It’s Hut Trip Season

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Here in western CO, we are lucky enough to have a vast network of backcountry huts to ski to for overnight adventures. In the case of the Shrine Mountain Inn where we went at the beginning of the month for a holiday retreat, “backcountry hut” means beautiful log cabin complete with bathtub, sauna, running water, and rustic leather furniture.

We did some skiing:

Niklas Brosnan getting deep.

However, the terrain around Vail pass is pretty flat. This allowed for lots of drinking time.

Kara brought skinned in with her beer belt:


And Nate’s shot-ski was enjoyed by just about everyone. The highlight was when Justin David, aka Ricky Bobby, aka The New Guy called for an “anyone over 40” shot-ski day one on the job.

Evan, Lindsay, JLD, and Laura about to get Aquavined.

Which brings us to the following flow chart. One of our social media clients, Flylow Gear, ran a simple Friday facebook contest asking what everyone’s favorite beer was to carry in for a weekend hut trip. We got 67 responses, which inspired the following chart:

(click image for a close-up view)

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Skiing \ Tagged: ,

Notes from the Field

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There is commentary in the media that points to an acceleration of business and life in general.

Crowd-sourced sharing of content and ideas manifested in socially driven community based applications…oh, goodness, is that comprehensible, let alone true?

While there is plenty of evidence that points to this general ‘hastening’ of business; we find that a blend of staying focused on fundamental blocking and tackling, and maintaining personal relationships is equally important as a counterbalance to these new school dynamics. This strategy has helped us recently launch the Bamboo Bottle Company, which has already seen online traction on Gizmodo, Uncrate, and tweeted about by Biz Stone.

MP tests Quadrants and Drifts in Iceland

MP testing Quadrants and Drifts in Iceland

Another new client, Contour was just named to the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest growing business’ in the country. Black Diamond skis and boots have won over 13 top-tier awards from Powder, Skiing and Backcountry magazines. Gerber’s launch of the Bear Grylls knives collection has spiked web traffic with a mix of online and traditional placements. Media is moving rapidly, and so is Backbone – with Mike McCormack running the Breck Epic mountain bike stage race last week and moving to Carbondale over the weekend, Dax re-locating to Folly Beach, South Carolina,and Nick Brosnan joining our Jackson Hole office.

Welcome Flylow!

Flylow and Backbone start  a new social media partnership today – which is the result of just too many good conversations while sharing turns on most excellent powder days to not happen. Backbone also will be pushing out Chris Davenport and Jim Surette’s excellent film Australis in the coming months.

Chris, Andrea and Stian on a first descent in Antarctica

Media is not shrinking. It is exploding. And even better, it is doing so in a decentralized manner, where ideas and energy trump entrenched formulas. Open your eyes, take a deep breath and head on out there. Chances are you’ll have some fun along the way.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Client News \ Tagged: , , , , ,