“At the end of our Gear Test this year, I asked newbie and Teton Valley, Idaho, resident Kailey McKenna what she thought of the week. ‘It was like a river trip, but we didn’t go anywhere,’ she said. After eight Gear Test Weeks, I’d never thought of comparing our organized chaos and the slowing of time with a flotilla, let alone a stationary one focused on catching up with friends. It gave me a new appreciation for my adult winter camp.” —Betsy Manero (from the 2024 Gear Guide Editor’s Note)
While this winter camp boasts the usual array of wild stories and fond memories, that’s just the bonus—or the core… I guess it depends how you look at it. Either way, by the end of the week, we tested 311 pieces of gear.
And so ended the “play hard” portion of the job. Next came the hard work. Writing, editing, rewriting and laying out the reviews (60 ski, 31 splitboard, 26 touring boot, 10 touring binding and 44 apparel reviews), plus curating all the imagery and determining what sets this slew of equipment apart from the rest.
The end product is 148 pages of expert-reviewed backcountry ski and snowboard gear, the 2024 Gear Guide. Here’s a sneak peek:
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There’s an aesthetic to backcountry skiing. Creative uptracks. Clean lines. Blank canvasses. That haggard tree silhouetted against the rising sun. The cold air as it burns in your nostrils. The sparkle of diamond dust and the silence of snow-cloaked mountains. The weightlessness of a perfect powder turn.
Every once in a while, a photographer picks up their camera, points it into this magical world and clicks. Often, the very best of what they capture ends up in the inbox of Backcountry Magazine Art Director Mike Lorenz.
After 16 years, he has perused hundreds of thousands of ski photos from every corner of the Earth. And every year, he chooses a selection that draws you deep into the backcountry; that captures that aesthetic.
Issue 160, The Photo Annual, is about those moments that stop you in your tracks, the frames that freeze them forever and the stories that accompany them. It’s the wisdom of trees and cricket played with avalanche shovels in the Karakoram. It’s the aesthetic impacts of avalanche mitigation in Little Cottonwood Canyon and reflections on learning the ropes from Hilaree Nelson. It’s a career that supports life in a mountain town without limiting your time in the mountains and the sit skier fundraising for Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center.
As the chaos and joy of the holiday season descends upon us, take the time to sit down, wherever you are, and be transported to skintracks near and far. Grab a copy of The Photo Annual, (or a few) and put it in your favorite skier’s stocking. —The Backcountry Team
Subscribe now to make sure a copy is coming your way 📬.
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