Washington for a full day of education and insight at the revamped Northwest Snow & Avalanche Workshop (NSAW). Organized and hosted this year by the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC), NSAW gathered 10 presenters, from guides and avalanche educators to paramedics and a behavioral psychologist, to discuss the latest in safety, science and decision making.
Safe Passions remembers Andreas Fransson, teaches skiers
A year after ski mountaineer Andreas Fransson died in a South American avalanche, Fransson’s sister, Sandra, is starting an organization in his memory. An artist, Sandra has designed and is selling a poster inspired by her brother, and the artwork is printed on a pair of Salomon MTN Lab skis, available for auction. It’s all to raise funds for a youth-focused educational initiative that will kick off with a safety course in Chamonix this January, taught by Andreas’s friend, Morgan Salén, and in partnership with Salomon and Recco.
BC Banter: Colorado Avalanche Information Center seeks forecasters, snow falls in Montana and New Zealand avalanche kills two
Colorado Avalanche Information Center Seeks Forecaster BOULDER, COLO. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) is hiring. Posted this week on avalanche.org, CAIC is seeking a permanent, part-time forecaster to work alongside their statewide team of weather and avalanche forecasters. Eligible applicants must have two years professional forecasting experience, web experience and a college degree in […]
