Dig climbing Colorado’s storied 14,000-foot peaks? You aren’t alone: 500,000 people attempt to bag one of our 58 high-country monarchs every year. But those mountains just don’t take care of themselves — each year, groups like the Colorado 14er Initiative and Colorado Mountain Club put in days of trail work…
This guy Mike Douglas throws down the gauntlet in favor of skiing in the old skiing vs. snowboarding debate. (Wasn’t that settled at the Tahoe Accords back in ought-three?) He does it by throwing a bunch of skiing history in people’s faces, claiming it’s “the original adrenaline sport.”There’s the requisite…
Ever fantasized about buying a ski-town chalet? You’re in luck, because ski home prices are the lowest they’ve been in years. The bad part? You’re not going to pay for it on your sandwich artist wage: According to the Grey Lady, a formerly $1 million, three-bedroom condo in Snowmass still…
Nobody ever said snowboarders need brains to win, but Shaun White gives us new, compelling scientific evidence to back this up. On a practice run Friday in Aspen, he mistimed his most difficult trick (a 1260 Double McTwist — anybody want to translate that from Riderese?) and smacked his skull…
Boulder climbers Renan Ozturk and Corey Richards just bagged a new route on 21,320-foot Tawoche in Nepal — a mighty feat in any case, but this time made worse by crumbly rock and 36 hours without water. Even so, they managed to safely tag the summit and make this video…
14ers are both the Colorado hiker’s hallmark and his/her bane. You can’t help but want to tick them off your personal list and “collect ’em all!” like they’re toys or trophies. Problem is, you’re not the only one, and the tops of all but the hardest can seem like a…
Following in the footsteps of toker-friendly mountain town Breckenridge, Leadville plans to hold a ballot initiative this year that will decriminalize pot possession for amounts of less than one ounce. The issue came up when pro-pot advocates crashed a city council meeting and asked their government to decriminalize marijuana. (Leadville…
If you’ve ever pined for life in a mountain town, with easy access to peaks without all the traffic, now’s a good time to reconsider the negatives — like watching your pet dog get snarfed in front of your eyes. The Butts family (seriously) of Green Mountain Falls got a…
East Vail’s The Fang, one of the most notable climbs in the region, wounded another victim Tuesday when a climber fell almost 10 stories off of it. Just 30 feet short of the top of the climb, the entire formation collapsed, sending the poor dude plummeting over 100 feet. Miraculously,…
Lots of Coloradans live the contradiction of composting waste or driving a hybrid while patronizing ski resorts, which are environmental disasters no matter how you slice it. Think about it: Between tearing up slopes for runs, sucking up massive amounts of power, and pumping out boatloads of trash and spent…
I’ve tried my hand at ice climbing a few times before (on East Vail’s frozen waterfalls and Rainier’s Emmons Glacier, most notably), and On The Edge’s Candace Horgan practically has ice tools for hands. That said, Will Gadd has us way beat: Tired of “regular” ice climbs, the Crazy Canuck…
American skier and onetime Vail resident Lindsey Vonn continued her rocket-fueled path to either Olympic glory or Bode-style choke by becoming the first American woman to win three straight World Cup victories in three days. (Germany’s Katja Seizinger last pulled off the feat in 1997.)She clinched the record by winning…
Ya gotta love the Japanese: When they’re not busying themselves with tentacle porn or dropping $177K on a single tuna, they’re creating the greatest game shows ever. Me, I’d be happy simply watching a snowboarder rocking a real half-pipe, but this being Japan, they’ve chosen to incongruously include a watermelon…
The very idea of some some schmo coming up and offering to guide or teach me on a frontcountry mountain sounds ri-goddamn-diculous. But I guess it happens, because Vail Resorts is stepping up efforts to bust underground lessons and guide services on their hill. In a recent undercover sting, they…
It’s a sure sign that Hollywood has truly run out of ideas when they start mining ski culture for not one but two upcoming movies. Last week, Chris Outcalt showed you the trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine, which actually has the potential to be 1) funny and 2) the…
Well, maybe only if you’re Swiss: A study built from questionnaires given to 782 injured skiers at trauma centers and 496 uninjured skiers in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland found that drinking alcohol was not likely to contribute to injury, but indulging in marijuana did.Keeping in mind that this…
For my money, Kayakers seem to be doing some of the most interesting things with video of late. Witness this test footage from Forge Motion Pictures using the RED and 5d mk2 cameras (ultra-pricey, ultra-high-definition snazzy-poo cameras). Here, they’re shooting a sequence on Colorado’s Crystal Gorge, and damn it if…
Hold your breath, adrenaline spectators: The Winter X Games 14 in Aspen will get two new events this year: Skiing SuperPipe High Air and the amazing-sounding Snowmobile Knock Out. Skiing SuperPipe High Air takes the top six skiers in the world and challenges them to compete in a 30-minute session…
It’s a hallowed skiing tradition, but probably not a favorite one: Miles and miles of skitards saddle up and drive into a blizzard, risking life, limb, and Subaru for a shot at once-in-a-season freshies. This results in highway pileups and automotive carnage galore — but ya gotta earn your turns, right?…
That’s no longer an insult: Boulder’s Erik Weihenmayer just crushed the Naked Edge, a 5.11b (that means f-ing hard) climb in Eldorado Canyon. None of this should be surprising, since Weihenmayer’s also the first blind person atop Everest and the first to top out on the 7 Summits. But seeing…
Denver climber and Outside blogger Alan Arnette just compiled a handy list comparing prices for aspiring Everest summiteers from all guiding companies on both sides of the mountain. He also offers some analysis into the factors that make the total cost of climbing Everest fluctuate. (He’d know — he’s attempted…
In the last few weeks, my compatriot-in-bloggery Candace Horgan took you through a nice solid retrospective of climbing movies both good and bad. And, a few quibbles notwithstanding (K2 is good? Honestly? And where’s Cliffhanger?), I think she nails it. But she might have to make room for a new…
