The December Issue is LIVE!

Winter is in full swing in Colorado and our December issue is loaded with everything you need to know about making the most of the season. We’re spilling secrets on the winter gear we can’t live without, sharing tips on sustainable holiday shopping and the coziest gifts of the season, going big in Breck, diving in Florida, and so much more! Grab a copy on stands now, or dig in below to our latest issue.

Editor’s Letter: Open Ground

What will happen to us when all the wild spots are gone? 

Cold Snap

It took just the right conditions to put up two new alpine mixed routes at 12,500 feet on the Diamond of Longs Peak this fall. 

Triple Your Winter

Snowshoe, fat bike and skate ski when you enter Colorado’s  winter triathlon series.

Open Season

OpenSnow founder Joel Gratz clearly remembers his first powder day, and has spent the past decade making sure you get plenty of your own.

Eat, Sleep, Play: Snowmass, Colorado

Tucked up in the Roaring Fork valley, Snowmass is both family friendly and boasts enough terrain to sneak off for some serious grownup time.

Local Hero: Dave Johnson

The rhino-loving zookeeper shares the big-horned love.

Eco Wax For All

Purl’s ski and snowboard waxes forgo harmful PFCs, keeping humans and wildlife safe.

New Mexico Beer: Christmas is Year Round

They say Christmas comes but once a year, but in New Mexico you can order Christmas-style chile year round.

Winter’s New Normal

Global warming’s influence on weather is creating new challenges in winter mountain safety. How can we adapt?

The Best of Breck

Take advantage of these eight ways to make the most of Colorado’s favorite resort this winter.

Numerology: Sliding Scale

It’s time to get objective about the dangers in the wild. We enlisted our AMGA/IFMGA certified guide to give you the straight facts on what you need to worry about—and what you can do about it in the mountains.

Dog Days

Three road warriors dish out their secrets for traveling with their best friends.

Joys of the Lone Wolf

How one woman discovered that powder skiing at a remote lodge is an experience that’s enjoyable all by yourself—or shared.

Smart Shopping

A guide to making your dollars make sense this holiday season. 

Diving Deep

When a native Coloradoan ends up shipwrecked far from the mountains in the flats of Florida, she discovers a new passion in the blue relief of diving.

Faces of Colorado Non-Profits

The Winter 2018/19 Peak Gear Awards

Twice each year we ask our stable of core contributors to nominate the gear that they actually go out and use most. We ask them: “What was the best gear you used over the past year? What gear can’t you live without? What gear changed your life?” Meet the gear we loved, beat up and relied on out in the wild. These are the winners of Elevation Outdoors’ Winter 2018-2019 Peak Gear Awards.

Cozy Comforts 

The giving season is here so it’s time to ponder what your outdoor loving loved ones need to make the winter warmer. We picked this comfy and useful selection of gifts based on what we coveted most when we perused our local retailers. We picked them for hims and hers but there’s no reason to be binary—everyone could use a good Swedish splitting axe after all.

The Best Albums of 2018

We drove thousands of miles to these tunes. There’s a reason.

My Younger Mentor

Most of the time, we look to our elders for guidance. But what do younger mentors have to teach us—especially ones who gets us out ripping (and staying safe) in deep snow everywhere from Portland to Chamonix?

ELWAYVILLE: Forever

An ode to the timelessness of winter.