Backcountry Skiing News Roundup
It’s official, Outside Magazine’s “Ten Latest Towns to be Ruined by Too Much Popularity” will be available for your edification in their next issue. Jackson, Wyoming is their pick for a Western town, ostensibly because of its “good pubs” and a number of other factors.
Outside should mention in their article that outdoor author and backcountry skier Ted Kerasote lives near Jackson. Ted’s an old friend of mine from late 1970s Outward Bound instructing days, and his early encouragement has a lot to do with my own career as an outdoor communicator. I’ve watched Ted’s writing do a slow but steady burn to success over the years, and he’s finally in the big time. Kerasote’s new book about his dog, “Merle’s Door,” recently made the New York Times best sellers list after only two weeks in publication. Congratulations Ted!
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| In honor of Ted’s new book, here is a photo of my own dog Princess who accompanied Ted and I on several backcountry ski expeditions back in the 1980s. Princess got killed by a car before getting old, but had quite a life. She gave me a sample of what days must be like in dog heaven when during a NOLS rock climbing course I was teaching circa 1981, she went around one night after the students had done their fry/bake practice and ate every one of their pies. She looked like an inflated tick when she returned, and her smile was classic. The students were not impressed, but I’ve been laughing about it ever since. |
We can’t let a roundup go by without some global warming comments. Near here in Aspen they have an event every summer called the “Aspen Ideas Festival.” The thing is sort of an intellectual circle jerk with occasional explosions of wisdom. For example, I’ve always enjoyed (but don’t necessarily agree with) New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman’s take on the issues. At the Ideas Fest he took on global warming, and said “we’re in the middle of a big green hallucination.” To see what he means by that, check out this article about his talk.
It’s indeed summer in the Northern Hemisphere but you can still find some gems in the ski news. For example, check out this article about a team of women doing a ski expedition on Mustagata (the popular 24,750′ mountain in China). According to one of the gals, “Ski mountaineering is one of the few experiences where you get a reverse hangover. You get the headache first from the altitude and the exhilaration comes afterwards.”
Here at WildSnow.com world HQ, we continue to tweak this website and add content. I’ve been working hard on the binding museum, and changed the news scroller (upper right on this page) to a more interactive version that you can control with your mouse. I’ve also been doing quite a bit of browser compatibility testing to make sure everyone out there can see WildSnow.com in all its glory. If your browser/operating system combo doesn’t seem to display this website correctly, please let us know, and please tell us what you think of the new news scroller.
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10 Responses to “Backcountry Skiing News Roundup”
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Lou
I agree whole heartedly about the next town to be ruined by too much popularity popularity. I actually bought that issue because of the article about skiing in Iran, but then I saw the article about “Where to live now” I hate when magazines do that. I will say that it’s not exactly like Jackson is undiscovered, but the sting is still there. I glanced through the article and saw one of my long time favorites, Duluth, “exposed.” Being a native Minnesotan I felt the sting a little bit as I am trying to convince my wife to move back there. There goes any chance of affordable housing. At least I can point to the article and say at least it has good restruants (sp).
Lou,
the scroller seems a little awkward to use–maybe an additional scroll bar on the right would make it a little more user friendly.
haven’t read the article yet, but as a resident, i just wish jackson was as “discovered,” by our female counterparts.
nonetheless, awesome site
Jason, don’t know if I can make an actual scroll bar, but I could make the arrow buttons slightly larger and/or change speed. Would either of those help?
Where’s my pug?
maybe it’s just that the scroll arrows seem in the opposite place of most web browsers–maybe switch them so that the down scroll is below the up scroll… maybe a little slower too
thanks!
IMHO…Jackson is being ruined by mass development and global warming. Time to start looking further north.
Lou,
Princess doesn’t appear to be leashed in that photo.
BUSTED
scroller works great now Lou. thanks!
Great Jason, I left the speed the same, figuring one can just stop the scroll by moving their mouse off the arrow button.