Many more skiers have started to pursue backcountry skiing as a way to get virgin powder. But far too few of them have taken an avalanche awareness class, or practiced repeatedly with beacons and probes doing avalanche rescue, or even know how to dig a pit properly to examine the…
You’ve ignored your phone buzzing in your pocket for the last three laps. Who cares where your friends are, the lighter-than-a-hill-covered-in-cotton-balls snow is waist deep. But the lifts are going to close soon, so you check the text message. “Tap Room. Car bombs. 20 minutes.” Only problem is, you’re god-knows-where…
This week I profiled snowboarder Steve Fisher and his Olympic quest for the Westword cover story (“Pipe Dreams: Steve Fisher’s Olympic hopes reach a cork in the road”). By the time the paper hits the racks this morning, he’ll be dropping in for his first runs at the U.S. Snowboarding…
A day of free skiing is worth a lot to a lot of people. But worth getting arrested and creeping out your boyfriend’s dad? Probably not. A woman — she hasn’t been identified — wanted to ski the other day. Her boyfriend had a ski pass to Keystone and, being…
Alright. I know it’s probably hard for people to grasp this concept, but just because it’s ass-kicking cold doesn’t mean we’re getting a lot of snow. The mountains are getting an inch here and there, but to quote Calvin, “Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in…
So you fancy yourself a ski bum, huh? You might want to see how your resume stacks up against Colorado’s Chris Tatsuno, who was recently named the winner of the Powder Highway Ultimate Ski Bum Contest. Tatsuno’s 90-second video (above) was deemed the best out of the 100 ultimate-ski-bum-wannabe entries…
Can’t make it to the Olympics in Vancouver this February? This week the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix drops in on the superpipe at Copper Mountain, and all of the Olympic contenders for Team USA — including 2006 gold medalists Shaun White and Kelly Clark — will be there, as will…
Crazy Colorado weather patterns like we’ve been seeing this week make for a bad concoction when it comes to avalanches: In the span of about 10 days, the high country has seen balmy, summery temperatures, some snow, severe temperature drops below zero, and strong winds, with more of all of…
When the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix kicks off this week at Copper Mountain, snowboarders will be competing for a chance to ride with the Team U.S.A. for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in February — and the chance to wear the rockin’ new team uniform, unveiled this week by Burton.The…
Leave it to Europeans to come up with a snowboarding clip that has all the whimsy, artistry, and sheer fun of a Spike Jonze movie: Swiss snowboard clothing company Zimtstern produced a promo for their Winter 09/10 collection that features boarders ripping through terrain with — get this — no…
Avon-based Resort Technology Partners has developed the “first augmented reality iPhone app for skiers and snowboarders” in REALSKI, slated for release today in the iTunes Store. The initial app will be free and include overlays mapping five resorts, including Copper Mountain. A full version will come out later in the…
The Men’s FIS World Cup went down at Beaver Creek on Friday. Photographer Scott Limbird was there. Here’s his dispatch: American favorites Ted Ligety and Bode Miller both put up pretty good downhill times at Friday’s Men’s FIS World Cup races at Beaver Creek — and then both failed to…
Nothing hits the spot after a long day on the slopes like a good microbrew. It quenches your thirst and replaces all the carbs you burned ripping up the steep and deep at your favorite resort. As if you needed an excuse to have a good beer. As long as…
Generations is a new film available for free online today, documenting the consequences of climate change from the perspective of skiers and snowboarders. The film was made by Teton Gravity Research in partnership with The North Face, Clif Bar, and Protect Our Winters (POW), and features athletes Jeremy Jones, Ingrid…
Throughout the winter, we’ll weigh the options and bring you each weekend’s most magical mountains. Think of us as sherpas, only with keyboards and web browsers instead of ice picks and beacons…
I got all nostalgic a few weeks ago and downloaded an Atari 2600 emulator and the old Activision Skiing game. Then I remembered Ski or Die on the Nintendo NES. Then I was just three old-school games away from a top five list!…
Snow bunnies and Backcountry Betties everywhere, take heed: Freeskier and Lange are launching the Local Lange Girl ’09 contest. Four regional winners — two from each coast and two from the mountains in between — will be chosen to represent Lange at on-snow events across the country. In return, they’ll…
The history of outdoor companies is filled with people who started with little more than a good idea and persistence. The mighty Patagonia was the softgoods company of Chouinard Equipment, which in turn was started by itinerant Yosemite rock climber Yvon Chouinard, who made chrome-moly steel pitons with a second-hand…
You see Klaus Wolter’s name in the paper every winter. The German native is a climatologist with CU’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences and one of the top experts on El Niño. Since El Niño is back warming up the water in the South Pacific, Wolter predicts,…
We’re just now getting the full scope of everything Simon Dumont got up to last year, now that his footage for Riley Poor’s Transitions, Poor Boyz Productions’ Every Day Is Saturday, and Matchstick Productions’ In Deep has been unleashed on the world (as if winning the Winter Dew Tour event…
This week, Silverton Mountain announced new early season mid-week dates, effective for today’s December 2 opening date, to help meet demand on the Western Slope now that Purgatory has gone to a weekend-only (Friday-Sunday) schedule. If you’re heading to the San Juan Mountains for some of the sickest powder Colorado…
Not far outside of Denver lies the town of Evergreen, a quaint little hamlet probably best known as the place where your parents go to drink when Morrison’s too busy. But Evergreen has more than overpriced Chiantis: Thanks to the excellent stewardship of Jefferson County Open Space Parks and Denver…
