Avalanche forecasting pioneer Art Judson doesn’t just study these powerful snow slides–he worships them. Now that’s a beautiful avalanche path,” said Art Judson as he gazed at the wallpaper on his computer, which depicted Hahns Peak split by a broad white stripe. It was 2007, shortly after I’d first met Jud, as his friends and…
A new art museum, farm-focused restaurants, and on-trend indie shops make this storied ski town about more than Gucci and Gulfstreams. Art-museum makeover A good deal of controversy still lingers over the incongruously huge, blocky building that Pritzker Prize–winning Japanese architect ShigeruBan had designed for the formerly diminutive Aspen Art Museum. But three things are…
Mexico’s once-sleepy Puerto Escondido is poised for prime time—and a new highway promises to let everyone in on the secret. When it opens in 2018, the Oaxaca coastal highway will shrink the drive from Oaxaca City to Puerto Escondido from seven hours down to two. Go before that floodgate opens to savor a swath of Pacific…
This article was a finalist for a 2016 Maggie Award for Best Feature. A tragic crash during a slopestyle competition last winter left Kailyn Forsberg physically shattered. Now, it’s up to the Eagle teen to rearrange the pieces of her fractured life and figure out who she is—and what she may become. At dawn on…
David Weiner refused to buy his son a bike. His objection wasn’t the cost or concern for his kid’s safety. After all, Weiner founded New York City-based Priority Bicycles to provide average Janes and Joes with easy-button bicycles that would encourage people to ride more. But shopping for his toddler son, Jake, he discovered a sea…
You can now discover the other Caribbean on Dominica’s new long trail. But should you? The rumble coming from somewhere off in the rainforest should cue me to trouble. I’m hiking toward 275-foot Middleham Falls, the tallest cascade on the Caribbean island of Dominica, and I expect to see what I’d previewed in photos: A…
For Vail skiing prodigy and Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, success can’t come fast enough. Adulthood, though–that can wait. There’s a section on Vail’s Golden Peak course that even good racers dread. It’s a steep rollover, usually covered with thick ice, that melts into a treacherous dip in the slope. Coach Simon Marsh remembers standing…
This article was a finalist for a 2014 Maggie Award for Best Profile. You may not recognize her face yet, but if this Eagle-Vail teenager slaloms to gold at Sochi, her superstar status will rival Lindsey Vonn’s. Meet Mikaela Shiffrin, the girl next door who just might be America’s best skier. Ever. “Give me some…
Strong interviewing skills and engaging writing helped me compose an annual report for National Parks Conservation Association that thrilled the organization’s leadership. I interviewed NPCA’s president and board chair to craft their opening letter, spoke with topic experts and donors to represent key NPCA achievements, and introduced the recipients of NPCA’s annual awards in a…
In advance of the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service, National Parks Conservation Association asked me to compile a 64-page publication entitled The State of America’s National Parks, along with a 12-page Executive Summary. The report encapsulated a decade’s worth of research conducted by the Center for Park Research and articulated the Center’s recommendations…