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CultureUncommon Ground
Uncommon Ground
Meet the outfitters, ranchers, and farmers that live along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, 400,000 acres of public land on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide. The documentary Uncommon Ground chronicles their efforts to find a compromise that will leave this land undeveloped for future generations....
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EnvironmentOp-Ed: EPA Acts On Climate
Op-Ed: EPA Acts On Climate
A power plant at work. Screenshot courtesy of the new film Momenta, which documents the coal industry’s plan to expand production in Wyoming and Montana. Why the Clean Power Plan is good news for mountain communities. EPA administrator Gina McCarthy delivered welcome news for North America’s mountain communities when she announced the Clean Power Plan yesterday morning. The 645-page document is the first step in addressing President Obama’s directive to cut soot and carbon pollution (and accompanying greenhouse gas emissions) from power plants. The initiative is already under attack by business interests—the usual suspects. But the ski, bike, and outdoor…...
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CultureThe Scene
The Scene
An ink-stained magazine writer reports from his film fest initiation at Telluride’s Mountainfilm. Each May, documentary filmmakers and several thousand viewers arrive in Telluride, Colorado, the country’s most beautiful dead-end town. The Mountainfilm festival’s three-day program distracts the visitors from the sublime natural amphitheater of cliffs and the last snowfields resisting the spring sun. Mountainfilm brings an international buffet of documentary films and morning coffee talks with mountain luminaries such as Guns, Germs, and Steel author Jared Diamond, National Geographic photographer Nevada Wier, and rock jock Alex Honnold. Each event feels like an intimate gathering among friends. Memorial Day weekend…...
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EnvironmentNeed to Know: The Forest Network
Need to Know: The Forest Network
Groundbreaking science proves that trees don’t just compete with each other—they also cooperate for survival. By Patrick Doyle | Photograph by Roger Archibald As we rip through forests on skis and mountain bikes, most of our concern regarding trees is about not splitting a helmet on a trunk. But contemplating how they actually grow? If we think about it at all, we tend to view individual trees as Darwinian actors competing with neighbors, cousins, and offspring for limited nutrients, water, and sunlight in a winner-takes-all battle. Not so fast. Scientists have recently learned that our thinking on arboreal competition is flat-out wrong.…...
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CultureDrink Water
Drink Water
A better take on peer pressure. Bryan Fox (left) and Austin Smith rocking the Drink Water logo. Two snowboarders take on the $9 billion energy drink establishment. By Frederick Reimers | Photograph by Mark Welsh Energy drink companies have poured millions of dollars into action sports in the last decade, hoping to reach a youthful audience—or at least align their brands with young people who aren’t morbidly obese. And while many athletes profit from the sponsorship contracts, not all of them agree that a caffeine and sugar rush is a good fit for—you saw this coming—athleticism. “Kids guzzle so much of…...
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CultureMountain Download: Sweetwood Jerky Co.
Mountain Download: Sweetwood Jerky Co.
Producer of artisanal, antibiotic free, tender meat snacks that spurn the word “jerky.” By Kelly Bastone The black, palm-sized pouch looks like it might hold leaf tobacco. But open the zip-top and you release the smoky aroma of barbeque. Sinking your teeth into delectably moist Sweetwood fare is more like savoring a tender smoked brisket or petite filet mignon than the sugary convenience store gristle or stringy roadside products that pass for jerky. Ryan Wood | Photos courtesy of Sweetwood Jerky Co. Sweetwood Jerky is the latest venture from Ryan Wood, the former Dallas Cowboys fullback who co-founded the billion-dollar Under…...
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CultureDriving Slow With Guns
Driving Slow With Guns
By Drew Pogge | Photo by Jay Goodrich For many years, Yellowstone National Park was my recreation playground. I hiked its backcountry trails, climbed and skied its mountains, and kayaked its waters. I loved Yellowstone for what it gave me. But then I saw Yellowstone Park through a thicker lens—the two-inch-thick bulletproof windshield of a 17,000-pound armored truck. We were called “armed couriers,” and it was our job to transport currency in and out of the park. My partner and I carried millions of dollars in park revenue. We wore black, militaristic uniforms and carried .40 semi-automatic pistols—colorful robberies punctuate…...
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CultureEat What You Grow
Eat What You Grow
Eggs or soup, you girls are providing dinner one way or another: Bergen Doran feeding the chickens in Westcliffe, Colorado. Photographed by her dad Liam. Food, animal husbandry, and sustainability in mountain towns. By Susan Reifer Ryan Trout. Steak. Perhaps some venison or elk. When I was a kid, road-tripping around Utah, Colorado, and California with my ski-obsessed dad (and graciously game mom), that was fine mountain cuisine. But for us, eating mountain local mainly meant tasting a specialty of the region, like sourdough bread in California’s Basque country, or maple syrup in Vermont. Spending time in the outdoors was…...
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CultureAngel of the Nine Fingers
Angel of the Nine Fingers
A day in the life of the world’s most talented (and acerbic) river rat. By Tim Neville | Photographs by Jed Conklin The Deschutes River flows east of the Oregon Cascades on a 250-mile run from its headwaters near Sunriver to its mouth on the Columbia River close to Biggs Junction. The river corridor is a wild and peaceful place. Daisies sprout between lava flows. Basalt canyons give way to sheep-dotted ridges. And the cold, clear water holds some of the best trout and steelhead fishing in North America. In late summer, lunker-eyed fanatics load up their expensive drift boats and…...
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CultureThe Young and the Landless
The Young and the Landless
One ranching family profits from trophy-home pastures. By Kelly Bastone | Photos by Dave Cox A second-generation Colorado stockman who grew up pitching hay and herding cattle on his family’s Pagosa Springs property, Tai Jacober found himself landless after his grandfather’s death split the family ranch in 1992. He was a cattle rancher without a ranch. This, while each day he drove past the Roaring Fork Valley’s trophy spreads—most lush with rich grass, but many devoid of cattle. It didn’t take Tai—and his brothers Forest and Rio—long to turn disenfranchisement into a business plan. Today, Carbondale-based Crystal River Meats…...
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Culture5Point Film Festival Is Coming
5Point Film Festival Is Coming
A sneak peek from the 5Point Film Festival. Don’t expect just another an adrenaline-fueled huckfest on the big screen in Carbondale, Colorado on April 24–27. The line-up features much more, from compelling documentaries like McConkey and DamNation, an open house of livable vehicles at the Van Life Rally, and a live podcast of the Dirtbag Diaries. For more information, visit 5pointfilm.org....
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CulturePortfolio: Kt Miller
Portfolio: Kt Miller
The best selects from a career in the high country. Photographer: Kt Miller Home Office: Bozeman, MT Backstory: My dad skied 100-plus days each winter, and my mom gave me a 35mm Nikon camera in seventh grade. I photographed the Bridger Bowl community—50-year-old ski bums that ski every day. Later, my friends and I would go on long drives in the Montana countryside to photograph ghost towns and broken-down farm equipment. When you live in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, it’s normal to see buffalo, wolves, and mountain lions. But even with that background, photographing polar bears was overwhelming. Denali, AK…...
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CulturePortfolio: Ryan Creary
Portfolio: Ryan Creary
The best selects from a career in the high country. Photographer: Ryan Creary Home Office: Revelstoke, BC Backstory: Skateboarding was my first passion, and that led me to snowboarding. I love that surfy feel. I appreciated East Coast hills, but I was captivated by images of big mountains and deep snow. That never went away. After college, I moved to Whistler and worked in the terrain park and as a mountain bike guide and climbing wall attendant. Then I committed myself to photography. I look for patterns, light, and shadows that grab my attention. It’s about so much more than…...
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CulturePortfolio: Adam Clark
Portfolio: Adam Clark
The best selects from a career in the high country. Photographer: Adam Clark Home Office: Salt Lake City, UT Backstory: When I was 19, I sent the ski film company Matchstick Productions a package: ‘This is me. Here are three sweet photos from Alta. It’s my dream to shoot with you.’ Somehow they sent me to Bella Coola, British Columbia—heli-skiing—with Seth Morrison, Wendy Fisher, Brad Holmes, and Shannon Schad. I got to ski with my heroes and take photos of them, and that was all I ever wanted to do. It never gets old. Skier: Ian McIntosh | Juneau, AK…...
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EnvironmentAvalanche Insurance
Avalanche Insurance
Colorado’s avalanche center launches fundraising campaign to support recreational forecasts. Colorado skiers got their swagger back this winter. Abundant snowfall on the heels of two sub-par winters led to ample powder days, social media bragging, and a deep backcountry snowpack that should be skiable until summer. But for the avalanche forecasters at the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, the winter of 2013–14 felt more like a slugfest. The CAIC’s six avalanche forecasters monitor 10 backcountry zones across the state, posting free, daily avalanche advisories and weather reports for backcountry users. That’s in addition to running educational courses statewide, assisting law enforcement…...
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BikeGuides Get With the Times
Guides Get With the Times
This is what customer satisfaction looks like. Guide Billy Haas’ client descends Utah’s Mount Superior. Photo by Billy Haas Backcountry.com adds independent guide service to online retail just as the mountain guide profession comes of age in the U.S. Choose your adventure: Rock climb in California. Scale ice in New York’s Adirondacks. Tour Colorado’s San Juans by mountain bike. Add a ski tour of Mount Superior to a Utah trip. Now, choose your guide. At Detour, a new online marketplace from outdoor retail behemoth Backcountry.com, local guides post outdoor adventure itineraries for Northern California, the Northeast, Colorado, and Utah. The…...
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EnvironmentRoaring Into Town
Roaring Into Town
Mount Jumbo in Missoula, Montana. The Rattlesnake neighborhood sits to the left of the hill. Photo by Tom Robertson A recent avalanche in Missoula, Montana destroyed homes and took a life. As backcountry use grows and mountain communities expand, will the threat of urban avalanches grow? When Joe Sorden heard about the avalanche late in the day on February 28, he grabbed a shovel and quickly left his home in Missoula, Montana. Outside he encountered a true blizzard, dumping snow driven by winds up to 50 mph. The storm had loaded a 35-degree slope on Mount Jumbo, a foothill that…...
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EnvironmentDamNation
DamNation
There are 75,000 dams over three feet high in the United States. Would humans, fish, and the ecosystem be better off without them? That question is at the heart of “DamNation,” a new film from Patagonia and Felt Soul Media. Catch the premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 10, and find more information on the film and screenings at damnation.com....
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