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EnvironmentFighting for the Backcountry
Fighting for the Backcountry
Grassroots groups in New York and Vermont establish backcountry ski trails on public lands. It’s September 2013, and Ron Konowitz hikes through birch and maple trees showing fall colors on 4,961-foot Mount Haystack in New York’s Adirondack Park. He’s explored these mountains for more than 40 years, usually with skis on his feet emblazoned with his identifier: Ron Kon. But today, Konowitz flags and reflags branches, brush and blowdown along a half-mile stretch, carefully avoiding flagging live trees. This section of forest drops about 800 vertical feet at a pitch approaching 30 degrees. With the deadfall gone Konowitz envisions five…...
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CultureWinter 2015
Winter 2015
The editors introduce the Winter 2015 issue. features A Carnival Fight on Whistler’s Spearhead Traverse Just a few miles from Whistler’s sushi restaurants and night clubs, the Hanson Brothers follow the tracks of Canadian legends through the Coast Range’s glaciated backcountry. Defender of the North Climate change and the voracious oil industry threaten the Arctic. Rick Bass argues for protection. The Bird of Pow Street Forty years ago, skiers tapped jet fuel to access British Columbia’s steeps and deeps. John Briley gets an insider’s view—and max vert—at Northern Escapes Heli-Skiing. Mountain Voices Pros share lessons from the field: snowboarding icon…...
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EnvironmentResort Migration
Resort Migration
Skier Emelie Stenberg Location Jumbo Pass, BC Photograph Steve Shannon The ski industry moves ahead of climate change. By Patrick Doyle By the end of January 2014, just one-third of the terrain at Tahoe’s ski resorts was open for skiing. It wasn’t a midwinter thaw. The low tide conditions were due to California’s smallest snowfall statewide since 1971–72. Scientists attribute much of the drought to climate change’s warming temperatures. More bad news: By 2100, scientists predict 10 of the 14 major resorts in the Northeast will likely close due to global warming. Tough stuff, but those same experts also predict…...
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EnvironmentMTN Advocate: The Conservation Alliance
MTN Advocate: The Conservation Alliance
We give the Mountain pulpit to John Sterling, Executive Director of the Conservation Alliance. When my kids were young, I would take them to the Badlands just outside Bend, Oregon. We’d follow flat trails through dry river canyons, past ancient juniper trees and petroglyphs carved into the rock by Native Americans. I wanted to give my children a deep connection to Oregon’s wild landscapes, just as my parents had done for me with backpacking, skiing, and fishing outings throughout my childhood. But I worried that unregulated ATV use and illegal cutting of the junipers would destroy the Badlands before my children could gain…...
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CultureGive A Little
Give A Little
Singletrack with a view on Snodgrass Mountain. Photo by John Holder The Crested Butte Land Trust rallies for access and recreation on Snodgrass Mountain. Northwest of the Crested Butte ski area, Snodgrass Mountain’s gentle flanks rise to an 11,145-foot summit. On a July weekend, I left the Gothic Road trailhead on my mountain bike to ride the Snodgrass Trail. Shimmering aspen groves swallowed me whole. In vibrant meadows, giant mounds of purple lupines whizzed past in a Technicolor blur. The singletrack contours for 3.5 miles along Snodgrass’s lower flank, a stunning taste of Crested Butte’s singletrack network. Easy access from…...
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EnvironmentOp-Ed: Turn Out for Snow
Op-Ed: Turn Out for Snow
How do we curb climate change? Tell ski resorts to rock the Capitol. By Rachel Walker and the editors of Mountain magazine Vermont dairy cows chew their cud, produce rich milk, and pile up waste in a barn at the south end of Lake Champlain. The manure collects in an underground tank, where 101-degree heat and a special mix of bacteria convert much of that fecal energy into methane. The gas, in turn, fuels a generator that feeds electricity to the grid, which powers Killington ski area’s K-1 Gondola and Peak Lodge. And, oh yeah, the leftover cow pies still fertilize…...
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CultureEarly Winter 2014
Early Winter 2014
Does this double issue make us look ginormous? Left: Whistler, BC | Blake Jorgenson. Right: Clay Ellis. Editorial Director Marc Peruzzi introduces the Early Winter 2014 issue of Mountain magazine here. features Gear Up, Get Down Swami’s annual ski buyer’s guide. The gear you need to access immaculate resort corduroy, face-melting backcountry powder, and every other rendition of gravity fueled bliss this winter. New skis, boots, poles, backpacks, bindings, and more—all tested at high velocity in Utah, Colorado, and Montana. Resort | Backcountry The Snow Rush The ultimate powder skier’s guide: insider knowledge on 34 of North America’s best ski resorts. Get ready for flawless snow,…...
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EnvironmentRaft, Ski, Repeat
Raft, Ski, Repeat
Over the last four years, raft guide and skiing enthusiast Allie Rood has spent 1300 days outside. She captured 20 days on her GoPro this past year and made a 2½-minute video, highlighting her best moments on the river and the slopes....
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CultureThe Mountain Collective Magazine 2014/2015
The Mountain Collective Magazine 2014/2015
An introduction to the Mountain Collective magazine. features Protect Our Winters Enough with the doom and gloom. Skiers and snowboarders take action against climate change, and professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones leads the charge on Capitol Hill. The Collective Connection Where you choose to ski matters. And, as Marc Peruzzi discovers, the Collective Pass unlocks stunning alpine vistas, real mountain towns, better skiing—and unadulterated joy. departments Gallery We set the cameras to stun. Knockout mountainscapes and face-melting action in living color. Report The Mountain Collective welcomes Banff, Alberta to the ranks. We decipher the numerology behind your pass, and welcome you…...
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EnvironmentNeed to Know: The Glacier Killers
Need to Know: The Glacier Killers
The West Branch of the Columbia Glacier, near Prince William Sound in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. New research reveals humans halted the Little Ice Age. Is it too late to learn from our mistakes? by Patrick Doyle | photo by Ethan Welty In July 1998, Thomas Painter took a break from his doctoral studies on the reflective nature of snow to climb the Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colorado. The snow was unusually filthy along his route. On a whim, he scraped the dirt off a small area with his ice axe and continued climbing. After summiting, Painter returned to the snowfield.…...
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EnvironmentProtect Our Winters
Protect Our Winters
Rider: Jermey Jones | Lake Tahoe, CA | Photographer: Jeff Curley Your Mountain Collective pass comes preloaded with the chance to protect our winters—and save the world. By Eric Hansen Jeremy Jones is not an obvious pick for a leader in the fight against global warming. A National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, an O’Neill-sponsored big mountain snowboarder, and the owner of his own company, Jones Snowboards, the 39-year-old is plenty busy. He’s also no organization man. By his own account, he barely graduated high school. And before starting the Protect Our Winters nonprofit in 2007, beyond tracking the next…...
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CultureThe Collective Connection
The Collective Connection
Skier: Marc Peruzzi | Snowbird, UT | Photograph Lee Cohen By Marc Peruzzi My wife once taught high school in rural far northern Vermont. Whenever it snowed, one student—with the thick build of unpaid farm help—would stare longingly out the window. Then he’d twitch. And then he’d jump on his desk and burst forth with a throaty braaap, braaap, braaap! as he twisted an imaginary snow machine throttle and blasted through meadows and woods into the storm. I got that kid. Skiing tried to keep me from receiving a college diploma. In class, when it snowed, I twitched. So I dropped…...
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CultureRecreational Marijuana in Colorado
Recreational Marijuana in Colorado
Checking in on legalized pot—nine months later. Marijuana has been legal in Colorado since January 2014. Beyond serving as endless joke fodder for late night television hosts, Colorado now offers a glimpse of what state-by-state legalization looks like. Naturally, mountain towns are part of the equation. The first lesson? At least anecdotally—nobody has tracked it yet—marijuana tourism is real: “Almost 90 percent of the people I’ve seen coming in here are from out of town,” says Trent Smith, manager at Green Dragon, one of two recreational marijuana shops in Aspen. Since Amendment 64 won a 2012 ballot with 55 percent…...
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CultureSummer 2014
Summer 2014
We sent Mountain Creative Director Dave Cox on assignment for the cover photo. features In God’s Eye Mike Steere reports on the darkest of murder mysteries in the lightest of places—California’s Sequoia National Park. Welcome to Banffland We sent Lee Cohen and Rob Ephrain Story to Alberta on the off chance they’d be consumed by bears. Instead, we got this super-banger travel log. A Photographer’s Journal: Kamikaze! Michael Darter pedals with mountain bike legends at the Kamikaze Bike Games in Mammoth Mountain, CA. Hut, Hut, Like! Patrick Doyle and his Fighting Irish clan invade a pastoral Maine hut system. Ryan Stuart finds…...
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EnvironmentReturn of the Native
Return of the Native
Restoring Colorado’s state fish to its native waters could redefine species conservation—if we can avoid the mistakes of the past. By Kelly Bastone | Photographs by Johnny Greenham I usually carry a wallet full of flies when I try this hard to sight fish. But today I stalk the banks of Bear Creek equipped only with a pair of polarized sunglasses that reveal nothing—not a single fluttering fin—in the rushing waters. This boulder-filled gully is the only place where greenback cutthroat trout still swim free and wild. I’ve flubbed my chance to glimpse the Colorado native. An estimated 500 to 700…...
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EnvironmentMTN Advocate: Clean Energy Collective
MTN Advocate: Clean Energy Collective
We give the Mountain pulpit to Paul Spencer, Founder of Clean Energy Collective. Ten years years ago, my wife and I built our home in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. It’s off the grid and perfectly sited for solar energy. However, 85 percent of people in mountain communities can’t go solar. About 40 percent are renters—and installing solar doesn’t make financial sense for them. The other 45 percent have poorly sited or shaded properties. Others believe solar’s too cumbersome, too technologically overwhelming, and too expensive. For solar to be part of the solution it has to be accessible to more people and offer…...
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BikeOff the Rails in British Columbia
Off the Rails in British Columbia
A backcountry ski lodge builds singletrack in the Canadian alpine. It’s like mountain biking—with a sauna and a chef. By Ryan Stuart | Photographs by Ryan Creary I’m going off the rails on a crazy train. Ozzy Osbourne’s classic skips through my head as I drop into Crazy Train, the highest and most technical trail on a brand new singletrack network at Sol Mountain Lodge in the Monashees. Still raw, the track weaves through piles of shattered talus. Then it breezes through loamy goodness and pitches down grippy slabs of granite. I try to hop my bike onto a boulder…...
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CultureFilm: DamNation
Film: DamNation
With the backing of outdoor giant Patagonia, filmmakers Travis Rummel and Ben Knight do for American waterways what Michael Moore’s Roger & Me did for Flint, Michigan. DamNation documents our nation’s history of strangling rivers, destroying fish populations, and drowning canyons in the construction of 75,000 dams. Rich storytelling and a naturalist’s eye for cinematography earned the film accolades from critics worldwide. But it’s the film’s bold call to action—enough to make you want to dust off your monkey wrench—that will inspire viewers to speed up the removal of many of the obsolete structures, and free the salmon. damnationfilm.com From…...
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