A week on the slopes – and in the bars – can be an outstanding social holiday. But what if your goal is to return home a better skier? For all their physical demands and opportunities for exhilaration, winter sports…
The first director of the National Park Service, Stephen Mather, once said, “Scenery is a hollow enjoyment to a tourist who sets out in the morning after an indigestible breakfast and a fitful sleep on an impossible bed.” On an…
Size isn’t everything in a mountain. Neither is topographic prominence, or isolation, or vertical rise, or geologic age, or symmetry, or wildness. The best mountains, of course, are those that get lodged in your heart so that you feel them…
Kanab, a tiny picturesque town nestled in Utah’s sage-studded desert, is a colorful place. It’s known for intensely hued rocks, mysterious slot-canyons, stately junipers, and all-around adventurous terrain. Naturally, a place with such otherworldly beauty—that also happens to be within…
There's a reason National Parks are called America’s best idea. Setting aside vast expanses of pristine land for timeless preservation provides a refuge for millions of Americans to experience the outdoors and press the reset buttons on their busy lives.…
From the North Cascades and Great Basin borderlands of Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho to the most obscure depths of the Greater Yellowstone and the Boreal waterways of the Upper Midwest, plenty of sparsely populated and wild places remain in the…
Weekend backpacking trips are one of the greatest gifts of the summer. You can get so much in just two to three days: a breathtaking vista, a serene mountain lake, a secluded old-growth forest. The only problem is that all…
Tales of an Indian Adventure. In Agora, India, Andy Danylchuk, Patagonia Ambassador, and I finished a day of fly fishing on the Assi Ganga River, one of the high headwaters of the Ganges. We came to the valley to explore…
While there's still great skiing to be had, the Pacific Northwest's already abbreviated winter season is quickly melting away, setting the stage for another gorgeous spring. The Portland area received some snow and ice in January, but the roads were back to…
Late winter in Yellowstone National Park is its quiet season: no crowds, no noise, just the serenity of awe-inspiring landscapes and the wildlife that inhabit them. The only road open is the Northeast Entrance Road between Mammoth and Cooke City, which…
Located in Little Cottonwood Canyon just outside of Salt Lake City, Alta is world-renowned for its bountiful, fluffy powder and home to many iconic runs. Skiers of all abilities travel from all over the world for a taste of The Greatest…
By the time I skied my 100th day this season—skinning up Alta at sunset after a rogue May storm dusted the mountain with a few inches of fresh snow—the outing felt both special and normal. Special because every ski day…