Jason Albert

1 week ago | the-high-route.com | Jason Albert

We go into the hills for many reasons. One is for an escape. And so we beg forgiveness for intruding on an aspect of your escape. Here’s a story on tariffs and pricing and the gear you may or may not be thinking about. Even the most diehard head-in-the-sand backcountry tourists among us must know, I’m certain, that tariffs will cause prices of most (all?) goods to increase. A few dynamics are at play.

3 weeks ago | the-high-route.com | Jason Albert

Sometimes all the variables align: timing the corn cycle right can make ski touring in spring all that much better. Impatience is a thing. As discussed with a partner on a recent ski tour, we agreed that impatience could ruin an otherwise fine day of spring touring. Here’s one scenario. You get up at 3 AM. You headlamp through breakfast and coffee and much of your approach. There’s the sound of chainmail across the snow (ski crampons) and then a creamsicle sky to the east.

4 weeks ago | the-high-route.com | Jason Albert

This article is about crampons for splitboarders and two individuals’ experiences on their respective paths. Because we delve into crampons, which go on the feet, we’ll also discuss hardboots and softboots. However, there’s no going to the mat here. We’ll leave the debate over splitboarding footwear for another time. On one hand, we have Daniel Crist, a dedicated SLC-based splitboarder (and hardbooter) who is nearing the completion of his AMGA Ski Guide certification as a splitboarder.

1 month ago | the-high-route.com | Jason Albert

More than a single niche: Rossignol’s Escaper 97 Nano proves it can be many capable things all season long. Here we are—mid-April. And as the temp swings between highs and lows, we are in firm-to-soft snow season. Corn is here. Which, in part, was a key use case for hopping on and using, for three months when conditions were apt, the Rossignol Escaper 97 Nano. Let’s jump into use cases here.

1 month ago | the-high-route.com | Jason Albert

La Sportiva’s Kil0 touring boot is up to the task of big-distance and high-vert tours where the turns are as important as the uphill effort. Let’s begin this final review with a small survey where N=2. Skimo.co, under their “touring” subheading for boots, lists over 50 different boots. Cripple Creek Backcountry under “ski mountaineering” boots filters out nearly 40 boots.