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I co-founded Highline Magazine in 2008 and was publisher and creative director from that time until it’s close in 2016.
Amidst towering mountain peaks, snow-filled couloirs and fast-running rivers, Canada’s Rocky Mountain Parks inspire people to embrace life in wild spaces. And mountain towns have long been magnets for talented and creative individuals.
Highline was a window into the wild culture that thrives in the Rockies. Its stories, images, and local events embodied the playful, community-minded, and earth-friendly spirit of the people who call the Rockies home. The Highline team provided a fun, friendly mountain culture experience for locals and visitors, building lasting relationships with our readers.
Highline Magazine was a free, semi-annual print magazine distributed in local hotspots throughout the Rockies. The mag was known for its unconventional storytelling, knack for finding off-the-beaten-path perspectives on mountain issues, beautiful and intelligent design and photography, and our wild and well-loved local events.
This January, the Highline team and our wild gang of writers, photographers, and creatives set out on an adventure to Sundance Lodge for our annual creative retreat. Well-known for it’s horseback trips in the summer, it’s a bit of a local’s secret that this beauty transforms into a super cozy, laid-back lodge perfect for an accessible winter getaway as well.
Read MoreThe expulsion of gas is very rarely a welcomed event; just ask anyone who has invited extended-family relatives over for Thanksgiving dinner. Yet every winter at Abraham Lake, locals and tourists alike flock to this body of water on the upper course of the North Saskatchewan River in Western Alberta. They arrive to witness a stunning display of frozen methane gas bubbles that slowly float to the surface. These bubbles create a spectacular tableau of shapes and designs that would render Jackson Pollock speechless.
Read MoreIf you manage to haul a frozen, skinned beaver carcass up a remote mountain pass in the middle of winter, then nail it about two metres up a tree, you might just be lucky enough to attract a wolverine.
Read MoreA harrowing tale of mistaken identity on the Goat Creek Trail between Banff and Canmore.
Read MoreCarol Picard, feature Know Your Neighbour, winter 2015.
Read MoreFive faves from the 2015 Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival. The 2015 Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival’s literary game was strong. From memoir to mountaineering history, the fest continues to bring out the best in books. Don’t know where to start your reading list? Look no further, friends.
Read MoreWith climate change and its effects on global weather patterns being contended with the world over, the reality of milder winters and hotter summers has clear implications for ski resorts both in Western Canada and its neighbour to the south.
Read MoreA Canmore resident for two decades, Nancy Hansen’s enthusiasm has been unrivalled since she began climbing in 1995. In 2003, after summiting 3,612-metre Mount Forbes, she became the first woman, and only sixth person to climb all 54 of the Canadian Rockies’ peaks above 3,353 metres (11,000 feet). Adding to a long and impressive check list, with 46 summits completed, she has climbed more of the peaks listed in Roper and Steck’s book, “Fifty Classic Climbs of North America” than anyone else.
Read MoreThe Athabasca Glacier and the rest of its kin throughout Western Canada are dying, in large part due to anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change. And with the loss of glaciers, much of what we mountain folk hold dear about the places we love will be washed away. Our little pieces of paradise – along with the planet as a whole – will become much different and more difficult places to live.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again: bears are wandering the neighbourhoods of our mountain towns, risking their lives to feast on your delicious fruit trees.
But don’t despair. Instead, let’s get wild in the name of saving the wildlife. Now’s the time to strip the crabapples off your tree and make some inexpensive boozy drinks out of your harvest. Just follow the simple recipe below.
Read MoreThe moment has arrived: the sun will soon be tucked behind the mountains; birds chirp an evening lullaby; and bellies are full of, well, let’s be honest, probably hot dogs and potato chips — it’s the magical hour of the campfire.
Your companions for the evening are likely: a) your friends, drawn like moths to the campfire’s flames and will, if unprovoked — except for the occasional cooler run — remain hypnotized for hours by the blaze; or (b) your children, in which case by now they’re defiantly karate chopping your last nerve as you quietly debate with your spouse whose turn it is to throw them a bone. Either way, why not introduce knives to the situation (carving knives, of course!), and then see what happens?
Read MoreThe Highline Magazine Naked Nut Brown Ale is officially on the menu at Banff Ave Brewing Co! Sales of the brew will directly support local writers, photographers, musicians and creatives of all kinds through a unique sponsorship program forged between the Highline and Brew Co teams this summer. Now your drinking buds can feel good knowing their hard work is supporting a good cause!
Read MorePete Rochacewich is a dirty trash talker. Affectionately known as Garbageman Pete, he relishes the opportunity to converse — especially with Canmore residents — about cardboard, cans and other crap.
Read MoreHighline Magazine sponsors the Canmore Folk Festival Pub stage.
Read MoreTake a hike! The fine folks at Hike365 and Highline Magazine have joined forces with our local audiences to create a top 12 list of the locals’ favourite hikes in the Rockies, within three hours driving distance if launching from Banff. The survey we hosted in April came back with some incredible results, and we’ve pared it down to a top three in each category.
Read MoreAlthough he’d humbly deny it, Christian Wright is a big dill. One of the most recognizable faces of urban farming in Canmore and a bartender at The Drake Pub, he’s both a people and a plant person. Through working these two gigs, he’s found inner peas: channeling his inner Buddha while pulling weeds alone in the garden as well as when he has to tell a customer that he’s been cut off for the evening. Not that he focuses on the negative or anything — Wright is too busy digging life.
Read MoreThreading its way alongside the raging Robson River before meandering upwards at a knee-grinding rate, the Berg Lake Trail is one of stupendous beauty and considerable challenge. Situated in Mt. Robson Provincial Park, under the watchful eye of Mt. Robson – at 3,954 metres, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies – the Berg Lake Trail is a renowned backcountry hike, consisting of jaw-dropping vistas, thunderous waterfalls and culminating at an exquisite lake fed by three ice formations – the Mist, Berg and Robson glaciers.
Read MoreSeventy-three years ago, when I was 10, my father took me fishing in his heavy, clinker built boat. Powered by a 1¼ horsepower British Seagull outboard motor, we braved a stormy ocean to fish with hand lines for plaice and cod.
Read MoreHere in the Bow Valley, Dave and Brenda Holder of Mahikan Trails are practicing a kinder, gentler, more-accessible bushcraft. Bushcraft can be a means to connect with our natural surroundings – an alternative way to be in nature rather than the usual hiking, biking, skiing, etc. In this issue of Highline, Dave Holder walks us through how to build a fire in the backcountry.
Read MoreAs if you need any more motivation to head out into Jasper National Park, our friend Jeff Bartlett has pulled together a killer list of insider-approved, accessible adventures and amazing photos to get you stoked to head out beyond the beaten path.
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