Gear Test Week 🤪
Let the Good Times Roll
Last week our crew of gear testers, cooks and techs gathered at Powder Mountain for Backcountry‘s annual Gear Test Week. For five days, we jammed out on the latest backcountry skis, splitboards, boots, bindings, apparel and more. (Yes, there’s a bunch of gear to be excited about for next season!)
Sure, we got a lot of testing done, but the week is about far more than skiing. After roughly two decades of running this test, Gear Test Week has become home to an eclectic community—one whose character, even as attendees ebb and flow, holds fast. We’re a family of backcountry fanatics, 60 strong, who party hard and ski harder.
Testing 75 models of skis, 30 splitboards, plus boots and bindings for both, and drinking 2,500 beers (thank you 10 Barrel Brewing and Sierra Nevada) is the easy part. What comes next is four months of researching gear and writing reviews to make sure you all have the most comprehensive bakcountry gear guide for the 2024/25 season.
But for now, we’re simply recovering. Those skis and beers didn’t test and drink themselves.
The Backcountry Team
What’s on Your Coffee Table?
Are you a collector? Do you have a favorite issue? Snap a photo with it and tell us why in a few words—send it to greta@backcountrymagazine.com—and we’ll share it in our newsletter and on social media!
Backcountry Basecamp Tour
A nationwide, traveling festival with the newest gear, the most essential skills and the best in backcountry fun!
[Photo] Grant Gunderson
Tour Stops
FEBRUARY 24-25: Alta, UT
FEBRUARY 28-29: Big Sky, MT*
*In support of the National Brotherhood of Snowsports
MARCH 2-3: Grand Targhee, WY
MARCH 9-10: Powder Mountain, UT
MARCH 23-24: Loveland, CO
Get The Historic Issue
There is something to be said for the interwoven exploration of history and land. Whether it’s from the perspective of fur traders and glade-cutting teleskiers on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula; via the curious lens of a photographer traversing Morocco’s Mgoun Massif; recognizing the impact of the 10th Mountain Division on U.S. backcountry skiing and mountaineering; or from a thoughtful writer’s investigation of what “home” means in Colorado’s mountains.
Then there are those looking to the future. The former U.S. Snowboard Team slalom racer who, after being diagnosed with myriad autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 Diabetes, has splitboarded around the world and founded an organization to help get more kids with diabetes into sports. And there’s the tele skier who found community in the National Brotherhood of Skiers and is working to get more Black people on the skintrack.
These are the histories, the stories and the efforts that bridge past and present and shape a better future for our sport. Subscribe now to get the issue.
Gear
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Gearbox: 2024 Backcountry Packs
From hot laps to long traverses, these packs are built to match varied objectives, store all the necessary gear and keep you moving in comfort and style.
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Gearbox: 2024 Sport Watches
Whatever the objective, these sports watches are pretty smart. They’ll help you track your stats in any climate, on any adventure.
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Gearbox: 2024 Helmets
Check out the buckets designed to keep your noggin protected while staying comfortable and light.
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Gearbox: 2024 Goggles
In a range of sizes and shades, these goggles can react to the light, be easily replaced and will keep your eyes protected whatever the conditions.
MORE GEAR
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Gearbox: 2024 Avalanche Airbag Packs
They might come with a heavy price tag, but airbags, both in packs and vests, can be a lifesaving piece of gear in a worst-case scenario.
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Gearbox: 2024 Avalanche Safety Gear
Whether you’re looking to dig a pit, need a new probe, or want to be prepared with a saw in your pack, these pieces of avalanche safety equipment will complete your kit.
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Gearbox: 2024 Beacons
From user-friendly to professional-level, these beacons have you and your backcountry needs covered. Find the right transceiver for you.
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Editors’ Choice Apparel Reviews
This year’s lineup is the largest scope of apparel we’ve ever received. Here’s what stood out.
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.
Mountain Skills
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.