No matter what your stodgy uncle says, climate change is happening and, by many accounts, it’s poised to mess with our winters. “People have done studies looking at Colorado, the Wasatch here in Utah, Pacific Coast Ranges, and across the board we’re looking at, by the end of the century, 3-5° Celsius in warming,” says Matt Jeglum, a PhD candidate studying atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah. “That’s big.”
Running Interference: How Candy Affects Your Beacon
At October’s International Snow Safety Workshop in Banff, Alberta, Ilari Dammert, Mammut’s electronics product manager, and Edwin Meister, a project manager with the Swiss electronics manufacturer CCS Adaxys, presented startling findings on beacon interference. Backcountry users have long known that electronics, particularly cell phones, can interfere with a transceiver’s function, but the level of interference and range of culprit gadgets hasn’t been known until now.
Basecamp: Four Centuries of Safety Gear
Backcountry safety gear has come a long way in the last two decades, never mind since the 1600s. Even so, gear is still no substitute for education, yet it’s always worth looking at how far the sport has come. Here’s a look at some relics that have shaped the last few centuries of backcountry safety.
The Yurt: Backcountry’s Basecamp
Would a yurt by any other name smell so…pungent? Maybe. The Turkish word, meaning homeland, is short and sweet, apropos of the squat shelters that the nomads of inner Asia called home for thousands of years. In ski culture, we know yurts as the perfect home base—somewhere to hang up our skins, crack open a […]
Backcountry Magazine announces Basecamp lineup for Smugglers’ Notch, Vt
Smugglers’ Notch, Vt. (for immediate release) – On the third stop of its nationwide backcountry education tour the GORE-TEX Backcountry Magazine Basecamp will team up with Outdoor Gear Exchange and Vermont-based apparel brand Mammut at Smugglers’ Notch Resort this weekend, March 29-30, for a celebration of all things backcountry. The Basecamp opens its yurt-based event first […]
Al Johnson Race Celebrates 40 Years: “9-0 or Don’t Go”
In the late 1880s, Al Johnson strapped 11-foot-long skis to his leather boots and climbed over mountain passes Crystal, Colo. to Crested Butte to deliver the mail. He was a badass to say the least. Ninety years later, in 1974 to be exact, amid a telemark renaissance, the Crested Butte freeheel community started the Al Johnson memorial Uphill/Downhill telemark ski race to honor Johnson’s effort. It’s part athleticism, part anarchy and all circus sideshow. This year, the race celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Butte Bound: GORE-TEX U.S. Ski Mountaineering Nationals Head To Crested Butte
After more than a decade at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Nationals are headed to Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Colo. on March 14-16. “We’ve wanted to mix it up and move it to a new venue,” says race director and Team Crested Butte skimo athlete Bryan Wickenhauser. “It’s great to give the sport some exposure in a new area.”
Backcountry Basecamp Dispatch: The Backmobile
Ten hours into the white knuckle, whiteout drive from Jackson Hole to Denver en route to the Crested Butte GORE-TEX Backcountry Basecamp a light came on, accompanied by a discomforting ding. With two kids in tow and 5,000 lbs. of gear in the trailer, that little check-engine icon frayed some already frayed nerves.
Jackson is a Wrap: Snow and Safety at Backcountry Basecamp Stop #1
Jackson Hole didn’t only see a foot and a half of snow in the last few days. It also saw the first stop of this year’s Backcountry Basecamp tour, the three-part, nationwide roadshow that’s bringing the backcountry scene to the masses. Here’s a slideshow from the event.
Backcountry Basecamp Dispatch: Old Skis, Old Pals and Sipping Whiskey
Below a line of old National Park Ranger hats hung on a Wyoming wall and hidden in a barrel of nordic skis rests an ancient pair of edgeless wooden planks. Warped with curved tails and splintered bottoms, they look like they would make better firewood than skis. “Those are my grandfather’s,” Tyson Philips says holding […]
