Being in the backcountry, surrounded by mountains as far as the eye can see is a truly magical feeling. Learning to access and move safely in the backcountry is a continual and ever evolving experience. Throughout my life, I have been lucky enough to learn from amazing mentors in both formal and informal settings. These people are friends, family, and …
It’s a Saturday night in downtown Portland and we are getting ready to go hard. The streets are filled with bar goers and party hoppers, the atmosphere is loud and boisterous; It’s the perfect time to get out. Except, we aren’t about to go hard to the point of stumbling out of the local brewery down the street. Oh no, …
I recently went on a trip to BC’s Coast Range near Pemberton to see what all the hubbub was about. I was with two of my long-time ski partners, one of them my longest backcountry ski partner. In typical fashion, the coastal mountain weather didn’t make it easy for big objectives, but after several days of getting shut down by …
Dynamic. That’s the word I would use to describe my job backcountry ski guiding. No two days are exactly the same. Everything from the snow conditions, routes, weather, and client goals change from day to day. The only constant in the whole thing is that everyone there, including myself, is there for one reason; we’re there to have fun sliding …
Last week my buddy (Shawn Forry) and I completed a “thru-ski” of the Tahoe Rim Trail……well, the route of the Tahoe Rim Trail, since technically it was under a lot of snow (20+ feet). Thus I supposed the correct terminology would be a “winter traverse of the Tahoe Rim Trail.” The trail runs roughly 170 miles through the high country …
In the past month spent mountaineering in Chamonix, I have watched skiers tumble off cliffs, tomahawk out of icy couloirs, and whip into crevasses. I’ve been told that if I decided to rappel over a group that they would “cut me”, and I’ve been tangled up with impatient guides trying do the same on alpine climbing pitches and glaciers. I’ve …
The Commando Run. It’s a ski tour from Vail Pass to Vail which is named for the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division soldiers who used the route for training in high altitude skiing combat and commando raids during World War II. From a base in nearby Camp Hale, over 10,000 men traveled the mountains in west-central Colorado from 1942 to …
It was the spring of 2012, my senior year of College at Montana State University. I was just starting to cut my teeth as a serious ski mountaineer, and I was becoming eager for something more meaningful than continually pounding out ridge laps at Bridger Bowl. My Friend had a copy of Turiano’s ageing guidebook to skiing in the Tetons, …
There’s an embarrassingly daunting four hundred vert left to the summit. We slog through a foot of dense, sun-saturated, week-old, mercifully stable powder. I’m out of breath and my calves are yelling at me beneath a massive swath of oppressively blue, hot sky. I cringe when my hip flexer seizes up as a crashing realization washes over me; this is …
From its original roots as a means of winter hunting, skiing has evolved into various societal facets and developed a culture of its own. From racing to resorts, a ski option for every outdoor winter lover is available—at least in the western hemisphere. Traveling east of central Europe, the world of skiing becomes less and less developed. Only in recent …
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