It’s no secret that ski touring is physically demanding. More fitness equals more fun—both breaking trail uphill and cranking powder down. Because the best ski tours last for at least a few hours, your body needs to adjust to that duration of exercise—sub-one-hour workouts don’t induce the needed adaptation. Trail running provides one of the […]
Bridging the Gap: A Conversation with Ascent Mentorship founder Emily Wright
When Emily Wright moved to Revelstoke, B.C. from Whistler, she faced a problem that a lot of women have run into over the years: finding other women to ski with in the backcountry. To solve this problem, Wright decided to start Ascent Mentorship in hopes of connecting women looking to get into the backcountry. —Betsy […]
Accessing Accountability: Defending the National Environmental Protection Act
When Taylor Luneau was living in Jackson, Wyoming, and skiing in the Tetons every day, he says he frequently benefited from the opportunity to access land that was protected. “I would say that my level of advocacy was pretty minimal. I generally just benefited from organizations that were out there. I was just some ski […]
A Certain Uncertainty
Covid-19, masks and politics, oh my! What a wake up call—finally, the rest of the world gets a taste of what it’s like to deal with avalanches. Here, I present you with a learning opportunity, so to speak. Perhaps experienced backcountry skiers and avalanche workers are better qualified than most to deal with the current […]
Gearbox: The Finer Points of La Sportiva’s Skorpius CR
There’s an old K2 Telemark poster of a skier doing an inverted grab with the tagline: “Take something hard, make it harder, then make it look easy.” Surely that poster wasn’t on the minds of La Sportiva’s designers when developing the new Skorpius CR. But the boot pulls off complex engineering with such simple and […]
Backcountry Access Updates Software for Tracker 2 Transceiver
On June 29, Backcountry Access (BCA) announced a software update for their popular Tracker 2 transceiver. Prior to the update, the Tracker2 switched to power-saving mode after 12 hours without user input; this update is designed to improve that power-saving mode functionality. BCA achieves this in two ways: Firstly, they increase the pulse-width length, or […]
A Grand Design: Bill Briggs reflects on his groundbreaking ski descent
When Bill Briggs, now 87, first visited Jackson, Wyo. in 1952, year-round ski jobs in the Teton-based outpost were nonexistent. Lifts had not yet been installed on the slopes of Rendezvous Mountain, the future site of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, and Snow King Mountain boasted a single chairlift. But Briggs had a fire burning in […]
Height of Land Publications Equity and Inclusivity Statement
Like so many among us, we at Height of Land Publications—the parent company of Alpinist, Backcountry, Cross Country Skier and Mountain Flyer—are grieving the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black people whose lives have been lost because of racist violence. We stand with those protesting for civil rights and systemic […]
As Public Lands Reopen, What Does SAR Want You to Know?
“Do you have any painkillers?” A strained voice called out across the Coleman Glacier, one of the most direct routes up Washington’s volcanic Mt. Baker in the North Cascades, as my party of three skinned under the weight of overnight packs and the withering late afternoon sun of an unseasonably warm May weekend. As we […]
Inside New Hampshire’s Craft Glading Movement
A long time ago I learned that not every day is your best day when backcountry skiing. That couldn’t be truer than on Mt. Washington, the jewel of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, which is infamously home to some of the world’s worst weather. It also is home to some of the best high-alpine skiing on the East Coast and the reason I chose to move to North Conway in 2014.
