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CultureAlberta’s Utopian Experiment
Alberta’s Utopian Experiment
Unlike many mountain destinations, which succumb to high-dollar sprawl, unique restrictions keep Banff, Alberta, livable and affordable. Here’s how to emulate that ideal. by Kelly Bastone | photographs Ryan Creary Take an evening stroll beyond the shops lining Banff’s mountain-framed main street, and you’ll see something unusual in Western resort towns: All the neighborhood lights are on. Everybody—or nearly everybody—is home. You won’t see that just 17 miles away in Canmore. There, as in so many resort communities, darkened windows are common thanks to absentee owners that only occupy their vacation dwellings for a few weeks a year. But in…...
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CultureAn Express Train to Powder Skiing Heaven
An Express Train to Powder Skiing Heaven
Why Utah needs to fix its public transportation—now. by Erme Catino | photograph Adam Clark Four years ago, I abandoned Vermont—my New England base for exploits with my Meathead Films and Ski The East brethren—for Utah’s Wasatch. After a dozen years, my wife and I were done with January thaws, and we left dreaming of deeper snow. Salt Lake City’s six lane highways soon replaced our rural dirt roads. It was a culture shock, but Alta, with its 500-plus annual inches of snow, was only 30 minutes away, so we made it work. Then, that same year, we got stuck in traffic on…...
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CultureOne Divisive Wasatch
One Divisive Wasatch
photograph Adam Clark | skier Sage Cattabriga-Alosa Wrangling over the future of Salt Lake skiing. by Jeff Burke Utah’s Central Wasatch Range is famously home to “the greatest snow on earth.” It’s a good catchphrase, in part because it’s not much of a stretch. On typical snow years, storms rolling off the high desert bump into the 10,000-foot peaks, sparking the meteorological marvel known as orographic lift. As the warm, wet air lifts, it cools. Cold air can’t hold as much moisture, and what follows is a fluffy, 500-plus-inch snowfall tally. Within a 45-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City, skiers can access six major resorts,…...
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CulturePeter Metcalf, 60
Peter Metcalf, 60
Get to know environmental advocate and Black Diamond founder and CEO Peter Metcalf. Interview by Mike Kessler | photographs Sandra Salvas Back in 1972, during the early days of the outdoor recreation boom, Peter Metcalf reduced his worldly possessions to fit the dirtbag lifestyle of a dedicated climber. But he couldn’t bring himself to throw out that year’s Patagonia catalog. It was a bible of sorts—a photographic and written reminder of climbing’s ethos. Just 17 years old, Metcalf didn’t imagine that he’d work at the company’s Ventura, California, headquarters a decade later, forging a close friendship with Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, and…...
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CultureThe Fleece Police Are Coming to Arrest Me, Oh No!
The Fleece Police Are Coming to Arrest Me, Oh No!
The surprising and largely ignored evidence linking synthetic clothing to widespread microplastic contamination. by David Hanson | photograph Michael Hanson Craig Weiland was careful not to touch his wicking T-shirt to the water sample he scooped into a one-liter Coke bottle from Jemrod Creek, just below a Mount Olympus, Washington, snowfield. Then he carried the bottle 18 miles out of the wilderness and shipped it to a lab in Maine, where scientists discovered eight tiny plastic fragments in the crystalline water. Every time you wash and dry your synthetic layer, you send thousands of chemical-laced microfibers into the water or the air.…...
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CultureMake It Snow
Make It Snow
Alpine Meadows has hosted the Desert Research Institute’s cloud seeding program since 1998. One hundred years later, we get the truth on cloud seeding. In the early 1900s, after years of less-than-ideal water levels, the city of San Diego was desperate to avoid a drought. The city council caught wind of a sewing machine salesman named Charles Hatfield—who reportedly knew how to conjure rain using a chemical brew and galvanized evaporation tanks—and in 1915 they hired him. San Diego agreed to pay Hatfield $10,000 if he could fill the Morena Reservoir that winter. With his brother’s help, Hatfield built a…...
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CultureThe Fourth of July for Your Feet
The Fourth of July for Your Feet
At Wigwam, it’s a family affair: Margaret Chesebro-Newhard, Robert and Chris Chesebro. Photograph Tom Davenport. On exceptionalism and American-made socks. by Jason Daley | photograph Tom Davenport The racks at your local outdoor retail shop are an anthology of great American business stories, from Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard cutting and patterning fleece jackets to Timberland creating waterproof work boots to dominate the blue-collar rap music business. But even the most iconic American brands do little more than mock up their jackets and hiking pants in solar-powered, medicinal weed-scented HQs before manufacturing them in sketchy factories throughout Southeast Asia. The sock aisle, however,…...
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EnvironmentEnter the Chilkat Range
Enter the Chilkat Range
Part two of Stellar Media’s All In series, dubbed “Enter the Chilkat Range,” follows pro skiers Dane Tudor and Sam Cohen as they tackle some of Alaska’s burliest peaks. This artful 15-minute edit highlights the Chilkat’s stunning environment, as well as the duo’s knack for shredding big mountain powder....
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CultureKicking the Beehive
Kicking the Beehive
skier Amie Engerbretson | photo Adam Clark You’ve heard of a tempest in a teapot, now meet a maelstrom in a Jetboil. Two blueprints that would ultimately decide the future of skiing and public transportation in Utah’s Wasatch Range are roiling public opinion. Here’s what you need to know about One Wasatch and Mountain Accord. Cue the dueling banjos. From our Early Winter 2015 issue....
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CultureObjective Truths
Objective Truths
Editorial Director Marc Peruzzi lays down some nonpartisan reasoning in his Editor’s Letter. American politics are polarized. It’s the worst, we’re told, since Reconstruction. Sounds bad, but then you remember that, at the time, the U.S. was divided over the issue of emancipation, and subsequently, whether free black people deserved any rights at all. History has proven that those who disagreed with the Southern worldview were correct. Slavery and racism are objectively evil. It’s acceptable to point that out. And even go to war for it. Polemics are naturally occurring in liberal constitutional republics—like, you know, America. Nobody gets to argue…...
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EnvironmentEclipse
Eclipse
“Eclipse,” the third episode of Salomon Freeski TV’s ninth season, was the brainchild of Reuben Krabbe, a Squamish, BC-based photographer and regular Mountain contributor. Krabbe had always wanted to photograph skiers during a total solar eclipse, and this past March, he got the opportunity. The 30-minute film chronicles the efforts of Krabbe, as well as pro skiers Cody Townsend, Brody Leven, and Chris Rubens, to capture action shots along the Arctic Circle in Svalbard, Norway. The film cost upwards of $100,000—making it Salomon’s most expensive Freeski TV episode to date—and was shot in extremely difficult terrain and conditions. The final edit, which took home Best Film: Snow Sports…...
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CultureInherently Unstable
Inherently Unstable
The view to the northeast just above Colorado’s famously avalanche prone Silverton Mountain. (Photo Dave Cox) From the editor: A Colorado Supreme Court case brings inbounds avalanches into the spotlight. Marc Peruzzi offers an all-in-one history, science lesson, and editorial on the topic. Both civil suits involve tragic losses of life in separate inbounds avalanche fatalities at Colorado ski resorts. The deaths occurred on the same Sunday in January 2012: An avalanche at Vail killed 13-year-old Taft Conlin and another, at Winter Park, killed a 28-year-old father, Christopher Norris. In September, the Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments on behalf of…...
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CultureKnow Before You Go: Avalanche Safety
Know Before You Go: Avalanche Safety
In ski towns across America, increasing numbers of kids are eyeing that backcountry gate and heading out into real avalanche terrain. Enter Know Before You Go, a nonprofit that promotes avalanche safety in public schools. This 15-minute video—which touches on how to read avalanche terrain, the dangers of going off-piste, and the five basic tenets that will keep you safe—is a must-see for winter recreationists everywhere, no matter your age. Read more about Know Before You Go, from our Winter 2015 issue. ...
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CultureEarly Winter 2015
Early Winter 2015
Location: Alta, Utah | Skier: Marcus Caston | Photographer: Adam Barker features Plaid-collar Mountain Folk Meet the entrepreneurs changing the outdoor industry—from the beer we stand in line for to the gear our dogs wear. Also in the package: ‘Merican-made socks, a Telluride-born production company, top-shelf down from a mom-and-pop outfit, re-purposed fleece and rain shells, Vancouver’s backcountry innovators, fashion for the windburned set, and Bozeman’s craft coffee. Gear Up, Get Down Swami’s annual ski buyer’s guide. The gear you need for corduroy, off-trail pow, and all the meters (hey, we’re optimistic) of snow in between—all tested in Utah, Colorado, and…...
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EnvironmentFact Checking El Niño, Part Tres
Fact Checking El Niño, Part Tres
Photo: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) In our final installment, our meteorologist breaks down where El Niño stands—and fact checks some headlines while he’s at it. At Mountain, we keep our Google News Feed tuned to El Niño for the latest on the phenomenon, which historically has brought big snowfall to a few key mountain ranges. To check the hype, we’re running the stories by ski country meteorologist, Nick Barlow, a guide at Colorado’s Powder Addiction Cat Skiing and lead forecaster at Barlometer.com. Where We Currently Stand This season’s El Niño is now officially the second strongest on record, trumped…...
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EnvironmentFact Checking El Niño Part Dos
Fact Checking El Niño Part Dos
Mountain’s meteorologist breaks down the news from the past few weeks, as well as a SNL skit from 1997. Here at Mountain, we take El Niño news seriously. Which is why we’ve been following breaking stories about it like weather paparazzi. We even enlisted our own ski country meteorologist, Nick Barlow, a guide at Powder Addiction Cat Skiing and lead forecaster at Barlometer.com, to help. Every couple weeks, Barlow weighs in on Niño-focused stories, cutting through the bullshit for your benefit. Utaaah? Or Utaargh? OpenSnow, October 5, 2015 Synopsis: The Blob, a chunk of cooling north Pacific water that has the potential to…...
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EnvironmentEditorial: Saving the Jumbo Wild
Editorial: Saving the Jumbo Wild
Vince Anderson and Steve House in British Columbia’s Purcell Mountains (Photo Christian Pondella/Patagonia). British Columbia doesn’t need another mega-resort; British Columbia needs glaciers and grizzly bears. By Assistant Editor Kiran Herbert For most people, the idea of wilderness is just that, an idea. Often, when we camp our cars are close by, and when we’re truly in the middle of nowhere—where the landscape is unmarred by industrialization—we’re in a commercial airliner. Wild places like the Jumbo Valley, nestled deep in British Columbia’s Purcell Mountains, a core habitat for grizzly bears, with no roads, and a human population of zero, are…...
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EnvironmentFact Checking El Niño
Fact Checking El Niño
Remember the 1997-98 El Niño? Photographer Dave Cox does. Mountain’s meteorologist breaks down the news from September 1-12. Editor’s Note: Last week, we rolled out a story about this year’s El Niño (Run! It’s the Godzilla Niño!), relying on the expert feedback of Colorado meteorologist Nick Barlow. Here, and for the next few weeks, he weighs in on Niño-related rumors, predictions, and published stories. Parched California Could Benefit by Forecast of Big El Niño, USA Today, September 11, 2015 Synopsis: A strong El Niño climate pattern could bring much-needed rain and snow to drought-stricken California, according to a new federal forecast out on September 10. The story also states that,…...
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