Alta Backcountry: Living and Exporing in Wild Places

  • Ten Favorite Photos from Autumn 2018

    The experts said it wouldn’t be a beautiful autumn. The experts lied. There was work stress and a million things to pull us away from the center. But then, as always, nature pulled us back. As we move full blast… Continue reading

  • Home Turns

    The first ski turns of the season trigger nervous tension. Regardless of how long I’ve skied, there is always a predictable self-doubt, “can I still even do this?” The reason I bring this up, is because it’s been snowing a… Continue reading

  • First Day of the 2018-19 Ski Season

    Opening day. There are few things quite as magical as the first ski day of the season. The initial click of the boots and bindings, the first turn and glide, cold air blasting into the face and lungs. It’s a… Continue reading

  • Kuksa Carving Class at the Northhouse Folk School

    This September, Elaine and I took a unique-for-us trip to the northern part of Minnesota. The plan for the trip was two-fold. First, we wanted to learn how to carve Kuksa cups at the Northhouse Folk School in Grand Marais,… Continue reading

  • Love and Packrafts

    My very first foray with the sport of packrafting was back in 2007. Sore-legged and weary after the Soggy Bottom 100 mountain bike race on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, I found myself navigating a rental car through back alley… Continue reading

  • The end of summer’s peak, the beginning of autumn’s nudge.

    Something happens this time of year. Perhaps it’s the subtle shift in the sun’s position in the sky, or the occasional morning in the high 40’s and not the low 50’s. Whatever it is, early-August marks the beginning of the… Continue reading

  • Energy

    Energy. Without it, there is nothing. With it, anything is possible. When Elaine and I got back from the land of ice and snow – ironically named Greenland – our energy fuel tank was empty. Two years of living in… Continue reading

  • Dealing with Disappointment

    They say you learn more from misadventures than from the ones that are smooth sailing the whole way. And you know, they’re probably right. But that doesn’t make it easy. Not by a long shot. It’s actually taken me until… Continue reading

  • Follow Our Ski Across Greenland

    Hey friends and family. If you’d like to follow our ski across Greenland, check out this link. We’ll try to update it each day with a brief description of happenings on the ice. And if you want to message us,… Continue reading

  • Greenland Ski Traverse Gear List

    Here’s a quick and dirty gear list of what all we’re taking to Greenland. This isn’t a nice write up like the one I did for the Continental Divide Trail, but it gets the point across. The format is also… Continue reading