Black Friday has passed, but if you’re like me, your holiday shopping isn’t finished. For some, it hasn’t even started. If you’re here, you have friends and family that are backcountry skiers and so it makes sense to look for…
The post Gifts for Backcountry Skiers appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
I grew up with an Army vet Dad who liked to yell out a favorite maxim from his West Point days: “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance!” When I asked Joe Howdyshell, head coach at Summit Endurance Academy and former…
The post How to Do an Early Season Gear Check-Up appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
For me, the Scarpa Alien 1.0 is nearly the perfect race/light touring boot. While it certainly isn’t right for everyone, this boot really does perform shockingly well in all light and fast scenarios. Scarpa has three different Alien boots, the…
The post A Skimo Racer’s Love Note to the Scarpa Alien 1.0 appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Secondhand shopping is big business these days. Online fashion resale giant ThredUp estimates the global clothing resale market will be a $350 billion enterprise by 2027. The trend is clear in fast fashion, but even for technical ski products, more…
The post How, Where, and Why to Sell Your Old Ski Gear appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
The differing styles of all the different ski tourers (tourists? Tourons?) is always interesting to me, running the gamut of the kitchen sink crew who, if needed, could live out of their touring pack in decadent luxury if the need…
The post Packing for Skimo vs. Touring: What a Coach/Racer Carries appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Snow conditions have been wild this season. I’ve wallowed through waist-deep powder, struggled through breakable crust, skied a lot of ice, sloshed around in corn, and encountered everything in between. I’ve found a reason to bring out every ski in…
The post A Lightweight Boot to Drive Any Ski: Fischer Transalp Carbon Pro Hands-On Review appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Avalanches are Colorado’s most deadly natural hazard, so public communication about avalanche safety is an important tool to help backcountry travelers stay safe. To learn more about how avalanche communication is received by the public, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center…
The post Take 5 Minutes to Improve Avalanche Communication appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Last spring, Dynafit debuted their downhill-oriented four-buckle Tigard boot which skied like an alpine boot but at 1559 grams was too heavy for some light’n’fast Dynafit diehards. With the Feb. 1 release of the new Ridge Pro Boot designed with…
The post Dynafit Releases New Hoji-Designed Freetouring Boot appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Dylan Craaybeek is a backcountry skier and avalanche forecaster for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center based in the Crystal Valley near Carbondale. He generates the avalanche forecast for the Central Mountains, which include the Grand Mesa, the West Elk and…
The post Ask a Forecaster: CAIC’s Dylan Craaybeek appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
It was 2008 when I first slapped skins on a pair of skis, my dad’s ~210cm tele skis from the early 90’s. I also borrowed his old Patagonia anorak rain jacket that had seen about as many years as the…
The post A Pullover Hardshell for Spring Tours? Trew’s Le Skieur Anorak appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
For most of us, backcountry skiing is a hobby, an outlet, and an excuse to spend time in the mountains, but if we aren’t professionals and don’t race, we don’t always think of it as a sport. Still, it’s physically…
The post How to Fuel for Ski Touring: Nutritionist Q&A appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
I’ve long been a shell guy when it comes to outerwear for ski touring but as I’ve picked up my pace on uphills and toured longer and longer into spring and summer, I’ve found myself searching for lighter layers that…
The post Helly Hansen’s Odin Backcountry Softshell Kit Review appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Andrew McWilliams is a former Avalanche Technician at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and is the current Colorado Avalanche Information Center forecaster for the Northern Mountains which includes the Gore Range and all of Colorado North of I-70. Before that, he…
The post Ask a Forecaster: Q&A with CAIC’s Andrew McWilliams appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Backcountry travelers worldwide (that’s you!) can help researchers at Simon Fraser University study how winter recreationists use the avalanche forecast. You can access the survey here: https://caic2024.avalancheresearch.ca/en/ (Estimated 20 minutes to complete.) Here’s the basic idea of the research project:…
The post Help Avalanche Researchers Study Forecasts, Win Prizes appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
Having spent 15 years in product development myself, I’d always dreamed of building my own “Super Pack” for skiing. Kyle Siegel, a mechanical engineer with experience at SpaceX and The North Face, beat me to the punch by launching ultralight…
The post Do Raide Research packs live up to the hype? appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
It didn’t take long to feel comfortable on ZAG’s updated 2024/25 UBAC 95s, but I eased in anyway. I felt like I knew them quickly through soft snow, trees, soft chop, and powder. They just felt easy right off the…
The post A Mellow Tours All-Rounder: ZAG’s UBAC 95 Skis appeared first on - The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog.
