alpinism

When the new Jackson Hole epic tale “Swift Silent Deep” opened in our WildSnow HQ home theater, the contrast between its stealthy ethos to the Glen Plakes and other names in Edge of Never was immediately obvious.

Case in point: Alpinist Magazine, that wonderful large format pub that tastes and smells of the high alpine, was bought last winter by the same folks who publish Backcountry Magaine. More, they acquired former and famed Climbing Magazine publisher Michael Kennedy as Editor in Chief, meaning my old friend and climbing partner “MK” is charge of making sure the pages look and read as good as we’d expect from such a magazine.

Grieskogel is a medium sized ski peak in the western Stubai Alps, in the Larstiger mountains between Sellrain and Hochstubai. You reach it for backcountry skiing via the usual network of roads you find in this area, in this case reminding me of spring skiing on Independence Pass back in Colorado. I’d hooked up for today’s trip with Manfred Barthel, the Austrian alpinist elder I’ve come to know over the past few years. Manfred continues to amaze me with his skill and endurance, not to mention his amazing knowledge of the Alps. He seems to have a sixth sense of where the snow is good, the avy danger lower, or the

Our adventure lifestyle is sometimes an extension of our father’s. I couldn’t have been more than 4 years old. Not only was my father quite the outdoorsman back then, but he loved gardening and had quite the green thumb. He also loved hiking and exploring.

After yesterday’s partly cloudy skies, and thus cutting the last of the day’s goals, we, of course, picked roast bluebird off the Day 4 fantasy menu. And yes, next morning our dreams became reality: perfect azure skies, hundreds of square…