backcountry posts
by Anna Brones (RSS feed) (21 days ago)
Apr 28th, 2013 at 5:00PM:
Utah is one of my favorite escapes. There's something about sitting on a slab of redrock and watching a black sky dotted with stars. You're in the middle of nowhere, alone, surrounded by silence, overpowered by the feeling of grandiose canyons.
Flickr user djurma captures exactly that in this nighttime photo of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. You can feel that stillness just by ...
by Laurel Miller (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Mar 16th, 2013 at 1:00PM: Since moving back to Colorado last August, I've actively tried to gain more experience in backcountry pursuits. I've been a downhill skier all my life, but prohibitive costs and weekend warrior traffic are a drag. At this point in my life, I also find more enjoyment in the contemplative, peaceful nature of snowshoeing and nordic skiing.
My ultimate goal for the backcountry has always been to ...
by Laurel Miller (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Feb 9th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Crested Butte features incredible backcountry and extreme opportunities in a remote and captivating package. It's also got more lift-accessed extreme terrain than anywhere else in the nation. You may need to purchase a ski-pass, but it's all avalanche-controlled (what's known as sidecountry, rather than backcountry). Few are the powder hounds who miss the constant threat of imminent burial ...
by Anna Brones (RSS feed) (4 months ago)
Jan 10th, 2013 at 10:00AM:
"We're going to ski in to this place where you get lunch served in a yurt."
My Colorado friends know what it takes to get me excited about life; combine an outdoor pursuit with eating and I am almost always game. I didn't even need to know the details of where we were going. The fact that I was going to a restaurant in a backcountry setting was good enough.
Near Leadville, Colorado, ...
by Laurel Miller (RSS feed) (4 months ago)
Jan 6th, 2013 at 2:00PM: Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be young, broke, or drunk to stay at a youth hostel. I'll be the first to admit not all hostels are created equal, but as a perpetually cash-strapped journalist in her 40s, they're often my only option for indulging in the snowy outdoor pursuits I love. Fortunately, there are clean, efficient, well-run hostels throughout the West that make a stay ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (6 months ago)
Nov 15th, 2012 at 12:00PM: One of the long-standing rules of backcountry travel has always been that you never set out without first letting someone else know where you are going and when you expect to be back. In the past, that was sometimes accomplished simply by leaving a handwritten note on the kitchen table before heading out the door. As low-tech as that sounds, the approach was still useful if you ever ran into ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (2 years ago)
Sep 14th, 2010 at 8:00AM: When it comes to giant ski resorts, it's difficult to top Powder Mountain in Utah. The already impressively sized resort added another 1000 acres this year, bringing its total to over 7000, which gives it the most skiable terrain of any resort in the U.S. The expansion means that resort now covers three mountains and offers 135 different runs, ensuring that there is something to ski for every ...
by Jason Heflin (RSS feed) (2 years ago)
Aug 30th, 2010 at 9:56AM: Last week we reviewed the Kelty Gunnison 2.1 tent. This versatile back woods shelter works equally well at a full-service campground as it does on a lightweight backpacking excursion. We're hooking-up one lucky Gadling reader with a Gunnison 2.1 of their own. That's right, it's time for a tent upgrade.
The Gunnison 2.1 is a two-person shelter that sets up quickly, and keeps occupants dry in ...
by Brenda Yun (RSS feed) (3 years ago)
Jun 12th, 2009 at 7:00PM: It's Aloha Friday as they say here on the islands -- and a very special Friday at that! Today marks the beginning of the 62nd annual King Kamehameha Day festivities in Hawaii, so you can count on me enjoying the parade, draping ceremony, fun, and sun that lasts through the weekend. Here are some other cool "happenings" going on in the travel blogosphere to jump start your weekend:
The ...
by Catherine Bodry (RSS feed) (5 years ago)
Aug 14th, 2007 at 1:45PM:
There are a few ways to experience Denali National Park and Preserve. One is to arrive like a rajah on the second floor of a domed rail car or lofty motor coach, and stay at one of the plush corporate lodges. From there you can book a number of excursions that include flight seeing, river rafting, and guided hikes and tours. Or you can arrive independent of commercial companies, bus into the ...
by Erik Olsen (RSS feed) (7 years ago)
Apr 14th, 2006 at 10:51AM: Sure, we're reaching the end of the ski season and
people are now thinking more about climbing and paddling and hiking and whatever. But I'm having a hard time saying
good-bye. It was a slim ski season for me. I got in a few days in Utah this year, but not nearly the amount of skiing I
normally get...which probably has a lot to do with living in New York City, not exactly the ski capitol of the ...
by Erik Olsen (RSS feed) (7 years ago)
Mar 1st, 2006 at 6:13PM: My, it has been an odd winter here on the East Coast. We went from a long series of delightfully warm days in the
coldest of months (Dec/Jan), to a monster snowstorm that lasted for a mere day and then whose snows disappeared like
the clouds that brought them. Now, while it's chilly, it is still quite warm given the season. A sign of
global warming? The apocalypse? That Tom and Katie are ...