ajtestbed Here we are at the end of October, with mountains all across North America newly dusted with the season’s first snowfall—a mottled tease of the winter bounty yet to come. And so we wait as the natural rhythm of backcountry recreation turns, oh-so-slowly, from hard-won summer pursuits to the gravity-fueled joy of winter. Hiking, mountain … Read more
The Clean Water Act came to life the same year I did, kicking and screaming and full of promise. Now we’re both turning 50 — me and the law formally known as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. The half-century mark is a good time to take stock of one’s performance, and … Read more
Meet Rachel Efta, Big Sky ski patroller. She’ll walk ya through what it takes to open a mountain and keep it as safe as possible.
It’s called Tenants for Turns and it’s a simple idea. If homeowners or landlords in the Roaring Fork Valley area of western Colorado, which encompasses Aspen and Carbondale, two areas in which affordable housing is incredibly difficult to come by, rent their housing to employees of the company that owns Aspen Snowmass, they get one … Read more
It’s 4 a.m. [ed note: 4am!?! This is why I’m not an alpinist. Well, okay, among many other reasons]. It’s dark, it’s freezing, and the last thing you want to do is eat. Your cozy tent and warm sleeping bag are calling your name, but you must get up and force food down your pie hole … Read more
A trail runner and a cyclist, like the rest of us, have experienced darkness, fear, doubt, some from injury, some from life kicking them in the teeth. But by the power of two wheels, they’re healing.
One of the modest pleasures of my middle-age dad-life is an annual solo backpacking trip that, despite all other responsibilities and interests, I’ve been able to keep sacrosanct. In a good year, I can pull off a five-nighter without the fam. Usually, it’s enough if I can scratch out a three-night, four-day trip. It’s the … Read more
Iceland? New Zealand? Webb telescope images of the surface of Jupiter? Only one way to find out…
A flicker of disappointment crosses James Pfeifer’s face as he gazes at the path that cuts up this steep embankment. A skinny post that reads “CLOSED FOR RESTORATION” should be planted here, blocking access to the rock wall ahead. But there’s only a faint hole in the trail where the sign once stood. Pfeifer and … Read more
For Ted Hesser, photographer and alpinist, the mountains are the best tool in his bag for treating depression. More and more patients and therapists are realizing this too, giving prescriptions for nature rather than drugs.