Climbers and backcountry skiers have short memories. We possess an uncanny ability to jettison the grimmest mental details of unexpectedly demanding alpine epics—the crushing loads, the numbing cold and needling winter winds—in favor of the glowing pleasantries.
25th Anniversary Editor’s Note: Long Train Running
We started out as competitors, Backcountry and me. My crazy newsletter, le Chronicle du Couloir, became a magazine in 1993. During the transformation to national distribution I considered renaming it Backcountry, but Bela Vadasz convinced me to stick with Couloir.
25th Anniversary Editor’s Note: Tripping Forward
Twenty-five years? Backcountry? You’re kidding. No? That’s 175 dog years—a long stretch, regardless of your species. And yeah, it’s cliché, but what a long, strange trip it’s been.
25th Anniversary Editor’s Note: Townie Talk
“We don’t live in a ski town,” my friend said one night a couple of weeks ago as we sat on the deck of the Brewster River Pub and Brewery, dubbed the Brewski by locals. We were only a quarter of a mile from Smugglers’ Notch Resort, but it was off-season and still warm enough to sit outside. My response echoed off the unoccupied metal chairs: “What are you talking about?”
Jeff Engerbretson passes down his exploration ethos
For Amie and Jeff Engerbretson, the search for powder is a family affair. Amie, 31, who was raised in Lake Tahoe, Calif. by her professional-skiing father, Jeff, 54, grew up thinking that it was normal to make a career out of winter sports. In the winter of 1986/87, Jeff began his pro-skiing career and in 1986 starred in a travel TV show Inside Skiing that took him around the world.
Jim Harris: the optimistic adventurer
Freeskier and photographer Kalen Thorien loves the open road—she even has the word “wanderer” inscribed in ink on her fingers as a testament to her travel inclinations.
With the new Recon skis, Black Diamond doubles down on their Helio Line
Black Diamond released their carbon Helio skis in 2016 and, since then, the award-winning line has undergone changes to become lighter and stronger.
How Tahoe-based snowboarder Ming Poon swapped business for photography
Photographer Ming Poon, 36, has curated his life around a love for the mountains. After developing an interest in snowboarding at a young age while growing up in Vermont, Poon moved to California to attend Sierra Nevada College, where he scheduled classes and work to maximize time spent learning other skills, like snow science, safe mountain travel and how to ride in front of the camera.
How a spring day on Mt. Washington proves sometimes danger comes from above, not below
Conway, New Hampshire-based avalanche instructor David Lottmann, 41, is no stranger to the changeable nature of weather and snow conditions on his region’s tallest peak. Mt. Washington (6,288 ft.) is home to some of the highest windspeeds ever recorded on Earth, and in winter that can create serious windslab avalanche danger.
The Woolsey Way
We decided to complete a weekend mission including descents of the Grand Teton and Mt. Moran, despite hearing only warnings of how difficult the peaks were to access and climb.
