The Notes I Keep in my Backpack
What if?
That’s a question I ask myself every time I turn on my beacon. What if. What if I don’t come back?
Category: Esoterica
Esoterica
For the more out there, hard to pin down pieces: Esoterica is their home. What exactly is Esoterica at The High Route? We'll know soon.
Skimo Ain’t Uphilling: Bike Trails, Cat Roads, and Mountains
Lacking a local on-piste ski area to “uphill,” no problem: Alex Lee makes the training work in a terrain and conditions smörgåsbord.
An Isothermal Buzzkill
The prefix “iso” means equal or the same. We often refer to an isothermal snowpack in snow science and the backcountry enthusiast’s lexicon. You guessed it, an isothermal snowpack is a snowpack with an equal, or uniform, temperature throughout. And on a lengthy ski traverse isothermal snow can be a buzzkill.
The W: Finding Joy and Style Points with Apocalypse Snow
The premise of Apocalypse Snow is this: A band of evil monoskiers attempt to capture a “snow surfer” to steal the secrets of skiing from him. Despite the obvious disconnect, the premise—mono skiers seeking the Truth of Skiing from a snow surfer—is quite spectacular, and the film is a delightful display of hilarious snow-sliding antics and an impressive showing of snow-riding prowess.
French culture and specifically French Cinema in the 1980s was a byproduct of the French Socialist Government undertaking several major social initiatives that had far-reaching implications, including raising the minimum wage, granting more paid vacation time to workers, establishing a 36-hour work week. Along with these more labor oriented initiatives, the government also invested in film and art—an iconic element of French culture. If French government subsidies helped greenlight gravity-fed snow sliding involving monoskis and snowboards, then we’re all for that type of government intervention.
The High Impact Gift Guide
One thing we’re trying to be mindful of at THR is #1. The disposable nature of Internet content, and #2. The literal disposable nature of the hard and soft goods we review on The High Route. In short, we aspire to refrain from contributing willy-nilly to the feed-me-now culture of it all. We believe in what we are doing and know you don’t need one more affiliate-link-motivated sponsored-content-driven gift guide. We could direct you towards them, but you know where to find them.
On that note, here’s a gift guide focused on things that help drive the inner workings of the backcountry community, and you might consider supporting this season. If you feel we missed a group or item worthy of a mention, email us or contribute in the comments.
