FEATURES

ESSAYS

Snow Roads Driven
In 1975 Dick Dorworth wrote a seminal piece titled Night Driving. With this essay in mind, we asked Dick to put some snow on the road and reboot.

Skiing is Believing
Sometimes the climb is as good as the descent. And if all snow were as light as the snow Drew Pogge writes of, the climb would be all we need.

Perpetual Motion
Skiers who don't know any better think topping out and transitioning on a splitboard is slow. Rider in Chief Mike Horn knows otherwise.

Clarity of the Down
Journeywoman ski writer Megan Michelson has been down this pitch before. It's the place, deep snow or no, where she reconnects with herself.

Tailgate Time
Between her paddling, climbing and skiing exploits, Gwen Cameron spends a lot of time in the parking lot.

INSIGHTS

Into the Deep
In an adaptation from his book White Planet, Leslie Anthony ponders deep ecology. Are we one with, in this case, powder snow? Is powder transformative to the human spirit?

Race of the Unbroken
Climbing a mountain to ski back down is nothing new. Ski historian John Fry gets this, and shares with us the beginnings of what we now call backcountry.

Optimal Experience
Select head doctors understand the secret psychology of snow. Deputy Editor Drew Pogge, who's skied and thought a lot, talked with two of them. What he found should put you at peace.

Ashes to Ashes
Before John Holleman died of cancer, Senior Editor Craig Dostie had the opportunity to break trail for him one last time in Tahoe's West Shore backcountry. `Nuff said.

DEPARTMENTS

Contributors
Poets among us.

The Ski House
A note from the managing editor.

Figures11
NASA, the Republic of Georgia and the world's deadliest mountain.

Letters
Our readers bang on.

Backstory
French fries and face shots with a little breast milk.

Biff America
Hummers, wieners and relishing sloppy seconds.

Conflict Powder
In the world's most-invaded country lies a sprawling mountain range of 15,000-foot peaks.

Swapping Terrorism for Tourism—A Solution?
Can large-scale resort development stop fighting while saving Europe's most undeveloped wilderness?

"The Crux Mistake"
Seven days lost on Mount Elbrus.

Mountain Skills: Play Nice
BC etiquette gets real. Plus: a profile of Apocalypse Couloir.

Lance's Lab
Professor Lance Riek butts in with the beta on powder.

The Flake Facts
The science, records and forecasting nuggets behind snowfall.

Mission: Ontario
Inside NASA's mission to measure snowfall.

Ages of Powder
1,000 years of powder skis.

Spectacle
Shots too good to be true usually are. Not in the backcountry.

Tried & New
The editors' gear: used and abused— and what they'd choose to replace it.

Back Page
The avalanche poodle evolves.