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Winter 2013-14

Features

  • Activities: Ice Climbing

    House of Hyalite

    A look at an ice-climbing Mecca. Every climbing area has a cardinal moment when someone first turns a corner and recognizes the potential. Of course, pioneers may push deeper into the periphery or bring an emerging vision…
  • Activities: Skiing

    Snow Kiting

    An unorthodox powder adventure. The powder in the hood of my jacket is falling down my neck—I need to clear it out, but I just can’t bring myself to stop long enough to do so. The sun is climbing on the horizon and each…
  • Activities: Backcountry Skiing

    Cerebral Skiing

    If it's more physical than mental, you're doing it wrong. By the time spring skiing wraps up, my mind’s wires fray and spark like a busted robot; I can no longer tolerate the haunting nightmares of being eviscerated by a…

Departments

  • Nature

    Honing In

    We watched the wolves patrol the river outside Bozeman that night a few days after the ice jam gave way. Their moonlit silhouettes shuffled rhythmically against the new-fallen snow. “It’s like a dream,” she said. “Such…
  • Training: Astronomy

    The Hare Up There

    If provisions ran short on the journey west and a feller had to live off the land, chances are a jackrabbit or two eventually ended up in his pot. Widespread and fecund, they were plentiful and not bad eating; it shouldn’t…
  • Activities: Miscellaneous

    Winter on Ice

    Partners in fun.In Bozeman, many of us not only look forward to the arrival of Old Man Winter, we spend months preparing by saving money for passes and gear, mentally planning Ridge runs, scheduling work vacations, taping…
  • Nature

    Lions in our Midst

    Stealthy, independent, and elusive predators, mountain lions (or cougars) are unique creatures. While highly adaptable to different environments, mountain lions can live just about everywhere in Montana. In 2013, mountain-…
  • Training: Workouts

    Indoor Exercise

    Staying in shape through winter.When exercising indoors during the winter, Bozemanites fall into two camps: those cross-training to shred the slopes with more finesse, and those keeping their fitness high to attack their…
  • Activities: Hunting

    Ankle Biters

    It was a clear December afternoon when Linda took Daisy for a walk on a familiar trail. Daisy was sniffing around—off trail but within sight—when she leapt into the air, yelping, thrashing, and biting her front leg. It took…
  • Culture: Season Opener

    50 Issues and Counting

    Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is…
  • Culture: Season Opener

    Sail Away from the Safe Harbor

    “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”—Nassim Nicholas TalebYour brain is lazy. Well, biochemically, it’s designed to work efficiently—wired to expend the least amount of energy…
  • Training: Photography

    Ski Hard, Shoot Harder

    Mastering the action shot. For all you winter photographers, the mountain is your canvas—and when you finally come to a stop and decide to take the shot and capture the experience, here are some things to consider. Pre-…
  • Activities: Fishing

    Scary-Good Fishing

    Tying the ghost prince nymph.I started tying this pattern a few years ago for fishing the Gallatin in winter. When a nymph needs to grow, it has to shed its exoskeleton, and the nymph takes on an opaque, whitish color. As…
  • Activities: Miscellaneous

    Striking a Balance

    Imagine a cross-country skier gliding through the backcountry with only the sound of his skis on the groomed trail—a peaceful afternoon in the winter woods. But building like thunder, the whine of engines gets louder until…
  • Road Trips

    Life on the Merry-Go-Round

    It’s a tale as old as time: the lifelong game of chaos and uncertainty called seasonal work. Since I started mowing lawns as a kid, I’ve worked the seasonal circuit, bouncing from landscaping jobs to waiting tables to trail…
  • Activities: Skiing

    Snow-Blinded with Science

    Once those little white flakes start falling from the sky, dreams of powder turns and face-shots begin as you wait for the little blue light atop the Hotel Baxter to start flashing, announcing fresh snow at Bridger Bowl.…
  • Activities: Miscellaneous

    Ladies on Ice

    With bone-jarring hits, lightning-fast skating, and even faster flying pucks, hockey is a game played with the aggression of scrapping pit bulls. Even with helmets and pads, players routinely limp back to their cars after…
  • Activities: Miscellaneous

    Super Soaker

    Fatigued muscles from too many turns at Bridger Bowl? Have the doldrums from short cold days? How about relaxing, rejuvenating, and warming in up in one of Montana’s hot springs? Stripping to your shorts or suit can be…
  • Winter Running, Bozeman Running Company
    Activities: Running

    Dashing through the Snow

    Tips for winter running.  While enjoying the brisk air and snow-covered trails, it’s important to remember that colder temperatures, less daylight, and slick conditions make winter running is a whole different ballgame…
  • Activities: Ice Climbing

    Paradise of Ice

    As you cruise through Paradise Valley in winter, the ragged summits of the Absaroka Range hang high in the frosty air. Venture off the highway up the backroads and witness winter ice transforming burbling creeks into hushed…
  • Activities: Mountain Biking

    Big Fat Tire

    What happens when you mix a mountain bike, a monster truck, Barry White music, and a box of blush wine? You can find the answer rolling through downtown, at your favorite trailhead, or passing you at a local bike race. Over…
  • Culture: Face-Off

    Bridger Bowl vs. Big Sky

    The great debateIt’s the biggest debate around: Big Sky or Bridger Bowl? Does Lone Peak live up to its reputation, and does the mythical Ridge really hold buried treasures and powder turns long after the storm has passed?…
  • Places: Yellowstone Park

    Framing Yellowstone

    Twelve of us stood huddled by cameras on tripods under the cold sky, lenses aimed into the night. His breath coming out in clouds, our instructor Tom waded through the snow, popping an external flash onto the walls of the…
  • Culture: Arts & Culture

    Peak Season

    In your confounded struggle For originality, nights lengthen. Snows flicker… drift… and fall… Heat departs the landscape, after all. Flurries list in; holding, cold. Spines of stone lace the snow. Lonely Peak gone to the…
  • Activities: Alpine Skiing

    Livin’ the Dream

    How to be a dirtbag.  The ski bum culture is on the fringe of acceptable lifestyles: accepted by those in the know and rejected by just about everyone else. Entire lifetimes have been spent figuring out the perfect…
  • Culture

    Winter Weight

    Stay in tune with nature and enjoy the winter months. Feeling a little frumpy since the warm days of summer? Despite your best efforts, has the weight accumulated like snow on tree branches? Depending on how frumpy we are…
  • Activities: Skiing

    Tight Lines

    Aside from protective gear like helmets and wrist guards, proper strength and conditioning is your number-one tool for staying healthy and safe on the slopes this winter. Here are some exercises to get you ready to shred…
  • Activities: Backcountry Skiing

    Pack Smart

    Backcountry skiing is the best way to sample endless untracked powder—but when things get hairy, you can’t look to a ski patroller for help. People get hurt, break equipment, or get hypothermia, and without the right gear,…
  • Culture: Humor

    It's Snot Easy

    Got snot?  If you said no, you’re a liar. Snot—the stuff of mucus and boogers, not the awful California punk band—is a fact of life in the winter. Here in Montana, where the air is colder than a day-old dumpling and drier…
  • Activities: Ice Climbing

    Ice Fest Wrap-Up

    2013 Ice Fest. With plastic ice, legendary climbers, and unmatched camaraderie, our biggest and best Fest yet has come to a close. Now in its 17th year, the Bozeman Ice Fest brought ice aficionados together from around the…
  • Activities: Fishing

    Buckets of Fun

    Hemingway once said, “Anyone can be a fisherman in May.” Fortunately for those of us in the Madison Valley, it’s pretty easy to be a fisherman the other 11 months of the year as well. Yes, even in January. All you need are…

Gear Reviews

  • Gear: Apparel

    Review: Stabil Icers Maxx

    With all the shoes spikes on the market, there’s no need to slip around on the ice and provide all the other ice fisherman with hole-side entertainment. A great choice for ice fishing is the Stabil Icers Maxx, a heavy-duty…

Book Reviews

  • Culture: Books

    Book: Montana Beer

    If there’s one thing that will forever remain recession-proof, it’s beer. Montana Beer: A Guide to Breweries in Big Sky Country (American Palate, $20) offers an intoxicating look at the microbrew industry that has bubbled…
  • Culture: Books

    Book: Yellowstone Has Teeth

    Yellowstone Has Teeth (Riverbend Publishing, $15) is a memoir about the lives of the men and women who work in Yellowstone National Park. While the natural beauty of Yellowstone is unparalleled, author Marjane Ambler and…
  • Culture: Books

    Book: One Frozen Lake

    One Frozen Lake (Minnesota Historical Publishing House, $15) is a children’s book that shows the relationship between grandfather and grandson through their experiences ice fishing. The story illustrates the traditions that…
Outside Bozeman Winter 2013-14

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