Here at The High Route Podcast we’ve come to the conclusion of season 2 here on the podcast. We’ll pick back up again with season three in late summer. On this episode, we have the privilege of checking in with Billy Haas. Haas is an IFMGA guide, professional avalanche educator, and ski mountaineer. If you are someone who skims the surface of the s…

There’s something a bit different on today’s episode. It all started back in March when I Googled a general term like “backcountry skiing in the news.” A February article from the LA Times was indexed. The piece was by LA Times writer Jack Dolan, and it was titled: “Backcountry skiing is growing in popularity, but experts warn it’s more dangerous t…

Welcome to mid-spring here at The High Route Podcast. Here in the Pacific Northwest, ski crampon season. It is also the season to unearth an interview with Fay Manners, a British alpinist and ski mountaineer, recorded late last summer. Manners caught my attention for one reason: she practices the aforementioned mountain disciplines at a high level.…

For those of you keen on backcountry skiing podcasts, you will hear a familiar voice on this episoide. Doug Stenclik is our guest—he’s part owner of Cripple Creek Backcountry and the host of Totally Deep, Cripple Creek’s podcast. The past several years have seen a topsy-turvy world generally and a boom-bust cycle regarding backcountry skiing/riding…

Before we roll into this episode full steam, here’s some basic information: this interview was recorded in the fall of 2023. That was when a group from the US, including Jimmy Chin and Jim Morrison, planned to approach Mount Everest’s north side to attempt to ski the Hornbein Couloir. The project was part of a larger documentary project. This past …

In this episode, we’ve got Barry Wicks as our host for part two in our series on developing a free-rider ski for resort uphilling. (Talk about niche). To close the quest out, he speaks with Jonno Jacobs the founder of Ronin skis based in Chamonix, France. At Ronin, Jacobs builds made-to-order custom planks. As you’ll hear in the podcast, what Jacob…

Retirement. It is a word with notes of one chapter solidly shutting down and, with good fortune, another opening up—a transition in chapters we expect to manifest later in life. Hadley Hammer, in her late thirties, is in such a transition. Hammer sent out a notice today, Feb. 17th, marking her retirement from performance skiing. In other words, fro…

In this episode, with Gavin away guiding in Japan, we’ve got Barry Wicks as our host. Wicks is a die-hard ski tourer who brings supremely positive energy into the hills. He’s also a recovering bike racer who claims he’s sworn off Lycra. Despite his baggy clothes, he’s still fast. And he still knows gear. Anyhow, Wicks has a playful nature on skis. …

Sometimes, the eyes go wide, the mind quiets and thoughts turn to the realization that you might be watching mastery. Chamonix-based skier, Vivian Bruchez illicites these expressions. For some time now, he has captured the imaginations of steep-skiing fans. Many skiers and riders open new lines, climb, and descend in good style: they break on throu…

On this episode of The High Route Podcast, we do some exploring with Andy Sovick. If you are unfamiliar with Sovick, he is the humble founder of Beacon Guidebooks. Several years ago, Beacon released a few high-quality ski atlases that generated some buzz. The business has grown, yet the company remains dedicated to core values that promote safety w…

We are back on the Gear Shed Podcast, going deep into a reader’s question. (Thanks, Slim, for sending your questions in.) Just deciding what boot works best for you can be a can of worms. Add in skis, and the pairing dance becomes a more complicated yet finely choreographed affair. Slim’s questions begin with a query about boot pairings and ski wid…

One of the best parts of liking to ask questions and running The High Route is the opportunity to speak to folks we admire and want to learn from. With this in mind, photographer Drew Smith is the guest on this episode. Smith’s work spans the spectrum from outdoor-related commercial work to full-value expedition photography. We are drawn to his ima…

It has been more than a minute since our last episode. Over here at The High Route, there has been a bit of burying our heads in the sand as we focus on sending out our final proofs for our print version of The High Route. In the spirit of print, we have Michael Levy as our guest on the podcast. Levy is the driving force behind the resurrection of …

The first snows have fallen. And if the local webcams have anything to say about it, it might as well be winter. Snow sliding and keeping bases intact—that's another story. The story today, on The High Route podcast comes from Salt Lake based Mali Noyes. Let's see where to begin. Catching up with Noyes is, and was, part of the problem. Not unlike m…

Bonjour listeners of The High Route Podcast. On this steeps and slogs episode, we feature Aurélien Lardy. Good energy and ceaseless energy are two key qualities for those making a life for themselves in the hills. Aurélien Lardy, a prolific ski mountaineer based out of Chamonix, has been on a tear for the past few years. If first descents or rare r…

In this episode of The High Route Podcast, we speak with Lou Dawson. As much as anyone in North American ski mountaineering, Dawson has been a cornerstone of the sport and the broader culture. Last spring, he released his memoir, Avalanche Dreams. Already reviewed on the site, here's what our writer Alex Lee had to say: Lou Dawson, pioneering Ameri…

THR's Gear Shed podcast opens the season with a roundtable discussion about lighter-weight touring boots. The roundtable includes Adam Fabrikant, Slator Aplin, and Gear Editor Gavin Hess. In discussing this boot class, we'll set somewhat arbitrary limits and call the gram-counting confines as limited between 1000g-1250g. These boots are marginally …

Some things should be laid to rest, like the idea that splitboarders are universally slow on the ups and slow to transition. Sure, the gear might be, generally, heavier, but the athletes, in our experience, are fit, fast, and able to ride terrain in eye-opening ways. Nick Russell fits this mold. A snowboarder living in California's Sierras, Russell…

Welcome to Season 2 Episode 2 of The High Route Podcast. There's a video clip on YouTube, back from 2014, cataloged by RedBull. You've likely seen it. Cody Townsend shimmies on his skis, perched above The Crack, which would become the best ski line of the year. A decade might as well be a lifetime ago. Since then, Townsend transitioned from ski mov…

As we open up year two at The High Route, emerging from our late summer slumber, it's time to cue up the podcast. Episode 14 is all about reflecting on year one and diving into the print scene. We open the second year of The High Route with a freshly recorded podcast episode. Episode 1 of Season 2 of The High Route podcast is primarily a State of t…

The show must go on. It will go on when we bust into September. But it's a wrap for season one of The High Route Podcast. Lucky number episode 13, we'll call it good right there. In this episode, Adam Fabrikant and Billy Haas bring some closure to their fall trip to the Chilean Andes. Just before Fabrikant's and Haas' departure in October, we ran T…

Here are a few notes to get this podcast rolling. We hope you are reading this. 1) There is some foul language in this podcast. F-bombs abound, in particular, after ~the 45:00 minute mark. 2) The episode is broken into two parts: set 1 and set 2. The first "set" was recorded in late March after a fine day of Sunday skiing in the Wasatch. We recorde…

Dr. Patrick Fink joins us on Episode 11 of The High Route Podcast. Fink is an ER physician in Bend, Oregon, involved with the local and broader Wilderness Medicine community. He hosts Wilderness Medicine Updates—"a podcast for those interested in wilderness medicine, search and rescue, disaster and austere medicine, and ski patrol medicine." Fink a…

We're dropping this episode a bit before March—a dreamtime month for many THR readers and podcast listeners. March is on the cusp here in the Northern Hemisphere of longer days. All that translates into more time to move through the mountains—often with warmer temps and more stable avalanche conditions. This episode is handy if you need a little pu…

Jack Beighle is our guest on Episode 5 of The Gear Shed Podcast. For those who don't know Jack, here's some background. He's a CU Boulder grad, bumped to Jackson for some post-college living focused around mountains and skiing. He then left Jackson and bumped black to Boulder, where he began working for Backcountry Access. Currently, Jack is the Br…

This past Fall, Blizzard-Tecnica released a ski and a book to raise money to support the Hilaree Nelson Fund. The fund promotes women-specific scholarships to support women in pursuing professional development relating to mountain pursuits. Formally, the scholarship is called the W2W Hilaree Nelson Education Scholarship. W2W (Women2Women) is the no…

We’re titling this the "Seeking Impeccability" epsiode for a few sound reasons. Lynne Wolfe, the guest on our first 2024 episode of The High Route Podcast, is aspirationally impeccable. She has decades of experience as an avalanche educator and a former guide for Jackson Hole Mountain Guides and Exum. Such a pedigree includes both mastery and a wil…

Many folks make up the backcountry community. Sliding skis or a splitboard uphill takes some discomfort tolerance (until you feel sufficiently fit) and a commitment to the unknown, even in small doses. Throw other people into the mix, and the recipe for joy, disaster, and all the combos in between are possibilities. When we came across Sophia Schwa…

There are some foundational values here at The High Route. Right at the top of the list is inspiring backcountry travelers to dream big adventures, and when the time is right, go out and have that adventure. Adventure has gradients, and this might seem like a tangent, but it's worthwhile—there was a 94-year-old at the climbing gym this afternoon. H…

I think we all can recall our first time. You're scrambling around a digital facsimile of a library on the early Internet, and wham, you stumbled onto WildSnow. Lou Dawson, author of Wild Snow: 54 Classic Ski and Snowboard Descents of North America and curator of the website by the same name, is an integral part of the ski community's fabric. He's …

Come one and come all for the center ring of what is definitely not a circus. In this episode, we get a front-row seat for a chat between two friends who have a problem—a gear problem. But it’s the good kind of problem where two individuals develop a way of conversing about what they like and don’t like regarding gear. In other words, our Gear Edit…

About 50 years past the start of the Anthropocene (~1950), mountain towns were abuzz with people running on trails, rock climbing, backcountry skiing, and mountain biking. Rumor has it that even back then, there were complaints of crowded trailheads and spraying. And the athletes huffing and puffing up and down and across those hills likely hadn't …

In episode 3 of The High Route Podcast, we bring together two high level practitioners of their respective crafts. Kelly Cordes and Adam Fabrikant. If you are unfamiliar with Cordes and his work, you are about to familiarize yourself with a gem. He's a notable alpinist, mixologist, and even a better writer—which is saying something. If you haven't …

We get a few clues about the ski objective in episode 3 of the podcast. We know Adam Fabrikant and Billy Haas will head to South America. We know it’s going to be windy at times. And we know a specific post-expedition empanada stand where the two plan to offset their expected calorie deficit. The Southern Hemi’s Spring Equinox fell late last month.…

The origin story of many outdoor clothing and gear companies is somewhat…part myth. There's an emphasis on deriving and marketing that myth, and then, sometimes, comes the well designed and well made gear. Some companies nail the myth and not the products. Les Houches and Salt Lake City based Blue Ice nails the products and happens to have a compel…

After a weekend day in the high alpine, where puffies, a biting wind, and turning leaves teased of winter, we're more in tune with the season—which is ski film season. The socials are beginning to buzz with the sending as production houses ramp up the visual and auditory volume. Now. Is. The. Time. To. Get. Stoked. With that in mind, we took a smal…

The podcast title, "The Skinny on Ski Mountaineering Ropes," is part play on words and a big part reality for many moving through the mountains in a light and fast manner. You'll hear this on the podcast and see it here; the ropes mentioned require a clear understanding of these skinny ropes' limitations and proper applications. The good folks brea…

Small tremors and more rattling seismic activity have tossed and turned the outdoor media landscape for several years at this point. For example, if you are a core surfer, cyclist, and skier, you know the drill—legacy titles, both in print and web-based, have morphed and may not resemble what you recall. There are many examples of niche and aspirin…