How a Professional Skateboarder Got His Community Behind Building a New Skatepark in a Colorado Ski Town Salida, Colorado is a homely ski town of about 7,000 with a wide-open, western, rancher feel. It’s got big mountains right next to it and is home to ski area Monarch Mountain and nearby backcountry haven Monarch Pass. But little do most people know that it’s also a skate town. “I don’t think everybody knows that,” Derek Scott said over […] Martin Kuprianowicz | April 30, 2021 0 Comments
Meet Molly Armanino: One of the Best Prospects on the Freeride World Qualifier Molly Armanino started competing two seasons ago. She’s a 27-year-old, South Lake Tahoe native who, at 4,400 points, has placed second on the Freeride World Qualifier this season. Before deciding to enter into the world of competitive big mountain skiing, she took five winters off and hardly ever skied during that period. She’s a natural. This is why I called […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | April 26, 2021 0 Comments
Backcountry Myth Busters: Do Trees Increase Snowpack Stability? In the backcountry, avalanches are often skiers’ number one concern. It makes sense that we are always looking for ways to reduce risk and consequence in the backcountry. Can trees assist in decreasing avalanche risk? The answer: it’s complicated. Trees typically run vertically through the entire snowpack, and in doing so, they can hold the snowpack in place and prevent a […] Avalanche Clay Malott | April 22, 2021 5 Comments
The Disadvantages of the Quiver of One There is undoubtedly lots of uncertainty surrounding the 2020-2021 ski season. Resorts will likely be running at reduced capacity, meaning fewer skiers are allowed on the mountain per day. This has triggered a mass exodus to backcountry skiing, the likes of which we have never seen. To backcountry ski, of course, you need to buy the right gear. This year, many […] Backcountry Clay Malott | April 20, 2021 1 Comment
Top 5 Deadliest National Parks From 2007 – 2018, 2,727 people have died on U.S. National Parks sites across the country. While that number at first may seem high, it is minuscule compared to the 3.5 billion visitors the national parks have received in that same timeframe. Nonetheless, it is still interesting to see which of those national parks are statistically the deadliest and why […] Liam Abbott | April 20, 2021 2 Comments
Man Hikes With Piano Up 13,000ft Himalayan Mountain So Kids Could Hear Mozart For First Time Desmond O’Keeffe hiked with a 100-year-old piano up a 13,000 foot Himalayan mountain so children could hear Mozart for the first time. Desmond is a piano tuner who embarked on this 13-month journey to the remote Himalayan mountains. The villagers at the top of the mountain live at one of the highest altitudes in the world and have never seen a […] Climbing Nick Retterer | April 16, 2021 0 Comments
Backcountry: Explained | Snow Water Equivalent and Its Role in Avalanche Risk Backcountry skiing is a wonderful activity that wouldn’t be possible without snow. To put it simply, snow is very complex. It can do all sorts of things once it has hit the ground: turn into different shapes, gain and lose stability, and more. However, something that comes up a lot when talking about snow before and while it’s falling is snow water equivalent (SWE). Snow […] Avalanche Clay Malott | April 16, 2021 0 Comments
How Mushrooms Can Eliminate Plastic Waste, Save the Bees, and Benefit Humanity Nature is unfathomably mysterious. The Earth is a living organism, and there’s so much we still don’t even know about it. Poetically, however, it may die that way, too. That is unless we put differences aside and assume the courage to actually do something about it. I know you’ve heard something along these lines before, and that last sentence probably […] Brains Martin Kuprianowicz | April 15, 2021 1 Comment
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