Alta Backcountry: Living and Exporing in Wild Places

  • First Ski Tour Ecstasy

    The first ski tour of the year always surprises with crispness. There is a sharpness to it all – the cold air, the white snow, the blue sky, the first strides. The mountain ahead rises, rolling and stark. Yet for… Continue reading

  • The White Strip of Death

    Loveland Basin sits right on the top of the Continental Divide. As such, it's usually the first or second area to open for the year. The location of this year's first day of skiing. In reality, about 3% of this… Continue reading

  • Line It Up: 2015-16 Skiing Dreams and Musings

    Upon returning from a really nice trip to the west coast to spend some time with mom, Elaine and I have returned to our home in Eldora, Colorado to find 28° temperatures, a stiff blowing west wind, and a couple… Continue reading

  • Nordic Ski Touring VIDEO!!!

    There is a severe lack of hype around nordic ski touring. This is a good thing in many ways, but not at the cost of the sport dying in this country as folks take to snowbiking (French for can't cross… Continue reading

  • Keep Hessie Wild

    Alpenglow along I-70 on Vail Pass.  On Friday I went to Vail for my final visit with Dr. Hackett. After pulling and prodding for a few minutes the doctor announced that I was good to go. The rehabiltation process, which… Continue reading

  • Recovery and Renewal

    When I got injured in early April 2014 – a final aggravation of a bum knee that I tore and had mis-diagnosed back in 1992 – I didn’t think much of it. Yeah, I definitely tweaked the right knee, but… Continue reading

  • Arctic Forest Night Love

    As we passed the bank sign in downtown Nederland, the temperature read 18° below zero. The sign switches from “Celsius” to “Fahrenheit” to “Time” slow enough so you can’t really see them all in a single pass, so I had… Continue reading

  • Top Ten Ski Photos of 2013-14

    And the mundane procession begins. More physical therapy today seeking range of motion, lots of rest and icing. All in all, I couldn't ask for much more two days after surgery. Save some pain on the inside of the tibia… Continue reading

  • ACL Surgery a Success

    I had reconstructive ACL surgery yesterday at 8 am. Dr. Hackett spent 50 minutes inserting a cadaver ACL into my tibia and femur, and apparently all went very well (I must admit, I'd love to know whose cadaver it was!… Continue reading

  • ACL Surgery Tomorrow

    In ten hours time, I'll be getting a new Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in my right knee. It's an injury I've apparently had since a ski racing crash in 1992 that I re-aggravated in a fall on April 4th this… Continue reading