White pines and the occasional needleless larch poke through the all-encompassing fog that sits mid-valley. Our guide for the day, Drew Copeland, and I discuss glacial runoff, hydrology and peak water as we wind our way up the dirt road towards Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson, British Columbia.
It’s been a dry winter all over the west, and last week in the Selkirks was no different. But 20 centimeters of new snow the night before cured all. Our sobering discussion about the inevitable demise of glaciers in the Canadian Rockies is balanced out by puffy peaks of snow adorning tree branches as we pull into the single parking lot. For a Tuesday morning, the usually sleepy resort is packed.
It’s a stark contrast to my previous day of touring in the Selkirks, where David Lussier, owner of Summit Mountain Guides, Ashley Voyken and I had threaded low-vis turns through 30-degree trees all by ourselves on the north side of Kootenay Pass. Most of the 9 a.m. Whitewater crowd are kitted out with day packs and pin bindings. Everyone, it seems, is prepping to duck ropes and head to the prodigious backcountry terrain on all sides of the resort.
While I’d enjoyed the alone time the day before, it’s also cool to see the stoke shared around as crews of 10 chat about plans for the day. “Are the clouds going to lift enough to head into the alpine?” “Watch out for that slide path, I saw it popped during the last snowfall.” The small community and large amount of terrain produce a vibe that’s friendlier than I’m used to in the Wasatch.
We head up to a burn zone across the basin, and I quickly understand why. There’s more than enough snow to go around. Why not share?
—Liam
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Current Issue: The Quiet Issue
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Stories |France Takes Skimo Mixed Relay Gold, United States Places Fourth
France’s Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet win gold in skimo mixed relay. Americans Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith place fourth in a tight race with Spain.
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Marianne Fatton and Oriol Cardona Coll win skimo gold, Anna Gibson and Cam Smith finish ninth and 10th
Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton earned the first-ever Olympic skimo gold medal, while Spain’s Oriol Cardona Coll won the men’s sprint.
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Six rescued, Eight Deceased, One missing, presumed dead in deadliest avalanche in modern California history
After an extensive operation, six of 15 skiers have been rescued, eight have been located while one remains missing. Recovery efforts are planned to resume when conditions allow.
Gear
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Gearbox: 2026 Goggles
The best ski goggles of 2026, per our editors and testers.
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Gearbox: 2026 Helmets
The editors review a range of helmets on the market. Find the right one for your head and your objective.
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Gearbox: 2026 Packs
Backcountry ski packs come in all shapes and sizes. Our editors review their favorites from this year.
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2026 Editors’ Choice Apparel Reviews
Our 2026 Editors’ Choice apparel reviews span the gamut, from kits and hardshells to puffies, midlayers and baselayers.
MORE GEAR
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2026 Editors’ Choice Splitboard Reviews
The best splitboards of 2026, from mountaineering-ready decks to slashable powder boards.
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2026 Editors’ Choice Splitboard Boot and Binding Reviews
Editors’ Choice splitboard boots and bindings for both hard- and soft-boot setups.
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2026 Editors’ Choice Ski Reviews
With the rate that ski gear is advancing, it can be hard to keep track of the latest space-age fiber blends and non-traditional rocker profiles. That’s where this Gear Guide comes in. Our editors spent their summer studying the newest features and technologies found in skis, boots and bindings. Then, they spent just as much…
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2026 Editors’ Choice Binding Reviews
Comprehensive reviews of the best backcountry ski bindings of 2025.
The Backcountry Podcast
From legendary athletes to iconic product designers, activists to guides, our world is filled with new views, wisdom, determination and crustiness.
Latest Podcast Episodes
From playing NCAA soccer to a successful modeling and acting career to being the top polar explorer of his time, Doug Stoup is an enigma. Host Adam Howard recently journeyed to Antarctica with Stoup and their conversation ranges from Doug’s personal training of A-list Hollywood actors to near death experiences; adventures with Doug Coombs; and taking novice skiers to the South Pole.
Tele Mike Russell: Turns for All
Tele Mike Russell grew up as a sharecropper’s son in Delaware before attending college and becoming an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Then he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center and decided he’d better follow another path, this one to skiing in Colorado, where he’d go on to find a family in the National Brotherhood of Skiers and help found its backcountry program.
Eric Blehm’s roots in snowboarding run deep. He started riding during the sport’s infancy, and after college became an editor at Transworld SNOWboarding Magazine. Years later, he was in a lift line when a fellow rider saw the “Craig Kelly is my Co-Pilot” sticker on his board, and asked Blehm: “Who is Craig Kelly?” He was floored by the notion that there were snowboarders out there who didn’t know who Craig was. And this inspired him to write The Darkest White.
Never Miss an Issue
Five fat issues a winter featuring the best writers, photographers and gear testers in the world. Travel to the far reaches of your imagination.
Mountain Skills
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Mountain Skills: Planning a trip to an offbeat location requires more than Google
Chamonix. Hokkaido. Portillo. Certain locations are synonymous with international ski travel, meaning resources for trip planning are as plentiful as some places can be crowded. But what about planning a trip to Kosciusko, Aoraki, Vielha or some other little-spoken-of locale with limited beta, few available maps or no guidebooks? Where do you start?
Resort Skinning Policies
We’ve compiled a database of U.S. resorts with a little about each individual policy—where and when skinning is allowed, whether or not it’s free during operating hours and the link directly to the resort’s guidelines.
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Mountain Skills: Set a Plan and Stick to It
Sticking to your plan is easier said than done. But, it’s one of the best ways to stay safe in the backcountry.
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Mountain Skills: Professional vs. Recreational Avalanche Training…what’s in it for me?
This winter, avalanche education in the U.S. will be evolving. The old system of Level 1, 2, 3 will be replaced with two options: a recreational track and one geared toward professionals. The goal of the split is to deliver better, more focused courses to each user group. So how do you know which one’s…
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Mountain Skills: Hydrate or Die
We lose fluids through perspiration (sweating) and respiration (breathing). While ski touring, high elevation and drier air make this even more dramatic. And during the spring, warm weather further exaggerates the amount of fluid lost. Dehydration leads to a drop of performance—in stages from slowing down to bonking to needing medical attention.
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Mountain Skills: Anticipating Point Release Avalanches
As the spring approaches, many of us turn our attention to steeper, more technical lines higher in the mountains. The layers of snow that formed throughout the winter begin to gain strength and the avalanche problem is less complicated—it’s ski mountaineering season! But as the temperatures climb, wet avalanches become a more regular, primary concern.
