Beartooth Highway in Montana is closed all winter due to heavy snowfall (it provides access to Beartooth Basin Ski Area, after all), but MDOT crews have just begun clearing the road for summer.  A video posted to YouTube from a Montana Department of Transportation plow driver states, "April 16th, 2024... as you can tell from the pictures yesterday, we made it up the hill quite a ways." Watch below. Once you see the route Beartooth Highway leads, it's easy to understand why this road closes due to snow.  The winding highway has hairpin turns, switchbacks, turnouts, and lookout points ..read more

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Wyoming, will replace its four-seater fixed-grip Sublette lift with a faster and more powerful detachable quad this summer. JHMR plans to have the new lift ready for the 2024-2025 season. The replacement lift—a Leitner-Poma—will reduce Sublette's ride time from eight to four minutes, climbing approximately 1,600 vertical feet at 1,000 feet per minute. JHMR is replacing its 37-year-old predecessor due to its age. The original Sublette Lift ferries skiers uphill during a snowstorm. Courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort The original Sublette, constructed in 1987, was ..read more

Powder aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission. As the days lengthen, basking the world anew in renewed sunlight, the valleys return to a verdant green, and a fresh energy imbues the mountains. The promise of summer returns. But to the rider of snow, spring has its own unique meaning. High in the alpine, where ample snow remains, the skier is promised not with the fertile abundance awaiting winter’s end, but with the beginning of a season of adventure, seeking skiing’s – especially telemark skiing’s – most prized ..read more

Towering over the looker's left side of the KT-22 lift—a Palisades Tahoe classic—stands McConkey's (previously known as Eagle's Nest—Palisades changed the name in honor of the late, great Shane McConkey), an imposing, near-vertical face that's functioned as a big mountain test piece for years and years. A skier descends McConkey's at Palisades Tahoe, California Courtesy Palisades Tahoe The zone's weighty reputation is well-deserved. Popularized by the likes of—you guessed it—Shane McConkey, McConkey's functions like a no-fall-zone-lite. Bailing doesn't guarantee a season-ending injury. However ..read more

Powder aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission. Size skied: 27.5 Stated Weight: 1,785 grams per boot (26.5) – w/o spoiler Shell: 1,436 grams Liner: 380 grams Stated Flex: 130 Binding Compatibility: Pin Bindings, GripWalk Stated ROM: 55° Forward Lean: 13.5° + 4° ramp angle Stated last width (27): 98-104mm The Salomon Shift Alpha BOA 130 will be available soon. Intro: Despite what the industry wants to tell you, ski boot design has always been about compromise. It goes something like this: “Pick two - light enoug ..read more

 The Founders of 'The Skier's Magazine' Are Immortalized. Some serious Powder Mag lore right here! Press play to watch their speeches. Class of 2023 - Jake & Dave Moe Tribute Video & Acceptance Speech (22:32 ..read more

Solitude Mountain Resort, UT, posted a video of skiers "wiggling" now that Spring is in full swing.  What is wiggling, you may ask? Watch below.  Spring is in full swing, and that means wiggling! ?? ?: @GoPro #GoPro pic.twitter.com/nDCaknHO09 — Solitude Mountain Resort (@SolitudeMTN) April 20, 2024 I, too, used to be ignorant to the infectious spring tradition of wiggling. Like most skiers, I love a good traverse track with ups and downs and rollers and hits at the end. But I had never seen what looked like a Grand Slalom course that was purposefully rutted out.  Then, yesterd ..read more

Red Bull and Jesper Tjäder's Unrailistic, which is headed to Åre, Sweden, on April 25th and April 26th, is set to once again push the boundaries of competitive freeskiing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Red Bull Snow (@redbullsnow) You might recognize Unrailistic from Tjäder's popular video series of the same name. In these viral edits, Tjäder constructed and shredded an increasingly wacky slew of rail features that wavered between freeskiing and something you might see during Cirque du Soleil. The competition version of Unrailistic aims to capture that same zany energy. It p ..read more

Grand Targhee in Wyoming issued a strange request along with its closing weekend announcement in a caption posted to Instagram yesterday.  Officials wrote, "it’s closing weekend and we can’t wait to celebrate with you! We want everyone to have fun in the sun and be safe." Being safe, apparently, means "no throwing snowballs at any time." See below.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Grand Targhee Resort (@grandtargheeresort) The saving grace is that this request came with an explanation. Officials at Grand Targhee reminded everyone that "there are families, kids and ot ..read more

Alta Ski Area, Utah's closing day is rapidly approaching, which means the time for Frank—a legendary spring celebration—has almost come. To get everyone ready for the final turns of the year and the ensuing excitement, Alta Ski Area dropped a "ten tips" video to ensure all in attendance don't get too squirrelly. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alta Ski Area (@altaskiarea) You might've noticed that, at no point during this video, Coleman, Alta's operations manager, used the word Frank—that's what the hotdog was for. Frank, at its core, is an excuse for everyone at Alta to cut l ..read more