In another wave of accidents following multiple slide-related skier deaths in the Western U.S. earlier this month, two avalanches—one in Salt Lake City, Utah’s Electric Lake region on January 18 and another in Aspen, Colo.’s Castle Creek Valley region on January 21—have claimed the lives of two people.
Two skiers die after inbounds avalanche in Taos, New Mexico
An avalanche at Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico on Thursday, January 20 took the lives of two skiers. The accident occurred inbounds on Kachina Peak, terrain that had opened for the season earlier in the week. According to a statement issued by Taos Ski Valley, the avalanche took place shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, […]
Mountain Skills: Managing larger groups
The slinky—it’s not just a childhood toy; it’s also a ski-group phenomenon. It occurs when the last person in a large group finally arrives at the break spot, only to see the leaders of the group start uphill again. Traveling in larger groups can cause a variety of challenges and logistical problems, not just related to the slinky, too— think pacing, communication and differing goals for the day.
Student dies in Colorado avalanche-safety course, San Juan avy danger remains elevated
An avalanche on the afternoon of Saturday, January 5 in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains took the life of Peter Marshall of Longmont, Colo. Marshall, age 40, was among six individuals in an avalanche safety course who were caught in the slide. The other five survived.
Going the Distance: Six travel and camping essentials
Multiday traverses, winter-camping trips and travels to far-flung destinations might sometimes seem like adventures you only experience vicariously through Instagram and Facebook. But there’s plenty of gear available today that makes ambitious pushes into the mountains more accessible. To push you toward that skintrack walkabout or remote vacation, check out these camping and travel selections that can help get you out there and back safely and smoothly.
How a little solar gain on Mt. Baker, Wash. led to big consequences
Spring skiing was in full swing on Mt. Baker, Wash. by early last April when photographer Grant Gunderson and his ski partner for the day, Kirsten Rowley, hit a skintrack for Baker’s Shuksan Arm. The duo had spent the previous day at the resort exploring sidecountry zones that had proved to be stable, so they went into the backcountry feeling confident about the snow stability.
Anna Soens reframes the conversation on athletic achievement in the mountains
Anna Soens didn’t expect that she’d become an adaptive role model over the last two and a half years. In December 2015, however, the 30-year-old Boise, Idaho-based wildlife biologist fell 35 feet at a climbing gym, breaking her lowest thoracic vertebra, an injury that left her with partial paralysis from the hips down. As an […]
Big Boots to Fill: How French brothers Jean-Baptiste and Jonathan Charlet follow the family footsteps
And so goes the Charlet family paradox—five generations of alpinists pioneering routes in the birthplace of mountaineering while the latest generation retraces these lines with a more modern, gravitational approach: snowboarding.
The Friendly Frankenboot: With their new Hoji Pro Tour, Dynafit builds a more accommodating monster
If pro skier Eric Hjorleifson’s first Dynafit boot, the Vulcan, went by the nickname Frankenboot, his newest model, the Hoji Pro Tour, falls more in the image of the hairy, blue Monsters Inc. character Sulley—big, strong and hardworking, but with a friendlier side. Dynafit’s Vulcan, launched in 2012, earned its sobriquet from Hjorleifson’s work cobbling together parts […]
Ace Kvale: An iconic photographer mentors a new generation
Ace Kvale has been on the forefront of adventure photography for the past 40 years, with subjects ranging from Himalayan peaks to the valleys of his southern Utah home. Kvale, 62, kickstarted his career in the ski industry as an athlete and model before moving behind the lens in the 1980s.
