This winter season, I decided that I wanted to get into splitboarding. The only problem is splitboarding is not an accessible sport. You can’t just go out and do it (especially this year, where the snowpack is all wonky in the Sierra!). There’s so much more knowledge, gear, and skill involved. I also don’t have many local friends who do backcountry snowsports, much less splitboarding. To safely learn the sport, I decided to take Alpenglow Expeditions’ Women’s Backcountry 1.0 and 2.0 course.
Snowsports are an outdoor activity that’s about as bro-y as it gets. The outdoor market caters to men, and it’s super obvious when you try to shop for splitboard gear. As women, we sometimes need gear that fits our bodies better. Splitboards and all the associated hardware are no different. Because the offering for women is so small, I scoured the internet for as much women’s splitboard gear as I could find. Here’s a complete list of women’s splitboards and other necessary gear to get out in the backcountry.
Please note, this is not a list of recommendations. This is simply everything that exists out there for women. I’ll be uploading my splitboard kit soon!
So you wanna get out in the backcountry in the winter. Backpacking and hiking look very different with the addition of a very cold beast: snow. With snow comes navigation challenges and more dangerously: avalanches. Learning to mitigate risk in the wintry backcountry is essential to staying alive. To do so, most folks take an Avalanche Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) course. AIARE courses can be quite cost-prohibitive, especially for folks who are underrepresented in the winter backcountry. I’ve compiled a list of all available AIARE scholarships, or AIARE-adjacent scholarships below.
The most essential part of any camping equipment is your sleep system. Your whole game is thrown off if you’re not well rested. I used to sing the praises of the Teton Sports ComfortLite. Now that I’ve upgraded my tent to a 2013 Subaru Outback, the ComfortLites just aren’t cutting it. I decided to go all out and invested in the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 as my car camping mattress of choice.
I’ve been plagued with body acne since my teenaged years. It’s something I’m always super self-conscious about. The sweaty, dirtiness that inherently comes with being an outdoors person is the perfect breeding ground for body acne. Throughout the years, I’ve slowly refined and tweaked my skincare routine to manage bacne. Here’s how to prevent body acne (or bacne) in the outdoors, and anywhere else, really.