I spent my first full ski season at Alta, Utah, waiting tables and skiing the deepest snow of my life. I arrived late in January, but by working breakfasts and dinners I managed to clock 80 days on snow skiing between my shifts. In a twist of irony, the deep powder snow was so good that it wasn’t until I left Alta that I realized I’d never really learned how to ski. Moving to Mammoth Lakes, California turned out to be an exercise in learning to use my edges. The next three years produced pitiable snowfall totals and some of the strangest surface conditions I’ve ever encountered. I skied knife ..read more

Meet AspectAvy, an app made exclusively for skiing and riding in the backcountry using avalanche data to help users better predict when and where catastrophic events will occur in real time.  “This one app has the ability to save hundreds of lives in the backcountry every year,” Co-founder Jeff Banks explains. “Statistics on avalanches show a clear relationship between the stability of the snowpack and the slope angle in which avalanches occur,” the site claims. “We use this information to provide recommendations that take the guesswork out of determining where the safe slopes are.” Sinc ..read more

Let’s be honest: There’s a tried-and-true formula that most ski movies follow. A group of heroes is on an all-too-familiar quest, then cue the slow-mo slashes, steep spines, and stylized shots … and repeat until the end. It can all blur into one long segment at times. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing—we love a shreddy stoke film as much as the next person—but we can all agree that it gets repetitive at times. Duncan, a former youth ski and DI college ski racer, lives in Bend, Ore., and reignited his love for skiing through backcountry touring. (Photo: Courtesy of Mallory Duncan) Mallory ..read more

We love the winter backcountry because it’s never the same twice. Pristine powder one day is chopped up snow the next day and frozen coral reef chunks the next. Snow and weather conditions change the landscape every minute, and to be there to witness it is something special. But it also means that highly technical gear is necessary to stay prepared for almost any situation—especially if you’re a charger who gets after it. This backcountry ski kit—handpicked by the backcountry skiers on our editorial staff—will maximize your fun and safety in winter’s best playground. 7 Gear Picks for Backcoun ..read more

This article was first published by SkiMag.com. Maybe you’re looking for a lightweight touring ski that will get you up and down before you clock in for work. Or maybe you’re looking for a ski that will first and foremost shred backcountry pow but is light enough to get you up, up, and away. Whatever backcountry mission you have in mind, we have just the touring tools you’re looking for, right here. These women’s-specific backcountry skis run the gamut, from narrow-waisted featherweights designed primarily for fast and light cardio missions to all-mountain skis that have undergone a little ..read more

This article was first published by SkiMag.com. Whether you’re looking for a dedicated backcountry ski that strikes the perfect balance between weight and performance, a lightweight ski to charge up the biggest peaks, or a slackcountry ski that will pull double-duty at the resort and beyond the ropes, you’ll find something right up your alley on this list of the best backcountry skis of 2024. If you’re in it for the downhill, peruse the skis that are a little wider underfoot and weigh closer to 2,000g per ski. Trying to set a Fastest Known Time on your dawn and dusk patrols? Then you’re loo ..read more

This article was first published by SkiMag.com. Testing skis isn’t easy. Especially when there are 23 brands, 24 testers, and over 100 pairs of skis that need a fair shake. But, when the powder cloud settles and the scores are tallied, there can only be one group of skis at the top of the pile. And these are the skis that survived every turn, mogul, and test card in order to earn the distinction of being named the top performing ski in their respective categories. Even among these top performers, a handful of skis stand out. Some are perennial favorites that, year after year, just keep blow ..read more

At 20,310 feet, Denali is the tallest peak in North America—known as “the high one” by Athabascan tribes. The summit success rate up the standard West Buttress route usually hovers around 50 percent, although last year’s unprecedented dry spring created many weather windows, availing a 70 percent success rate (the 2023 season was around 31 percent due to challenging weather). One of those ascents was completed by Mountain Trip ski guide, Jed Porter, assistant guide, Jake Skeen, and guided guest, Dave Riggs, in June 2022. “Denali is extremely hard in every single way,” said Porter, a full-time ..read more

This post first appeared on SKI. Back in the late ’90s when I was a high schooler and the snow was lousy at my local resort I used to pull out a pair of 210 centimeter Tua skis (maybe 75 millimeter underfoot?) mounted with flimsy Voile telemark bindings and then strap on a pair of thrift shop leather telemark boots. As you might imagine, getting down the hill with this setup was quite a challenge and made the shitty snow way more fun. On a college trip around Europe, I was in Italy and came across a pair of plastic Asolo telemark boots in an army surplus store and thought I’d hit the jackpot ..read more

This post originally appeared on SKI  On the skintrack, we’re always wishing our gear was a little lighter. But as soon as we rip skins and point it down our line—whether it’s a mellow pow run or a steep couloir—we want a ski that can handle the heat.  Enter the all-new Salomon QST Echo 106. Fine-tuned on the big alpine objectives and long backcountry slogs that Cody Townsend has been tackling for The Fifty Project, the new QST Echo 106 is a lightweight version of the ski we’ve all come to know and love.  Salomon’s QST line, which encompassed the widely popular unisex QST Blank ..read more