AMGA Announces Terrain and Supervision Guidelines Boulder, Colo. In early May, the American Mountain Guides Association’s Review Team met outside Jackson, Wyo. to discuss and update its Terrain and Supervision Guidelines. The 11 AMGA members who comprise the Review Team developed a framework to assure guides work in terrain for which they are trained, and […]
BC Banter: Aspen Alpine Club Sends Aid to Nepal, RASTA Announces Work Days, Skiing Editor-in-chief Joins Backbone Media and Eric Layton Completes AMGA Exam on Splitboard
Marolt brothers, Aspen Alpine Club send aid to Nepal ASPEN, COLO. Brothers Steve and Mike Marolt, who recently opened a ski mountaineering and research facility in Aspen, are fundraising to buy solar chargers for isolated Nepalese villages in wake of the recent earthquake. The Marolts are revitalizing their 501(c)3 organization, Aspen Alpine Club Inc., which was […]
Guiding Split: Layton becomes one of AMGA’s first to complete Ski Guide Exam…on a splitboard
In mid-April, Eric Layton, owner and lead guide for Splitboard Guides International, completed his AMGA exam—on a splitboard. This winter was the first season that snowboarders were able to take the course exam on something other than skis, although snowboards have been allowed in the course for the past several years. “Some people think, ‘Oh, splitboarding is just […]
BC Banter: Marolt Bros. Open Ski Shop, Chugach Avy Center Wraps Up Season, Northwest Avy Center Launches Fundrasier, Shuttered Vt. Ski Area’s Future, Polartec’s New Marketing Manager
ASPEN, COLO. Brothers Mike and Steve Marolt have purchased a 2,000-square-foot retail space in Aspen’s Obermeyer Place with plans of opening a hybrid ski-mountaineering shop, research and development facility and demonstration center.
2015 Beer Test: Parking Lot/Après
Like gear for any snow condition, there’s beer for every occasion. So this year, we organized our annual beer review by where and when our panel of home brewers, beer aficionados and a certified beer judge would prefer to drink them. The format is simple: Skintrack beers are lower in ABV and sessionable, Parking Lot/Après […]
2015 Beer Test: Hut to Hut
Like gear for any snow condition, there’s beer for every occasion. So this year, we organized our annual beer review by where and when our panel of home brewers, beer aficionados and a certified beer judge would prefer to drink them. The format is simple: Skintrack beers are lower in ABV and sessionable, Parking Lot/Après brews are satisfying anytime, anywhere (but particularly after skiing), and Hut to Hut beers include those special, high-ABV drinks worth a coveted spot in your pack. Then again, no matter where or how you drink these, they’ll taste good.
Mountain Account: A third-party rescue in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains
In early December 2013, Aaron Rice, a busboy at Alta’s Rustler Lodge, and friend Joe Campanelli were touring in Grizzly Gulch in Alta, Utah’s backcountry when they noticed an old human-triggered slide across a gully. They stopped to take pictures to submit to the Utah Avalanche Center when they were quickly caught up in a […]
The Fun Factor: Through his guiding company, CaPow!, Marty Schaffer spices up safety education
Marty Schaffer is trying to make mountain safety and avalanche education more fun. A certified ski guide through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, the 28-year-old grew up at his family’s Revelstoke backcountry lodge, Blanket Glacier Chalet, began patrolling out of high school and was one of Canada’s youngest avalanche professionals at age 20. Now, along with childhood friends and pro skiers Chris Rubens and Eric Hjorleifson, he’s building his own safety curriculum, teaching teens backcountry skills and offering pro-taught courses through his guiding company, Capow!
The Kickstep Project: Chapter Three
Here’s the third installment of photographer Greg Stafford’s Kickstep Project, a three-part video series documenting Alaskan locals’ quest for powder in a dismal snow year. In the third chapter, The West Ridge, a group of five skiers head back to Kickstep Mountain, where they find and rip the turns they’ve been looking for all winter. The Kickstep Project […]
The Loveland Five: Five Reasons To Live
Today marks the second anniversary of the Sheep Creek avalanche, a catastrophic accident that occurred near Loveland Pass, Colo. in 2013, claiming the lives of five young men. Five expert snowboarders, Jerome Boulay, Chris Peters, Rick Gaukel, Ryan Novak and Joe Timlin, and one expert skier, Ian Lamphere, were skinning near Scotty’s Corner, an oxbow near U.S. Highway […]
