Powder

THE MORNING WAS SILENT. I looked outside the cabin: the muted navy blue of dawn and a coat of overflowing white. It was the first powder day of the season. But I don't like to be in a hurry. I fried an egg. I pressed coffee. I slowly put on my ski pa

It's difficult to remember when skiing didn't hold significance for me, but I know that dark star of youthful frivolity still lurks, lodged somewhere in the ether. Doubtless those were days of physical fumbling, uncertain amusement, and awkward frate

AGE: 69 LOCATION: Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire ROOTS: Alan Wheeler splits his time and profession by the seasons: summer as a trap fisherman off the tip of Rhode Island; winter in the mountains of New Hampshire, where he makes snow full-time and s

One more thing: Talking gear with an actual human being. Ever since the traditional ski-shop business model—buy a lot of product and hope to sell it for twice as much—ran into the e-commerce meat grinder a decade ago, it has only gotten tougher for s

Of the 9.4 million skiers in the United States, 72 percent are white. More than half earn a salary higher than $100,000. For some context, only 20 percent of American households have a combined income of $100K, and 63 percent of the country is white.

When Jill Rubin, 66, sold her first hot dog through the window of an old sheep wagon parked at the base of Sun Valley, she did it Chicago-style—with the works. It was December 1977 and Rubin and a friend were looking for a way to support their ski ha

It hurts to breathe. Why does it hurt to breathe!? Could be the cold, could be the large Dunkaccino pulsing through my veins. Doc told me to lay off the black gold, but Doc didn't herd three munchkins into the Range Rover at 5 a.m. this morning, now

STANDING AT THE TOP of what will be our last run of the day, Ryan Kempfer and I feel as if we are alone on the mountain. Not lonely—just alone. The wind has stopped; the trees are quiet. Temperatures have risen to 11 degrees—the warmest all weekend—a

NEAR THE TOP OF ASPEN'S AJAX MOUNTAIN, beyond the rope boundary in a clearing of thick pine, a wooden bench swings from two trees. The spot faces south. The late-afternoon light casts a glow as the sun dances with the Elk Mountains above and beyond.

A SUNDAY AFTERNOON in late winter isn't typically the most festive time of year, but try telling that to the hundreds of folks slipping around the California-side base of Heavenly Mountain in Lake Tahoe this past February. They hugged and they holler

IT'S EARLY Saturday morning in Bozeman, Montana, and a dusty white Suburban full of hungover girls rolls up to a small white house with Christmas lights hung haphazardly around the front door. A biker wends his unstable way up the street, looking los

LAST WINTER I learned about a 65-year-old Swiss skier who has, essentially, been wearing the same ski gear since 1970—a white windbreaker, white silk bandana, and matching white pants patched with duct tape—earning him the nickname Snowflake. His clo

NORTH VANCOUVER, BC WWW.ARCTERYX.COM @ARCTERYX Located in the Canadian Coast Mountain wilderness, Arc’teryx is built on the principle of obsessive, precise design and production. Our in-house manufacturing and design centres allow us to evolve and bu

PINNING DOWN the exact definition of the only ski-related term that's the same in at least four languages is impossible—even in the original French. It's just whatever you do after skiing, usually involving a beverage on a sunny deck or in a warm bar

MAGGIE VOISIN WAS AMERICA'S BEST BET for a medal in women's slopestyle at the sport's Olympic debut in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. She'd already claimed an X Games silver medal and won the AFP World Championships her rookie season. At 15, she was also th