Backcountry Magazine

Some stories simply rise above the rest. Athletes, projects, mountains. But one peak rises above them all.

From sea level to its 29,032-foot summit, Mount Everest peers down on the rest of Earth. It’s foremost a climber’s peak, shrouded in history and marred by controversy. But The Elevated Issue brings skiing to the forefront. A series of articles shed light on the peak’s groundbreaking ski and snowboard descents: from the first tracks laid on the mountain in 1970 to the first complete descent in 2000 to Jim Morrison’s first descent of the Hornbein Couloir in 2025 and beyond. Between each is a long list of attempts and firsts including the first oxygen-free descent, the first snowboard descent and the first and only descent by a woman. All these stories and more come to life in Issue 169.

But The Elevated Issue doesn’t only cover Earth’s tallest arena. It also ventures to the often-overlooked Italian paradise of Aosta, the steep Southwest Face of Peru’s Artesonraju and the A-frame huts of Alaska’s Eklutna Traverse. Plus, learn about an evolving permit system on B.C.’s Rogers Pass, the future of Olympic skimo and how to wash your apparel.

Whether it’s the tallest mountains on the planet or a few hundred feet in your backyard, every skier knows elevation is the key to that weightless, meditative feeling of sinking into a turn. Expand your horizons and drop into history with The Elevated Issue.