Barn Bash is Back!
This fall has been my first away from Vermont. After 25 years of seasonal transitions marked by the cue of colorful trees, an evergreen fall feels more like a colder extension of summer than a turn toward winter, even if the first snow fell last weekend.
If you’re in Vermont, you know stick season comes next, which I can’t say I’ll miss. But, with the barren trees also comes the collective itch for ski season. And that’s the perfect time to gather and share the stoke for what’s around the corner: winter. Every fall, Backcountry does just that at our annual Barn Bash.
Though I’m sad not to be in town for the kickoff party this year, I promise it’s a hoot. There’s great food courtesy of The Spicy Spoke, local beer, live music, ski movies and a HUGE raffle (much of the gear included earned an Editors’ Choice award in our 2026 Gear Guide!). And perhaps best of all, all proceeds go to helping kids get out on the slopes.
The event takes place at the Cambridge, VT, Community Center on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. More information and tickets can be found here. The Backcountry crew hopes to see you there!
I’ll be celebrating in spirit :).
-Greta
🔥 The 2026 Gear Guide is HERE: Subscribe today »
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Stories |Backcountry Skiing Basics: Clothing and Packs
In the fourth of six columns Brett St. Claire explores how to dress and what pack to use when.
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Not-So Duty Free
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Rod Newcomb: A Pioneer’s Legacy Lives On
On October 9, 2025, pioneering mountaineer, skier and avalanche educator Rob Newcomb died of natural causes at age 91. Amongst a storied career, his most enduring contribution was democratizing avalanche education for an entire generation of backcountry enthusiasts.
Gear
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Summer Gear Roundup: Backpacking
Dialing in your setup is essential to any backcountry mission. While most of this gear tested by our staff is designed for warmer seasons, plenty of it can, and will, double as essentials on winter hut trips, spring traverses and other cold-weather adventures.
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Gearbox: 2025 Packs
The best ski touring packs of 2025, reviewed.
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Gearbox: 2025 Ultralight Packs
In a year where ultralight packs exploded in popularity, we’ve reviewed some of the best option for your long distance, lightweight tours.
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Gearbox: 2025 Sunglasses
Whether summer or winter, sunglasses are essential for backcountry sports. Here’s a few of the best shades from this year, reviewed.
MORE GEAR
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Gearbox: 2025 Camera Gear
With these packs, storage options and drones, capturing your adventures in the mountains has never been easier.
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The Scarpa TX Pro: Reviewed
The debut of the new Scarpa TX Pro, our 2025 Editors’ Choice telemark boot, marks an exciting, and long awaited, development in telemark gear.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Ski Reviews
From powder skis to quiver-killers to skimo options, check out this year’s Editors’ Choice backcountry skis reviews.
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2025 Editors’ Choice Apparel Reviews
Our 2025 Editors’ Choice apparel includes an assortment of layers, from hard- and soft-shells to puffies to baselayers.
The Backcountry Podcast
From legendary athletes to iconic product designers, activists to guides, our world is filled with new views, wisdom, determination and crustiness.
Latest Podcast Episodes
From playing NCAA soccer to a successful modeling and acting career to being the top polar explorer of his time, Doug Stoup is an enigma. Host Adam Howard recently journeyed to Antarctica with Stoup and their conversation ranges from Doug’s personal training of A-list Hollywood actors to near death experiences; adventures with Doug Coombs; and taking novice skiers to the South Pole.
Tele Mike Russell: Turns for All
Tele Mike Russell grew up as a sharecropper’s son in Delaware before attending college and becoming an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Then he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center and decided he’d better follow another path, this one to skiing in Colorado, where he’d go on to find a family in the National Brotherhood of Skiers and help found its backcountry program.
Eric Blehm’s roots in snowboarding run deep. He started riding during the sport’s infancy, and after college became an editor at Transworld SNOWboarding Magazine. Years later, he was in a lift line when a fellow rider saw the “Craig Kelly is my Co-Pilot” sticker on his board, and asked Blehm: “Who is Craig Kelly?” He was floored by the notion that there were snowboarders out there who didn’t know who Craig was. And this inspired him to write The Darkest White.
The Perseverance Issue
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Mountain Skills
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Mountain Skills: Planning a trip to an offbeat location requires more than Google
Chamonix. Hokkaido. Portillo. Certain locations are synonymous with international ski travel, meaning resources for trip planning are as plentiful as some places can be crowded. But what about planning a trip to Kosciusko, Aoraki, Vielha or some other little-spoken-of locale with limited beta, few available maps or no guidebooks? Where do you start?
Resort Skinning Policies
We’ve compiled a database of U.S. resorts with a little about each individual policy—where and when skinning is allowed, whether or not it’s free during operating hours and the link directly to the resort’s guidelines.
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Mountain Skills: Set a Plan and Stick to It
Sticking to your plan is easier said than done. But, it’s one of the best ways to stay safe in the backcountry.
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Mountain Skills: Professional vs. Recreational Avalanche Training…what’s in it for me?
This winter, avalanche education in the U.S. will be evolving. The old system of Level 1, 2, 3 will be replaced with two options: a recreational track and one geared toward professionals. The goal of the split is to deliver better, more focused courses to each user group. So how do you know which one’s…
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Mountain Skills: Hydrate or Die
We lose fluids through perspiration (sweating) and respiration (breathing). While ski touring, high elevation and drier air make this even more dramatic. And during the spring, warm weather further exaggerates the amount of fluid lost. Dehydration leads to a drop of performance—in stages from slowing down to bonking to needing medical attention.
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Mountain Skills: Anticipating Point Release Avalanches
As the spring approaches, many of us turn our attention to steeper, more technical lines higher in the mountains. The layers of snow that formed throughout the winter begin to gain strength and the avalanche problem is less complicated—it’s ski mountaineering season! But as the temperatures climb, wet avalanches become a more regular, primary concern.
