vertfest Archives - The Source

VertFest celebrates the trudging up as much as the gliding down

Before you dive full-force into the magic that is spring, take at least one last weekend to fully bask in the beauty of winter

Nicole VulcanFebruary 26, 2020January 23, 2024

Before you dive full-force into the magic that is spring, take at least one last weekend to fully bask in the beauty of winter (or just toggle back and forth between winter and spring sports, like lots of Central Oregon outdoor enthusiasts do). Mt. Bachelor’s VertFest, which celebrates the love of backcountry snow sports, is […]

Outside

Before It All Falls Down

Local group offers avalanche awareness and education

Brian JenningsNovember 18, 2015February 2, 2025

On January 15, 1998, Brian Sali, of Yakima, Washington, was with two friends snowmobiling on a high, treeless snowdrift on Paulina Peak in Newberry Crater. On a failed turn, he dismounted his machine to turn it when a football field-sized avalanche swept him about a hundred yards and buried him under five feet of snow. […]

Outside

What Goes Up

Vertfest celebrates a boom in backcountry skiing

JP SchlickFebruary 4, 2015March 26, 2025

“It’s really a festival of fun,” says Stirling Cobb, the events and sponsorship manager at Mt. Bachelor. He’s talking about Vertfest, one of the few winter carnivals to focus on backcountry skiing, which returns this weekend to Central Oregon for its third consecutive year. “It’s all about the mountain lifestyle where like-minded people can come […]

Outside

Vertical Integration

Ski mountaineering is crossing the pond and taking hold in Bend

James WilliamsFebruary 19, 2014November 6, 2023

So many of life’s best things originated in Europe: espresso, beer, Nutella. Add ski mountaineering to the list. Long popular in Europe, both casually and competitively, ski mountaineering has been slowly gaining traction in the U.S. The winter cousin to mountain biking—you go up, you go down—is an efficient way to cover snowy terrain. Using […]

Sign up for newsletters