When you’re in avalanche terrain in the dead of winter, caution is of paramount importance. One wrong move and everything could slide downhill in an instant. And the sad truth is that if you’re unlucky enough to be buried, you’ve got no more than 15 minutes of oxygen before rescue attempts may be too late. [...]
Long Johns. Long underwear. Thermal underwear. Base layers. These are a few names used interchangeably for garments designed to regulate body temperature in cold-weather environments. Heated base layers pack an additional punch by powering up the thermal capabilities—literally. Leveraging a battery-powered heating element, a heated base layer lets you reduce the number of total layers [...]
Thanks to a father-and-son team—and some really strong adhesives—scientists may soon be able to study polar bears in a whole new way. For years, biologists weren’t able to effectively track adult male polar bears in the wild. That means a huge chunk of our understanding of how the bears move—and what we need to do [...]
When pro skier Owen Leeper strapped on a helmet cam near Jackson, Wyoming, last month, he expected to catch some sick footage of himself skiing a steep couloir. He didn’t expect to capture one of the most harrowing scenes of his skiing career. When Leeper approached the couloir on Feb. 11, he was feeling confident. [...]
Skijoring might just be the weirdest winter sport you’ve never heard of. Imagine a cross between horse-back riding and water skiing—but with hoops, jumps and obstacles involved. And, yes, it’s just as dangerous as it sounds. While skiers are traditionally pulled by horses for competition events, recreational skijoring participants sometimes hitch up to a dog [...]
Just last week, two backcountry tourers narrowly escaped an avalanche on Mt. Washington. A few days later, a 46-year-old skier was killed by an avalanche in Deschutes County, Oregon. His death brought this season’s avalanche fatality count to 14, shocking the local community and leaving many to wonder: Are deadly avalanches are getting more frequent? [...]
Last week, a hiker on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington managed to film the terrifying moment in which a snowboarder and skier were nearly engulfed by an avalanche. The hiker, RJ Phipps, was walking along Mount Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine on February 25, 2023. He had just lifted his camera to capture some photos of the scenery [...]
Bear Grylls is no stranger to surviving in sub-zero temperatures on varying terrain, from mountains and glaciers to the polar regions. To find food in snow and ice, he has a few tricks, as he writes in Born Survivor. Food can be scarce in cold regions so what you can find might depend on where [...]
Yosemite National Park just can’t catch a break. Just days after thousands of pounds of rockfall closed the park’s main road, record-breaking storms swept across Northern California, completely burying Yosemite Valley in snow. Originally due to reopen today, the park has just announced that it’s going to remain closed to visitors indefinitely. Most of the [...]
Call them adrenaline junkies, adventurers or just plain crazy – skiers and snowboarders who attempt these runs need world-class skills and more than a little luck to make it safely back to base lodge. Potential risks include obstacles like trees and rocks, the pitch of the slope, major vertical drops and the constant threat of [...]
