The skimo scene is on the rise in the Big Sky state with an inaugural four-race series, the Big Sky Skimo Cup, going down this past winter.

The Black Crows Mentis Freebird is an 80mm underfoot near 1kg ski that remains stable and smooth when opening up the turn radius. And yeah, it’s seafoam blue.

Fitness uphilling has surged into an inbounds antigravity movement – how about returning “uphilling” to its backcountry roots: “Denaliing.”

In this news roundup, there’s skimo, business cycles, profits and expenditures, a lost box of slides and thoughts of magical mountains.

Crowdsourcing plea: help build out an interactive map displaying resorts allowing uphill travel. We link to a Google form in this story, thanks for the help.

Report from the 2nd Annual Red Bull Raid ‘freemo’ competition at Squaw Valley combining uphill skinning fitness with technical freeride skiing.