“You can study snow all you want, but if you want to understand it, you’ve got to be out there in the mountains,” says Kevin Fogolin, an avalanche consultant who works with hydroelectric companies and other utilities to forecast, monitor and control for avalanches. In March 2009, the helicopter in which Fogolin was flying was taken down by an avalanche, and his harrowing story is captured in Mike Douglas’s new documentary SNOWMAN. Here’s an excerpt from the film, equal parts footage of pow skiing and immensely terrifying avalanches.
Photo of the Day: Cloud Nine
Not a cloud in the sky…except the one around Sam Cohen. Mt. Baker bc, Washington | Photo: Grant Gunderson grantgunderson.com
Biff America: On Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a favored holiday in ski country. It marked the beginning of the ski season, the time of year around which our entire existence revolves. And there’s so much to be thankful for.
Cover Story: The Icons
I like this image because it’s completely unique from the typical photo shown on the cover of ski magazines. One look, and you can see the intensity, feel the frigid air and really get an intimate look at a true backcountry skier. This image is like no other cover I can remember, which makes it my favorite. I like something totally unexpected and uncommon, and it keeps me engaged and thinking.
Photo Gallery: Vermont’s Lake Effect
While far western New York is getting all the headlines for mega-deep snow—nine feet in the last week—it’s falling farther east, too (where there’s a bit more elevation). Several lake-effect bursts off Vermont’s Lake Champlain have steadily built a base over high elevations in the Green Mountains, and, since most resorts won’t open until this weekend or the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s open season for inbounds skinning. Here’s a gallery of early-season and early-morning earned shots from Stowe, which opened last weekend.
Cover Story: Heart of Darkness
The February 2010 issue of Backcountry Magazine is my all time favorite. Biased maybe, but it was such an epic day of shooting. We had hiked up to the Heart of Darkness couloir expecting to be in the shade the whole day. We were a little behind on time, but that worked out for us because the couloir is only 12-feet wide and only gets a sliver of light in it each day. We lucked out with light. But not only that, the colors of the rock, sky and his outfit just made the image pop.
Cover Story: The Pinnacle
To me this photo represents the pinnacle of backcountry skiing: climbing to the top of a mountain or couloir and skiing down in deep powder with aesthetic mountains in the background. It showcases a photographer and athlete unknown outside of their local community, climbing and skiing powder under their own power, sans hoopla, which makes it more inviting and attainable to readers. Therefore, to me, it depicts the essence and integrity of what inspires Backcountry Magazine and Couloir and the sport of backcountry skiing in general.
Cover Story: The Contemporary Age
This was the first issue that we finally branched out from our stagnant orange or red banner. Just look at it in the library, and you finally see green among the black spines. And the sell line ‘Catching A Ride’ in a font that became part of our style brought us into the contemporary age of design and in the snow industry. And yes, it sold really well.
Cover Story: Glacier Bay, AK
Of the covers I shot, I probably like the one of ‘Grom’ from Haines the best. The shot was taken near or in Glacier Bay National Park on a plane-drop trip that took off out of Haines in May 2000. It certainly wasn’t the earliest plane-drop ski trips, but there were few people doing it compared to nowadays. Dave Richards sent the fall line on a good pitch, and the rimed background screamed coastal AK.
Cover Story: Big Air
I was looking over covers I worked on more than a decade ago, and the 2004 Photo Annual caught my eye. Not sure if it’s because of the photo of the guy catching air or typography—I think it’s the mix of both. Also, at the time, Backcountry didn’t have a ton of air shots and, if I remember right, using this photo added some tension between art and editorial departments (not that there ever was tension…).
