Jun 08

Submissions Wanted: 7th Annual Backcountry Film Festival

Calling all filmmakers with an eye for human-powered and backcountry adventure… The Winter Wildlands Alliance is seeking your films and shorts for their upcoming 7th Annual Backcountry Film Festival. The deadline is coming up this September. For more details and film submission info, please check out the festival website HERE.

Got a film celebrating the backcountry experience in the northeast?

The Winter Wildlands Alliance is working hard to preserve opportunities for quiet, wintertime recreation throughout North America. In partnership with Ember Photography, AdventureSkier is happy to support the work of Winter Wildlands by providing them with access to our images for their ongoing fundraising and outreach efforts.

-Brian

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Jun 04

Photo of the Week: February Flashback

The cooler temps late this week have led to sightings of light snow at higher elevations, and have had us reflecting on the incredible winter of 2010-11. Here’s an image of Andy Weis – one of the coaches for the Mad River Glen Freeride Team and the new trail director for Fellowship of the Wheel – loving life in the Green Mountains back in mid-February. (Click on image thumbnail below to enlarge). – Brian

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May 28

Photo of the Week: From the Vault – 66 Degrees North

It’s that time of year again when the snow is all but gone here in the northeast US/Canada, and memories of past spring skiing adventures in some far off places have us day dreaming. Here’s an image Emily captured at midnight on May 30th a few years back…on the far reaches of Iceland’s wild West Fjords. Click on the small image below to enlarge. – Brian

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May 24

The Mountains Claim a Friend: Joel Levenberg,

Photo: Heading into the Never Summer Wilderness Area, Colorado – May 2002

The mountains claimed the life of a wonderful soul this past Saturday, May 21, 2011. Our longtime friend, Joel Levenberg, (third from the left w/snowboard) passed away after getting caught up in an avalanche on Colorado’s Torreys Peak. He was accompanied by two close friends, and although he survived the avalanche, his injuries prevented him from making it out of the mountains alive. Joel is survived by his partner, Alexandra (“Alex”), and an incredible family of friends and relatives – most of whom will be gathering this week in Colorado. Joel was 38.

Joel’s zest for the mountains was inspiring, and his passion for exploring them ran deep. In a letter he published in Backcountry Magazine, he shares, “The untracked experience is indescribable; the pounding of my heart as I push to maintain a skinning or snowshoeing pace; gaining new perspectives or rediscovering old ones at the top; and dropping into gravity defying blower – the sublime rhythm. It is truly futile to explain, but it sure is fun trying.”

Although Joel logged most of his mountain time on a snowboard, a few of us seemed to rub off on him, and in more recent years he also learned to enjoy the mountains as a skier. As we flip through images of Joel, imagine him talking in his subtle Alabama-bred twang, and reflect on all the fun adventures we’ve shared together, it’s hard not to imagine hanging with him once again some day – if not in spirit, then in glisse heaven.

Joel, you will be missed. May the snow be deep and the views endless wherever you are now.

-Brian and Emily

Daily Camera Obituary – LINK
Summit County Voice (story and images) – May 22, 2011 – LINK
Images below feature Joel snowboarding in Rocky Mtn National Park and skiing near Mt. Zirkel, CO (Click to enlarge)

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May 20

Photo of the Week: Skiing Patagonia, Saving Patagonia

We’ve spent several months of our lives exploring a rare and unique corner of the earth known as Chile’s Rio Baker watershed – which is located in the heart of Chilean Patagonia. Sadly, this gem of a place is under attack by an Spanish/Italian energy giant that hopes to build five major dams on two of Chile’s wildest rivers – the Baker and the Pascua. Most Chileans oppose these plans, but after Chile’s courts approved an EIS for the project last week, it appears the Chilean’s hopes and dreams for their country, and one of its greatest natural treasures, do not matter.

Please check out our latest post on the WEND Magazine blog, (LINK HERE) to learn more about our experiences in the region, as well as the latest on the dams. We’ve worked with WEND for several years now, publishing feature stories about our adventures in East Greenland and Arctic Norway. If you like what you see, please consider subscribing to WEND.

Also, don’t miss our latest post on Patagonia’s Cleanest Line blog from late May 2011.- HERE.

Thanks. – Brian and Emily

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