Backcountry

Inside Chile’s Most Intimate Backcountry Ski Operation Where You Can Ski Volcanoes and 1,000-Year-Old Araucaria Forests

For most skiers, “all-inclusive” means a lift ticket and a buffet. Forrest Schmidt means something very different: a hot titanium stove in a tipi, filet mignon next to a steaming hot spring, and ancient araucaria trees holding cold smoke over a perfectly set skintrack. Schmidt, a 44-year-old “East Coast kid” from rural New York, runs APEX Backcountry Guides (Andes Puro […]
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Martin Kuprianowicz |
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How To Use Your Garmin inReach For Backcountry Skiing Like A Pro

A satellite communication device is just as critical to your winter safety toolkit as an avalanche beacon, shovel, and probe. If you travel into the winter backcountry, a satellite messenger serves as your off-grid lifeline. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about setting up and operating a Garmin inReach — including the Mini, Mini 2, Explorer, and […]
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Martin Kuprianowicz |
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Teton County, WY, to Hold Panel on Avalanches and Trauma

Wyoming’s Teton County Search and Rescue (TCSAR) will be holding a panel for those affected by death and trauma in the mountains. After a difficult winter that saw many tragic avalanche deaths, the panel aims to build community and to talk through backcountry fatalities. The panel encourages sharing personal perspectives, suggesting resources, and providing support during backcountry tragedies. It will […]
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Quinn Brophy |
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[VIDEO] “Montucky Madness” — An April Splitboarding Adventure in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains

beartooth mountains Montana bison

Sam Werstak’s latest YouTube release, Montucky Madness, offers an immersive look into a high-alpine splitboarding expedition through the Beartooth Mountains. While Werstak is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, he headed north this past April to explore the rugged terrain of Eastern Yellowstone, documenting a trip that pushed both his physical limits and his connection to the landscape. Related: Beartooth Basin, […]
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Martin Kuprianowicz |
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Points North Heli-Skiing, AK, Report: Bucket List Day in the Chugach Mountains

Report for Tuesday, April 14, 2026 For years, I’ve wanted to heli-ski in Alaska. It’s definitely a bucket list item. I’ve heli-skied before, but the Chugach Mountains just seemed different and alluring. The range is incredible because it delivers massive, untouched terrain with deep maritime snow, dramatic views, and long, uninterrupted descents that feel truly remote and wild. I arrived […]
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Avatar photo Brent Glogau |
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Cody Townsend, Tommy Caldwell, and Bjarne Salén Complete Bold Winter Traverse of California’s Highest Peaks

The Sierra Nevada contain some of the highest peaks in North America. Outside of Colorado, Washington and California are the only states in the lower 48 that have any summits over 14,000 feet. The Eastern Sierra is home to Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48, as well as a host of other equally imposing mountains. A summit […]
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Zach Armstrong |
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AvalancheClarity: Free App Brings AI-Translated French Avalanche Bulletins to International Skiers

Left: AI-translated bulletin with interactive glossary highlights. Centre: Glossary definitions. Right: Find your massif with GPS or search. | Image: AvalancheClarity

First app to translate and explain Météo-France avalanche reports in eight languages, with Swiss Alps coverage and pan-European report access coming soon. AvalancheClarity, a new free mobile app for Android and iOS, makes Météo-France’s daily avalanche bulletins accessible to non-French speakers for the first time. The app uses AI to translate the official BRA (Bulletin de Risque d’Avalanche) into English, […]
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AvyBrains |
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This Ultimate Backcountry Rescue Kit Weighs Only 2 Pounds and Packs Some Ingenious Custom Tools

Most backcountry skiers carry some version of a repair kit and a first aid kit, but very few are as thoughtfully built as this kit from Mountain Sense. Designed as a lightweight, all-in-one solution for ski touring, this 2-pound rescue and repair kit helps skiers stay self-sufficient when things go wrong far from the trailhead. Related: Backcountry Layering: Be Aware, […]
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Avatar photo Brent Glogau |
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Solo Skier Killed in 2,300-Foot Fall After Cornice Collapsed Beneath Her on Italian Peak

Schneebiger Nock. | Photo: Wikipedia

A 57-year-old Austrian woman died on Friday on the Schneebiger Nock, an 11,000-foot (3,358-meter) peak in the Rieserferner Group above Rein in Taufers, Italy, after a cornice collapsed and sent her plummeting down near-vertical, rocky terrain, local officials and media reported. Related: 25 Skiers Caught in Avalanche at Val Ridanna, Italy, Killing 2 With 3 Seriously Injured The woman set […]
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Steven Agar |
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Missing 21-Year-Old Hiker Dies in Hospital After Being Found Unconscious in Mountains Above Chamonix, France

A 21-year-old hiker who had been missing for two days in the mountains above Chamonix, France, was found Sunday, March 15, by rescue teams but later died after being transported to the hospital. According to the mountain rescue unit PGHM Chamonix (Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne), the young man was discovered around noon on the western side of the […]
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Julia Schneemann |
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Jim Morrison Reflects On Perseverance, Partnership, And Purpose In New Film “Trango”

trango towers

Long before skis ever touched the upper slopes of Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower, the mountain lived in Jim Morrison’s imagination as something almost untouchable—a towering symbol of mountaineering history, not skiing possibility. For decades, the near-20,000-foot granite spire had been a proving ground for elite rock climbers. To Morrison, it represented something deeper: an unfinished idea waiting for someone to […]
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Martin Kuprianowicz |
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SnowBrains Podcast Ep. 103 | Dave Searle – Chamonix IFMGA Mountain Guide

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Our guest today is Dave Searle – mountain guide, deep mountain thinker, and someone who has built his life around moving through wild places with purpose. Dave has spent years guiding in serious terrain, helping people travel safely and confidently in the mountains while also developing a thoughtful approach to risk, decision making, and what it really means to operate […]
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Christina Lustenberger and Team Complete First-Ever Ski Descent of Mount Deltaform’s North Glacier, BC

View this post on Instagram A new line has been written into Canadian ski mountaineering history. On January 18, 2026, pro skier Christina Lustenberger—widely known as “Lusti”— along with partners Brette Harrington and Gee Pierrel completed the first-ever descent of the North Glacier on Mount Deltaform in British Columbia.  The expedition unfolded deep in the Canadian Rockies and demanded a […]
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Martin Kuprianowicz |
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Stowe Mountain Rescue, VT, Assists Skier After Misreading Backcountry Map and Taking Wrong Line

Stowe Mountain Rescue responded this week to a backcountry incident involving a skier who followed a widely shared ski-line map of the Stowe area and ended up in dangerous terrain after taking the wrong chute, the rescue group said in a public statement. The incident, which did not result in serious injury, reiterated long-standing concerns from local rescuers about how […]
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Martin Kuprianowicz |
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