Ski Magazine

home away from home

Swedish photo-grapher Mattias Fredriksson has spent the last 25 years capturing world-class athletes skiing on far-flung slopes around the world. Yet some of his favorite images were shot right in his own backyard, like this one of his friends Patrik Strompsten and David Kantermo hiking the ridge on Sweden’s 6,240-foot Nipals Peak. A late-March storm had just dropped several feet of snow, and the Arctic light that would become unyielding later in the spring was still soft and pure. After this snap, the trio skied down to Strompsen’s Niehku Mountain Villa, one of the few lodgings in the region. “It is really something with the remoteness, the wild mountains, and the lack of infrastructure,” says Fredriksson. Nikon D850 body, Nikon 16-35mm f/4 lens @ f/11, 1/640sec, ISO 125…

skimming the surface

To nab pond-skim gold, you have to put on a show. No one knows this better than pond-skim legend Billy “Badness” Marcial, a Whitefish local who has stood atop many a podium at the resort’s closing-weekend contest. He didn’t win this time, but he had a run for the history books nonetheless. Marcial’s getup belonged to his late father, who wore it just a few years earlier while competing as the pond skim’s oldest contestant. The younger Marcial capped this paternal ode with a trail of champagne and a smooth landing on the other side of the water. “You never know what kind of images you are going to get when photographing the pond skim,” says Whitefish–based photographer Craig Moore. “I’m just happy my camera didn’t get soaked!” Canon EOS 5D…

medicine man

Shuffling towards the base of Alta in the early morning hour, my stride is dampened. It’s still dark out and I’m trying to skate-ski to the base area dragging a massive pile of laundry from Dr. Ken Libre’s home—near the bottom of the Wildcat tree runs at Alta Ski Area—to the Alta Clinic. Avalanche bombs echo around me as the town of Alta wakes up from its Interlodge slumber, and I begin to skate faster—eager to reserve my spot in the lift line. We spent the morning sipping coffee and listening to the avalanche control via the radio in Dr. Ken’s home, waiting for the all-clear to go outside. It was the winter of 2010-2011, and my wife, who was completing her residency at the Alta Clinic, couldn’t have timed…

rethinking avalanche education

If you’ve ever looked at an ice crystal though a loupe, you know that snow science is a complicated, multifaceted field, with an overwhelming amount to learn. In the past, educators have struggled to cram the appropriate knowledge, skills, and science in avalanche education classes taken by those who recreate in the mountains during winter. But that’s now changing. In the first major update to the structure and focus of avalanche education in the U.S., avalanche education has been split into two tracks—one for recreational skiers and one for avalanche professionals—each designed to teach the targeted group the things they need to know to be safe on snow. The change is spurred in part by population and demand. Backcountry is the fastest growing segment of snow sports. And as sales of…

chasing gold in aspen

Excitement is in the air in Aspen, Colorado. For the first time in 60 years, the U.S. Alpine Tech Championships will be returning to Aspen’s slopes. Aspen Snowmass, in collaboration with Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club and the U.S. Ski Team, will host the top American ski racers in the technical disciplines—slalom, parallel slalom, and giant slalom—in March 2020, then again in March 2022 according to the agreement. The last major ski racing events to take place in Aspen were the 2017 FIS Alpine World Cup Finals, where Mikaela Shiffrin secured her fourth Slalom and first Overall Crystal Globe. “We are thrilled to bring elite ski racing back to Aspen for the U.S. Alpine Tech Championships,” says U.S. Ski & Snowboard Director of World Cup Events Lindsay Arnold. “The 2017…

lindsay’s legacy

When Lindsey Vonn announced her retirement from professional ski racing at the end of the 2018-’19 season, she left the world guessing about what she would do as a civilian. As one of the most visible and marketable athletes skiing has ever had, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the brand Vonn carefully cultivated while ski racing would outlast her days on the racecourse. Confirming speculation that Vonn would leverage her status as a fashion icon in the sport, Head Sportswear announced the launch of the Lindsey Vonn x Legacy skiwear line, a new collaboration between the racing star and her long-time equipment sponsor. The new line, which goes to market in Fall 2020, will feature performance-forward materials in elegant shapes inspired by retro design. Think Aspen meets Kitzbühel glam. More…