Few ski areas in the world evoke the charm of the mountain lifestyle like Taos Ski Valley, tucked away in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo range. Since Taos was founded in 1954 by Ernie Blake, a Swiss-German who scouted the site while flying back and forth to Colorado, locals and outsiders have come to love the raw, earn-your-turns ethos that defined the steep-and-deep ski area. So you can imagine the trepidation that washed over the community when Louis Bacon, a Manhattan investor worth $1.6 billion, purchased the ski area from the Blake family last year. With a new chairlift going up the gut of Taos' crown jewel, 12,481-foot Kachina Peak, and plans to radically redevelop the base area, the reaction has been split. I spent a few days in Taos reporting a feature for Skiing magazine last spring, my first visit since my bachelor party in 2009. The piece -- "Selling the mystique" -- can be found on my writing page or at this link:

http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/selling-mystique

Here are a few photos from the reporting trip.


Two of Ernie Blake's 13 grandchildren, Keith Stagg (left) and Terah Blake (middle), led me down a powdery run on Kachina Peak (photo by Brett Hills)


Another hard day of work for Taos' avalanche dogs in the ski-patrol hut


If you like steep skiing, Taos is the place


Kachina Peak in all its mystical glory. The new lift will run right up the gut of the face (photo by Ryan Heffernan)

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Last August I flew to Salt Lake City and spent a couple of days with Peter Donner, a 52-year-old economist with the State of Utah who, I'd been told, rides the same 45-mile mountain-bike loop high in the Wasatch Range up to 70 days a summer, alone.

Everyone strives to march to his own drum beat, but I've never met anyone who personifies that ideal better than Donner. I tried to capture his unique worldview and idiosyncrasies in the profile I wrote for Bike, whose editors first heard of Donner from renowned photographer Scott Markewitz. Scott lives a few miles up Emigration Canyon from Donner and his photos accompany the piece I wrote. I'm also including here a few photos from my own ride with Peter. The story can be found on my writing page, or at this link:

http://devononeil.com/Stories/The%20Brink.pdf

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Death is the most demanding and difficult subject for me to write about. It is also the most revealing.

Everyone deals with death differently; that's the only constant between these stories. When a source brings you inside his world of despair and healing, of contemplation and growth, you are essentially given a window into his soul at its most vulnerable time. It may not sell like a bikini, but to me there is no more interesting moment of truth.

I bring all this up because a story I reported this summer and fall was published yesterday on ESPN.com, detailing how big-mountain freeskiing savant Ian Borgeson, 20, has overcome the death of his father to earn a place among the world's elite competitors. His father Leif, the snow-safety director at Arapahoe Basin ski area, was Ian's hero and biggest fan. He suffered a fatal heart attack just a few feet from Ian while they climbed Highland Bowl at Aspen Highlands in 2011. Losing Leif crushed Ian and his family. But the way Ian has responded in the nearly three years since then has shaped him, and comprises the meat of the story.

The package (a video and photo gallery are included) spent today on Page 1 of ESPN.com. Here is a link:

http://xgames.espn.go.com/skiing/article/9967423/freeride-world-tour-rookie-ian-borgeson-talks-life-dad

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Accessing backcountry snow from a ski resort is nothing new. But the management of that snow -- which is uncontrolled by ski patrol and routinely avalanches if the terrain is steep enough and the conditions unstable enough -- has changed over the decades. Public land agencies like the U.S. Forest Service have moved from a stance of trying to limit access so that only experienced, knowledgeable people venture into the backcountry, to a stance of enabling access for whoever desires it, regardless of their experience and knowledge.

This feature, which ran on Page 1 of ESPN.com, examines that shift in strategy based on an unnerving episode two friends and I witnessed last spring in the Tenmile Range. Here is a link to the story:

http://xgames.espn.go.com/skiing/article/9942479/backcountry-riders-treating-avalanche-risk-nonchalance

And here are two photos of the zone in question. The first photo shows the terrain with a fresh coat of snow. The second shows the same zone three weeks after the episode I wrote about in my story. You can see debris from a massive avalanche that released overnight, without any human trigger.

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The alarm began to buzz four hours earlier than I would have liked it to. We groveled for a few minutes, made sure we had packed everything we'd need up high, then set off to the trailhead in the dark. We were above treeline by 7 a.m. and at the pass by 7:30. It was Labor Day and I was working. Working should be in quotation marks.

There are few financial certainties in freelance writing, assignments can be a hustle, you're on your own for health insurance and a retirement plan. But mornings like this one remind me why all of those factors are worth it. The work pays and it's fun to see a project come together. Still, I woke up at 4:32 a.m. first and foremost to watch the sun rise above Buffalo Mountain.

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Just like every reporter loves a buffet, we all think our photos are better than they are. But hey, they make good memories, right? Pictures taken from the road or while on assignment trigger everything I felt and imagined all over again. In the name of that, and in lieu of a reporter's notebook, here are 12 shots from the past five months of work and life. Captions above.

The first thing I did when I got to Japan in February was take the elevator to the 38th floor of a Tokyo skyscraper.


The second thing I did was go skiing. On our hotel's laminate floor, ski boots were forbidden. Slippers were the call.


In March, I spent 10 days camped in Alaska's Chugach Range near the port of Cordova. We were only going to be there 6 days, then a storm dropped 10 feet of snow, stranding us. This was our camp during the initial deluge, when we got 40 inches in 24 hours.


Alaskan sunsets add color to an otherwise bleached landscape.


A airplane-window view of the peaks between Yakutat and Juneau.


From Alaska, I met my passport in Spokane, Washington, then hitched a ride up to British Columbia's Selkirk Range.


Travel is magic, but there's nothing like going home and visiting your backyard haunts after a few weeks away.



In April, I met Iguassu Falls in Brazil. We are now friends.


Spain was the last stop on a whirlwind tour del mundo. We saw a wild boar in the Pyrenees (below) and surfed on the Atlantic coast (bottom). If you ever doubt that every nook on earth has its own identity, go to Spain.

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In the summer of 2011, I began reporting a feature about performance-enhancing drugs in mountaineering, particularly a powerful and dangerous steroid called dexamethasone. The piece just came out in the April issue of Outside magazine.

This was a fascinating, highly complex, and, ultimately, very human issue to investigate. There are no rules in mountaineering. Say what you will about fame and glory and money; the ultimate goal is always to survive, which makes the performance-enhancing drug conversation as murky as it is emotionally charged.

I interviewed nearly 40 sources before pitching this idea to Outside, then another 20 after it was assigned. Most of the opinions I heard and read never made it into print, but I'm grateful to everyone for sharing their perspective and stories on what is a sensitive subject to discuss. That goes particularly for Jesse Easterling, one of the main characters in the story, who opened up some painful wounds to ensure others realize the dangers involved with taking dex.

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Next summer, Breckenridge Ski Resort is likely going to build two new lifts to access Peak 6, a gorgeous alpine basin north of the current boundary. We've trudged up there to ski for years, and halfway up the climb, nestled in the trees just below timberline, sits a small cabin. It's unlikely this cabin will survive the expansion, so we've been visiting as often as we can this winter. There are some cool things on the walls. Plus, the temperature always feels warmer inside, even when no one's been in there for days.

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I just got back from a powdery week in British Columbia covering the Freeride World Tour for ESPN. There have been worse assignments. The heavens hammered for the first four days we were there, postponing the contest but not drawing any complaints from the traveling tribe of skiers and snowboarders who follow the tour. My coverage can be found below, in addition to a few photos from my smartphone. Next stop on the contest-covering circuit: the Winter X Games in Aspen.

EVENT PREVIEW:
http://espn.go.com/action/snowboarding/story/_/id/8816727/2013-ski-snowboard-freeride-world-tour-revelstoke-event-preview

SKI RECAP:
http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/story/_/id/8826057/drew-tabke-christine-hargin-win-2013-freeride-world-tour-revelstoke

SNOWBOARD RECAP:
http://espn.go.com/action/snowboarding/story/_/id/8836030/ralph-backstrom-shannan-yates-win-2013-freeride-world-tour-revelstoke

The aptly named competition venue, Mac Daddy


A Revy patroller hiking to perform avalanche control


Men's Snowboard winner Ralph Backstrom sticking a cliff drop earlier in the week

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Shortly after my family moved to St. John in December 1985, my brother and I met a shaggy blonde kid who would become a friend for life. Galen still lives in the Virgin Islands but made it up to visit us in Colorado last spring. One day he joined me and another friend for a powdery descent off a 13,684-foot peak above Breckenridge. This story, from Elevation Outdoors magazine, chronicles our adventure that day. It can also be read in the January print issue.

http://www.elevationoutdoors.com/sports/snowsports/riding-the-wave/

Galen and I scouting the line from below


Galen and I surfing Apple Bay in Tortola, BVI, circa 1991

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The geese are flying to Belize, which means winter is near, which means ski magazines are publishing new volumes. The editors of Powder magazine kindly added my name to their masthead this year as a correspondent; last winter the folks at Skiing (writer) and Backcountry (contributing editor) did the same. This does not guarantee millions, but it's a nice distinction.

On that note, like newborns exiting the womb, a number of stories have recently seen print for the first time. You can find them on the writing page, and also here:

*The unique ideas behind language-immersion schools (5280):

http://www.5280.com/magazine/2012/08/we-are-world

*A mission to ski the Sangre de Cristo range (Skiing):

http://devononeil.com/Stories/Mission_Sangres.pdf

*How a group of freeskiers is bridging the gap between skiing's famously rigid governing body and the Olympics (Powder):

http://devononeil.com/Stories/Powder%20Nov12%20Rings.pdf

*Two features in ESPN's six-part investigative series on avalanches:

http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/story/_/id/8512284/why-more-people-dying-avalanches

http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/story/_/id/8569814/litigation-involving-inbounds-avalanche-fatalities-rise

There are more stories on the way this winter, so please check back.

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A lot of companies release quarterly earning reports. Here is the equivalent for a freelance writer. The past three months of reporting.

Early May, Sangre de Cristo Range, CO





Mid May, Honolua Bay, Haleakala, Maui





Early June, Sedona, AZ



Late June, Coeur d'Alene, ID



Later June, ESPN.com screen grab, L.A.



July, Breckenridge, CO

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It's been a traumatic season for the North American ski community. A lot of passionate and beloved human beings have passed away from accidents directly tied to their lifestyle, which began and ended with skiing. It's enough to make you question the sport itself. I've been doing a bit of that, with mixed emotions. In the end I believe it's a choice we make. You can't embrace the mountain life without accepting a very real vulnerability. It is the hardest part of seeking out this peace. You must be ready to be hurt at any time, physically, emotionally, or both. And if you're not ready, brace yourself, because it comes like a freight train.

Of course, the same environment that takes, also gives. In that spirit, here are some photos from this half a harsh winter. These represent joy to me.


Whitewater, British Columbia.



Golden, B.C.



The ski run above our town.



Two casts, one X Games gold medal. (Photo by Josh Duplechian)



Powder plays a big role. (Photo by Alex Fenlon)



Friends do too.

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The touted La Nina winter has been a dud so far across much of the Northern Hemisphere, but Whistler-Blackcomb has done OK with snow. I was recently up there to report a couple of stories for next winter and got to ski a day with Eric Pehota and his two sons, Logan, 16, and Dalton, 15. This is Eric dropping in to an admittedly bony (even with the most snow in North America this season, B.C. is still in need) couloir off the Blackcomb glacier. Logan (in green) and Dalton are waiting their turn. Eric made the first descent of this line decades ago; he still loves getting after it.

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In late September I flew to Detroit and spent a day driving some of Ford's top cars to preview the brand's upcoming Octane Academy. I'd never rallied a Fiesta on a full gravel course, drifted a Mustang or spun 360s in a Focus, so the whole day was kind of a rush. The fact that our teachers included X Games champs Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan as well as stunt-driving superstar Ken Block and Formula D drifting champ Vaughn Gittin Jr., made the day even sweeter. Here's a photo of them and me, just above the 54-degree pitch of concrete where Ford tests its vehicles' ability to handle very, very steep hills.

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Some trails are worth visiting every year. This is one of them: a six-inch-wide singletrack at 12,400 feet. Once your calendar says September, you don't know how much time you have until it disappears for eight months, which was part of the initiative for a friend and me last Friday. Of course, that means snow is near, too, which is just as excellent in its own way.

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As cool as it is to cover a big sporting event as a journalist, sometimes it's just as interesting to be a fan. That's what I kept thinking during the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge, a seven-day stage race through Colorado that attracted the entire Tour de France podium. Montana boy Levi Leipheimer won the Challenge the last week of August, cementing his standing with a solid ride into Breckenridge. But I think the enduring image for so many thousands who cheered on the side of a road was of the pulsing energy. You could feel it build all day, then peak as the racers rode by like 130-pound freight trains. It made me want to see the Tour de France in person, as a fan. Here are some images from the so-called queen stage on 12,095-foot Independence Pass, where the party was as rowdy as the race. The cyclists were 115 miles into a 130-mile day, about to begin a hairball descent through pouring rain into Aspen.







American phenomenon Tejay van Garderen attacking 1km from the summit.

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Kip Garre, who over the past two years became a good friend and one of the people I admired most in my life, died on April 26 in an avalanche in the eastern Sierra Nevada range. He and his girlfriend, a talented athlete and vivacious spirit named Allison Kreutzen, who also perished, were climbing the east couloir of Split Mountain, one of the most famous ski-mountaineering lines in America.

I met Kip in the San Francisco airport on our way to Western Nepal in September 2009. During the six weeks we spent together, as well as subsequent adventures in California and Boston, I grew to respect his definition of life and pursuit of fulfillment as much as I've ever respected anyone's. His passion has consumed my thoughts since I learned of his death, and I suspect that will be the case for a while moving forward.

I wrote a cover story for Backcountry magazine about Kip this winter, as well as an ESPN retrospective on his rarest gift, after learning of his death. Both can be found below.

The photo you see above was taken in Dhuli, a tiny village in the Bajhang District of Western Nepal, after six days of trekking through a jungle to reach the foot of the Saipal mountains. He was pretty much always smiling.

Backcountry Mag: http://www.devononeil.com/Stories/KipGarre_FebBCM.pdf

ESPN: http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/news/story?id=6466204&af

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A story I wrote about the crisis-response company Global Rescue is in the current (April 2011) issue of Outside Magazine. The story not only profiles Global Rescue, but also takes a hard look at the multi-billion-dollar crisis-response industry.

You can find it at:

http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ga-201104-adventure-rescue-service-sidwcmdev_154944.html



Meanwhile, this photo was taken Wednesday in an alpine zone outside Leukerbad, Switzerland. We were staying in a hut and skiing some surprisingly good north-facing powder - as was this group of Swiss-Germans. It's been a harsh winter in Europe with very little snowfall, but above a certain elevation, everything was skiing pretty well for late March.

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I've been making an effort this winter to get out of town and explore the state, more so than in years past. Last weekend, that meant driving down to the northern Sangre de Cristo range with a friend and trying to get up a 13,500-foot peak. It's been a lean winter down there, and the snow line is much higher than we thought it'd be, which made for a large day. This photo was taken at the end of our hike out at 3:30 p.m., nearly 12 hours after a 4:30 a.m. start in Breckenridge. Luckily the trailhead is less than a mile from a little slice of heaven called Valley View Hot Springs, where we camped for the evening. Watch for a story on a season of Colorado trips later this spring.

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This week, Parade published a story I wrote about Dean Karnazes, who made his name running ultramarathons and writing an international bestseller about his strange adventures. Now, Karnazes has made it his life's goal to combat childhood obesity and inactivity.



I took this photo last August at the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run in Colorado. Karnazes has 3.5 percent body fat. To view the story and read other interesting facts (his $25,000 speaking fee didn't make the cut), go to:

http://www.devononeil.com/Stories/02-1.27_FT.Karnazes.pdf

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This past August, I flew to Reno and met up with a friend and professional skier named Kip Garre. I'd met Kip in 2009 during a trip to Nepal, and we'd stayed in touch. Not only is he a man of rare talents in the mountains, but he's also one of the most authentic people I've met. We went climbing and camping in the Eastern Sierra, then spent a couple of days in the Lake Tahoe town where he lives, mountain biking and flying over the lake in his buddy Kevin Quinn's Cessna.

The result of that reporting trip can be found in the February issue of Backcountry magazine, which begins with Kip on the cover rappelling into a precipitous Chamonix couloir. Jordan Manley, one of the most talented photographers working today, took the cover photo as well as the shots that accompany the story. I hope to be able to include a full version of the piece here soon.

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Someday I hope to write a book about growing up on St. John. But until then, I am happy just to re-enter the island bubble every now and again.

I was back home for eight days in late November and spent quality time with a number of people who have influenced my life, among them my friend Galen, a world-class surfer (and person) whom I've known since I was 5, and my old baseball coach and mentor, Chino, who runs the youth sports program on the British island of Tortola. They are depicted here along with a few other photos from the trip.

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Are Colorado's most bitchin' mountain range. I wish this were my backyard. It took two hours of riding and hiking up some mean dirt to get to this point, but once there you can ride for five hours above treeline uninterrupted. We didn't start until 12:30, of course, so by the time we finished our ride, we barely had time to pitch our tent before dark.

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ESPN Outdoors published a four-part series this week on John and my little running and fishing adventure last month in Colorado. (This is John hurting in a big way on Day 1.) The series ran the same week as a snowboarding feature on former prodigy Todd Franzen, who underwent a stem cell transplant to fight Hodgkin's Lymphoma on Monday. Franzen's story spent a day on Page 1 of ESPN.com.

ESPN also is running a feature this month on college football's best kept secret -- a program doling out an Ivy League-quality education and graduating 90 percent of its players while averaging six bowl games a decade since 1980. It's not Stanford.

If you check out the Writing page of this site, you'll find the above-mentioned stories as well as two recent Denver Post outdoors features and a weird essay from the Mountain Gazette.

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Being is awesome. These photos were taken the third week in September. Fall in Vermont is one of the prettiest scenes in the world, but fall in the Rockies runs a close second.

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