Mike Hamilton, a guide with Valdez Heli-Ski Guides, died after being caught in an avalanche Monday and being swept down a steep face and over a cliff.
Mountain Skills: Knowing When To Turn Around
As spring approaches, the days get warmer and the snow on the ground changes; the daily cycle of snow warming and freezing heals many of the deep instabilities that persisted throughout the winter; typical instabilities become easier to predict. And while wet avalanches—either slab or loose—are easier to predict and run more slowly, they can still pack a punch. Therefore, getting off a slope before it becomes dangerous is important.
Please, Stand By: How an Airline Customer Service Rep Splitboards Around the World
Want to travel the world and go skiing? You could become a pro skier or rider, or you could take an airline industry job and fly standby to all the destinations you can think of.
Delayed Gratification: The Hard-Fought Ascent of Nick Russell
According to writer Drew Zieff, Nick Russell might be the world’s first professional splitboard athlete—not a pro snowboarder who adopted the split, but one who earned significant sponsorships solely from human-powered exploits.
Semantics aside, Russell is intimate with the concept of delayed gratification both on and off the hill, having climbed the proverbial mountain of his pro career like he does literal ones—step by hard-earned step.
Gearbox: Five GPS Watches to Track Your Adventures
Whether you want a GPS watch to track your turns, monitor your heart rate or give you a heads up when the barometric pressure drops too quickly, you have lots of options these days. We’ve come a long way from the digital Casio being your companion on a tour, and our editors have compiled a list of their favorites to help find the watch that’s right for you.
My Dog is the Worst Ski Partner
Following Michael Ferrara’s nonscientific study into people’s opinions on dogs in the backcountry, Tyler Cohen offers his rationale for why his border collie might not be the best ski partner. Cohen says Niva would be the most annoying of all skier types, the bro who won’t stop spewing stoke.
Do Dogs Belong in the Backcountry?
Longtime ski patroller and dog handler Michael Ferrara believes dogs can go backcountry skiing in certain situations. He was surprised to discover that not everyone agrees.
Highlights from the 2023 Gear Test Week
The skis, splitboards and testers have all gone home, but we still have lots of work to do. With another Gear Test Week in the books, we’re taking a couple of hard-earned days off before jumping into the massive endeavor of turning hundreds of review forms into our annual Gear Guide. We have a lot of info to parse—after we sneak in a little remote testing in our home range, that is.
Out of the Office: The 2023 Backcountry Gear Test Week
Hello, and thank you for coming to our website! Our editors and staff are currently very busy corralling 60 testers, 154 pairs of skis, 50 splitboards and more around Powder Mountain, Utah. Needless to say, we probably won’t have time to share any news on our website this week. Interested in learning about how our Gear Test Week runs or hearing about the latest trends in backcountry equipment? Head to our Instagram account, where we’ll share daily insight into next year’s gear and more.
Skier Dies in Slide Near Colorado’s Buffalo Pass
Steamboat, Colorado, resident Andrew Hyde died after being caught in an avalanche in Routt County.
