For me, the Scarpa Alien 1.0 is nearly the perfect race/light touring boot. While it certainly isn’t right for everyone, this boot really does perform shockingly well in all light and fast scenarios.  Scarpa has three different Alien boots, the…

I grew up with an Army vet Dad who liked to yell out a favorite maxim from his West Point days: “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance!” When I asked Joe Howdyshell, head coach at Summit Endurance Academy and former…

Black Friday has passed, but if you’re like me, your holiday shopping isn’t finished. For some, it hasn’t even started. If you’re here, you have friends and family that are backcountry skiers and so it makes sense to look for…

Avalanche airbag packs featuring the LiTRIC electronic deployment system co-developed by Arc’teryx and Ortovox are finally available in the US for this winter. The electronic airbag inflation system is much lighter and takes up less pack volume than canister-driven airbag…

Booking a backcountry ski hut in Colorado is more like trying to score Taylor Swift or Phish tickets than it is booking a hotel room. If you weren’t smashing a keyboard the second they went on-sale, you probably aren’t getting…

The Julbo Montebianco 2 offers great eye protection from intense sun. And fit with the Reactiv 1-3 High Contrast prescription lens; this is eyewear I can use from dawn to dusk.