In summer, you’ll find Justin railing single track on his mountain bike, geeking out in spandex on his road bike, or camping in the middle of no where. During the colder months, the snow calls his name. He lives to get into the backcountry on his splitboard. After four years in Utah, Justin currently lives and plays in Burlington, VT.
Thanks to GoPro, and the GoPro HD Helmet Hero, helmet cams are now commonplace on the mountain. But sometimes you want to capture more angles than the standard perspective. Sure, you could buy a GoPro Ride Bike Handlebar Mount, but what fun is that when you could make your own with 50¢ and 5 minutes? Plus, that thing costs $20. There are lots of different ways to make a ski pole mount, but I chose two that give you options. The first option is a little more involved, but has the advantage that you can take the GoPro off with the quick-release. That way you can switch up quickly between your helmet and pole. And also it means you can remove the camera easily if you’re touring. Read More …
Last week I found out that a friend and colleague from Backcountry.com Jeff Bates is battling cancer—melanoma to be exact. He had fought skin cancer into remission several years ago. It’s back with a vengeance.
Jeff Bates Talking up 29ers for HuckNRoll
Friends have established the Jeff Bates Foundation as a way to support him and his family, and to help others in need in the future. The good news is that after a pretty dismal prognosis, Jeff has found a way to kick cancer in its gold-brickin’ ass (again). Click Here to check out Jeff’s latest update from the Jeff Bates Foundation Facebook Page.
We thought we’d take a step back and have a closer look at this nasty thing called melanoma. We all live to get outdoors and play in the sunshine, so this is important stuff to know. Read More …
After a six month (!) hiatus, the Backcountry.com Newsletter is back on track. Man, has it been that long? Yup … the last one we wrote was way back in July. Yikes.
While you can read all the articles in the newsletter on the Beacon, you usually also get special promo codes and insider deals. It’s an easy way to score a hook up.
After a summer in Alaska, I spent the fall of 2004 exploring the West in my beat-up VW Golf. I had the inkling that I would find a mountain town for the winter and become the proverbial ski bum—working as a lifty or something, and riding every day. I handed out my résumé at job fairs in Big Sky and Jackson Hole before making my way down to Salt Lake City. Read More …
The holidays: we're busy coming up with lines like "spice up your spread"
If you read the Beacon often, you probably have noticed that we’ve gone a few days over the last few weeks without publishing articles. Sorry about that. As you can imagine, December is the busiest time of the year at Backcountry.com, so our writers have been slammed with all sorts of last minute stuff to do. You gotta keep the lights on somehow, you know?
The good news is that the end is in sight, which means we have a bunch of new articles and featured pieces on the docket. Next week it looks like we have a full lineup of articles, so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading. Creating these articles gives our writers a much-needed break from crafting product descriptions and such. Because you pretty much go insane after the 400th T-shirt description. Read More …
It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which means half of our team is already waiting in airports, daydreaming about stuffing, turkey, and future naps.
So we’re going to take a little break for the next few days. But to tide you over until we resume normal articles on Monday, here are a couple of vids and links to some of our winter / fall articles that are worth checking out.
I live in Vermont, and it’s a beautiful fall day. As I look out my window at blue skis and bare mountains, I have to admit … I absolutely hate my Utah friends who are out making pow turns right now.
I don’t know about you, but I’m champing at the bit. So to cope, I browsed around and found five ski questions that need answers. Who cares that I’m a snowboarder? These riders need your insight. If these folks live out West, they need answers ASAP. But if they’re out here with me and my Green Mountain compatriots … well … there’s some time. Read More …
When it came to making minor adjustments on my bike, for years I had been using my creativity to keep the damn thing upright. I’d strap my mountain bike into my car rack for cleaning, but if it was raining that option was out. I’d turn my road bike upside down to twiddle with a derailleur, but everything seemed to go to hell when I flipped it back over. And I’ve paid my fair share of security deposits for apartment walls that were marked with dirt stains, nicks and dents from leaning an unstable bike. Read More …
About a month ago, we published five pesky questions that had gone unanswered by the Backcountry.com gear community. Within minutes of posting to the Backcountry Facebook page, every single question had at least one answer.
Not bad.
Let’s see how you do with these ones. Some of ‘em have been waiting for answers since November of last year.
With the MLB playoffs looming, ESPN.com found time to give props to the best of those other athletes: 2010 ESPN Action Sports Ski and Snowboard Video Awards. This list of editors’ picks compiled by Liam Gallagher (that couldn’t be this Liam Gallagher, right?) and Megan Michelson, focused on awarding “the 10 best in the most coveted of categories based on talent, creativity, gnarliness of tricks and terrain, editing and overall impact.”
