Ever seen such pure, unadulterated excitement? Little Aven here is a five-week-old aspiring backcountry skier, and she’s pretty fired up about the 2014 Gear Guide. What do you think of the issue? Love it? Hate it? Jonesing for winter? We want to hear from you!
Powderwhore Productions presents Elevation: A Backcountry Ski Film
“Spread the gospel of snowy mountain love,” read the e-mail from Powderwhore Productions co-pilot Noah Howell. For nine years, they’ve been doing so, with their telemark and, now, backcountry ski flicks. Here’s the trailer and background info on their latest installment, Elevation, in their own words….
Testers’ Choice: Atomic Automatic
Henry Yu | 5’10”, 170 lbs. Breckenridge, CO Henry, a second-year tester, spent 10 years patrolling at Breckenridge. But last winter, he had a rude awakening, moving to Chicago for med school, and only skied 15 days. Now, instead of skiing, he’s training for the hotdog-eating world record. His pick of the test? The […]
Photo Gallery: Gear Test Week 2014
Five days, 40 testers, 7,000 skiable acres, 400-plus new skis, boots and bindings, a few feet of snow, 60 cases of beer. Those are the ingredients for the Backcountry Magazine Gear Test Week. And when you mix it all together, you get one wild week and the industry’s best Gear Guide. Here’s a quick look at how it all unfolded.
Testers’ Choice: Scott Cruis’Air
Crista Seier has been telemarking for nine years, but recently invested in her first AT setup. Still, she says she loves dropping knees in “perfect powder on wide-open slopes.” She’s been testing with
Testers’ Choice: Voilé V8
Bill was a freestyler in the ’80s, a racer in high school, a telemarker sometime after that and has been a ski tester for the last three years. He likes touring, but prefers to ski with friends—unless it’s a powder day. His pick of the test? The Voilé V8.
Cover Story: “The Spot”
Photographer Tobias MacPhee waited all season to capture this scene in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. And when a three-day storm finally lifted, everything collided for the perfect image. Here’s Tobias’s backstory on our September 2014 cover.
2014 Editors’ Choice Awards – Snowboards
We’ve entered the Golden Age of Splitboards. What’s that mean? Splitboards are as innovative as ever, with brands introducing more than 60 boards this season. But game-changing technology has gone beyond the decks. This year, we tested a completely new binding system from K2 and the most impressive binding to date from Spark R&D. Here’s […]
2014 Editors’ Choice Awards – The best AT and Telemark Ski Boots
Here’s just a teaser of this year’s best AT and telemark ski boots.
Lance’s Lab: Research Opportunities
Each month, Backcountry technical editor Lance Riek investigates a conundrum of backcountry gear, snow science or molecular murkiness in his column “Lance’s Lab.” And he wants to help you out. Drop a line, comment below, and let our resident brainiac know your backcountry questions.
