Mountain people are odd creatures. In the heat of summer, we dream of knee-deep powder, followed by an evening near a warm cookstove, with a book and a beverage in a cabin tucked-in below treeline. But now in deepest, darkest winter, the dreaming reverses. I just hobbled outside the house here in Boulder to toss [...]
Story and photo by Cam Burns Maurice Herzog died December 13, aged 93, in Paris. He became internationally famous when he and Louis Lachenal made the first ascent of a peak over 8,000 meters — in this case, Annapurna (10th highest on earth) — in the summer of 1950. The ascent was remarkable because no useful [...]
Illustration by Chad Bassett Off to the north of a trail I have hiked, biked, skied and snowshoed more times than I can remember lies the approach to a side/tributary gulch (I’ll call it Pilgrim Gulch), which is, if not exactly hidden, is at least not blatantly obvious. From below, the mouth of Pilgrim Gulch [...]
Letter #1 John: I’ve been an avid reader and collector of MG from issue #9 through #183. A few months ago when MG revised its appearance to more closely reflect that of the classic MG of the past, I sent you a letter commenting on MG going “Back to the Future.” Now I learn that [...]
No one should have to run in winter. Let’s be clear about that. Skiing should be enough. But. There’s rain on snow and ice too loud and slush and sometimes bare ground on the shoulder seasons. So. There’s the bike trainer in the living room next to the stereo. There are sit-ups and yoga tapes. [...]
To the loyal members of the Mountain Gazette Tribe, By now many of you have heard that we’ve temporarily suspended the printed edition of Mountain Gazette. Please be assured we are working hard to make sure this isn’t the end of an era. It’s a bump in the road as we navigate a very difficult [...]
I first saw Sun Valley in 1953 after an all-night drive from Reno, Nevada. I have written elsewhere of that first encounter: When we woke…the first thing we saw were the 1953 moguls on Exhibition, the most beautiful, exciting sight I’d ever seen. It was love at first vision, me and Bald Mountain, a long-standing [...]
Let’s be really honest about your New Year’s resolutions. You haven’t got one chance in a million of making it through next week on an all-vegetable diet, not to mention doing it alcohol-free between high-intensity yoga workouts in an overheated room and running laps at the local high school track. I give you a week [...]
I do not know why I am such a big fan of dystopic literature, especially of the post-apocalyptic variety. OK, first, I need to clarify: When I use the word “literature,” what I really mean — or at least mostly mean (in terms of both inflection and frequency) — is “movies” and “TV shows.” When [...]
