Three generations, two villages, one family’s mountain.

Faustine Armand, sales manager of La Maison Pinturault, met me with a smile outside Hôtel Les Peupliers on a lovely afternoon, the kind where the mountains begin to disappear into the clouds and the village turns inward. I instantly could tell that she was the right person to introduce me to a place like this. She’s been working in Courchevel for 14 years, skiing, mountain biking, embedded in the local community long before she joined La Maison a year ago, and I recognized her mountain smile from the ski towns I’ve lived in in Colorado over the last 30 years, warm without being performative, genuinely proud of Le Praz and of the family whose story she was about to share with me.

We toured the village, past the ski jumps, the Épicerie du Praz, down the alleyway to the old stable that is now L’Étable des Lys with the easy familiarity of someone who loves where they work.

After squeezing out of my helmet and ski boots, we lunched at La Table de Mon Grand-Père, and the food was exactly what is demanded after a morning shredding high speed groomers and tentatively testing the off-piste of Courchevel…generous, local, hearty. By the time we finished I was already thinking about coming back with my bike. That feeling, I’ve come to understand, is the whole point.

The gondola from Le Praz deposits you at the edge of snow in Courchevel 1850 in just about seven minutes, part of the village transportation infrastructure in fact. Up top is what most people picture when they hear the name — and the altiport made famous from the 2025 Tour de France finish, designer boutiques, five-star addresses and discotheques perched above the snowline.

Below, however, is a real village, one that was here before the ski lifts, where schoolchildren walk down the streets in the morning and year-round residents keep gardens and shop locally. Le Praz is where Courchevel’s roots are, and not coincidentally, where the Pinturault family story is alive.

The Pinturaults arrived in Courchevel in 1961, when the ski area was still finding itself. Christiane and André had the pioneering sense to build their hotel Annapurna in 1974, and it has held the highest address in the resort ever since, awarded a Michelin Key, and also ski-in/ski-out onto the Pralong lift. In 2022, the family extended their reach down the mountain to acquire Hôtel Les Peupliers in Le Praz, a historic property that has changed hands only twice in nearly a century. Together along with three private chalets in the forest above Le Praz, and a collection of restaurants across these villages, La Maison Pinturault now spans the full vertical and cultural range of the resort, from the summit to the valley floor, in a way that mirrors the family’s own breadth of connection to this place.

This is not a hospitality brand that materialized from a business plan; it is a family that has been skiing, cooking, farming, and hosting on this mountain for more than 60 years.

The Mountain They Know

If you are the kind of skier for whom Les 3 Vallées is not an aspiration but a pilgrimage, you already know what this terrain means. Six hundred kilometers of linked slopes connecting Courchevel, Méribel, Val Thorens, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, Les Menuires, Brides-les-Bains, and Orelle — the largest ski area in the world, with 150 kilometers in Courchevel alone. The Annapurna sits directly on the slopes with access to a beginners’ area right out the door, so families with mixed abilities can all get on the hill without a production. For stronger skiers, the demanding summits and the full Les 3 Vallées circuit are a lift ride away.

The Pinturaults did not simply set up shop at the entrance to all of this, they grew up in it, which is why Alexis Pinturault’s story feels less like a footnote to the family hospitality business and more like its spiritual center. Three-time World Champion and three-time Olympic medalist: two bronzes in the giant slalom, a silver in combined. Five small crystal globes and the large one, the overall World Cup title, which only Jean-Claude Killy and Luc Alphand had won before him in French skiing history. The most decorated alpine ski racer France has ever produced, he learned to ski on these slopes, coming back to these mountains at the end of every season, and is now building his post-racing life here with his wife Romane. Their daughter Olympe arrived last year, the fourth generation.

His trophies line the walls of La Table de Mon Grand-Père in Le Praz…a genuine record of a life lived thoroughly on this mountain. He and Romane are expected to take over the Courchevel Le Praz properties when his racing career winds down. The Chalets Altaï (three eco-designed private chalets in the forest above Le Praz) were built in 2023 in part through his involvement. When serious skiers sit down to dinner in Le Praz and look at those trophies, they know exactly what they mean.

His sister Sandra runs the collection. She joined the Annapurna in 2013, starting as a receptionist, working through reception management and accommodations before taking over the hotel in 2019. By 2022 she had created three restaurants, including the gastronomic Alpage, which earned a Michelin star in its first season, as well as the Écotable label’s highest three-star distinction for sustainable gastronomy. Sandra is a passionate equestrian and art collector, and those sensibilities show throughout the Annapurna, fine art photography on the walls, street art she champions, room renovations in light oak and natural wool that feel intended for those who spend their summers outdoors. Since December 2023 she has helmed the full La Maison Pinturault Collection across both villages.

Le Praz: The Village First

Arriving in Courchevel, you’ll first discover Le Praz village at 1,300 meters, at the edge of the forest at Lac du Praz, facing the 1992 Olympic ski jump complex. The streets are narrow, the buildings representative of southern France, with local residents here who are not on vacation. The gondola to 1850 runs regularly to ensure a connection to the slopes above and easy access to the sport; but the pace and feeling are entirely different.

Hôtel Les Peupliers seems to anchor the village. Built by the Blanc family in 1930, taken over by the Gacon family in 1980, and purchased by the Pinturaults in 2022, only the third family to own it in nearly a century. It’s a four-star property that wears its history comfortably: a lakefront address with a south-facing terrace and the feel of a house that has always belonged to the same person. It features 18 rooms and suites in the main building, finished in stone and wood with Savoyard motifs and views of the village and lake. Across the street, a 14-room annex called La Maison sits just meters from Lac du Praz. General Manager Julien Chamoux has been here since 2023, a family friend and former Accor and Cimalpes veteran who chose Le Praz for its own sake: “the family atmosphere and the village life all year-round, where schoolchildren pass skiers in the morning.”

La Table de Mon Grand-Père is where Le Praz’s culinary soul lives. The kitchen is run by Chef Maxime Bertholle under the direction of Jean-Rémi Caillon — local, seasonal, quintessential French. Caillon describes it simply: “We dine as we gather after a day outdoors, with fresh cheeks, open hearts and hearty appetites. A mountain on a human scale.” Seasonal stews, matured cuts of beef, freshwater fish, vegetables from local growers, Trufflifette and Crozotto. Get the sharing menu. (Live music runs every first Thursday of the month.)

Tucked down a charming village alleyway, L’Étable des Lys occupies a former village stable under stone vaults decorated with old wood. Although it was closed for a private event that evening, I was told cheeses selected by Bernard Mure-Ravaud, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, drawn from nearby farms — potchon, matouille — in a setting Caillon describes with obvious affection: “You enter as if in a friend’s house. The wood creaks, the embers crackle, and the cheese warms you.” Out front, the Kiosque does crêpes, waffles, and mulled wine. L’Épicerie du Praz, opposite the hotel and curated by grocer Thierry, stocks the same products used across La Maison’s kitchens…bread from La Marmottine, Savoyard charcuterie, fine wines, crozets, specialty coffees, plus signature items like the artisanal La Mousse du Chef beer (which I enjoyed thoroughly) and the La Maison Pinturault house coffee (which I also enjoyed upon my sad return to the United States). Their gourmet events series, Les Rencontres Gourmandes, is in its second season, bringing winemakers, cheesemakers, growers, and chocolatiers in for evenings that feel more like village life than programming.

Into the Forest: Chalets Altaï

Hidden at the end of a small alleyway leading into the forest above Le Praz, the three Chalets Altaï were completed in 2023, built by Sandra and Alexis as a statement about what responsible alpine architecture can look like. Named for a Eurasian mountain range spanning Russia, Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan, they were constructed with eco-responsible materials, wood heating, triple glazing, thermo-brushed local wood, natural wool and regional stone, and furnished with vintage designer pieces sourced through the Selency marketplace by Atelier Giffon. Every detail, from ski pole handles in the ski room to the carefully chosen books and dishes, feels like the work of people who use these spaces.

Chalet Beloukha runs 430 square meters, sleeps eight adults and four children across four double bedrooms and a children’s dormitory with its own slide, and is ski-in. Chalet Irbis (named for the snow leopard) is a five-bedroom retreat for ten, with hammam (Turkish bath), sauna, and herbal tea room. Chalet Khoton is the flagship: 506 square meters, five bedrooms, and a 120-square-meter spa with an indoor pool, Japanese baths, hammam, sauna, a Norwegian sauna, massage room running Estime & Sens treatments, and a gym. All three receive full Hôtel Les Peupliers hotel services: shuttles, daily housekeeping, breakfast, and concierge (and access to the Estime & Sens spa). I didn’t get to tour these properties but from what I can tell, I really want to go and live there, forever.

Hôtel Annapurna: The Summit

The Annapurna sits at 1850 between the Jardin Alpin and the altiport, ski-in/ski-out onto the Pralong lift and into Les 3 Vallées. Christiane and André Pinturault acquired the land in 1972 and opened the hotel two years later. Claude modernized it through the 1980s, adding suites, terraces, the heated outdoor pool, spa, and a seminar room. Sandra has continued that evolution since 2019, renovating rooms and restaurants through 2023 without disturbing what her grandparents built. What they built, was soul.

The building was designed on the heliotropic principle, oriented to chase the sun across its exposures so the panoramic views of La Saulire, La Grande Casse, and L’Aiguille du Fruit are never static, light moves through the giant bay windows differently depending on your floor and the hour. Luxury on a human scale, the Pinturaults call it, authentic, warm, without the coldness that high-end alpine addresses can carry.

This winter brings significant updates. Four Junior Suites and the flagship Everest Suite (145 square meters, a terrace facing the slopes, a private sauna) have been redesigned by Atelier Giffon in light oak, wool, and natural stone. “Every year we undertake hotel renovations,” Sandra said, “incorporating wood, stone and natural colors.” The 76 rooms and suites span five categories, from compact Vallée rooms to the named suites — Annapurna, Makalu, K2 — borrowing scale from the 8,000-meter peaks they’re named for.

The spa has been redesigned this season too: more spacious hammam, new jacuzzi facing the mountains, two saunas including one with panoramic views, both indoor 15-meter and outdoor pools, and Codage treatment rooms where custom serums are formulated on-site for each guest, along with yoga, Pilates, physiotherapy, and osteopathy. For families, La Banquise des Petits handles kids three to ten with an indoor polar-themed club and a Base Camp outdoor playground including a real igloo, 21-meter slide, and fishing module. A teen room and screening room handle the rest.

The ski service is dialed: heated individual lockers, ski valet, and shop on site. A fleet of hybrid Range Rovers handles village transport…40 years of refinement look like this.

The Kitchen at the Heart of It All

Jean-Rémi Caillon is the culinary thread running through every La Maison Pinturault address. A native of Roanne who has worked on the Côte d’Azur, in Paris, and at Lake Geneva, he carries Bocuse and Escoffier alongside lessons from his travels in Japan and a love of foraging for wild herbs.

“While meat and fish remain central to my cooking,” he says, “it is essential that we give vegetables their due, ensuring that they make up at least 50 percent of the plate at every meal.” That holds across every kitchen in the collection.

At Alpage (18 seats Wednesday through Sunday evenings, one Michelin star) five and seven-course menus pay tribute to the surrounding mountains through the artisans, market gardeners, and producers of the valley. The dining room feels like a distillation of the landscape: oak from Albertville, granite from the Mont Blanc massif, ceramics by Anne Marmottan, a soundscape by Le Couturier du Son. The three Écotable macarons — the label’s highest distinction — reflect Caillon and Sandra’s rigorous commitment to local sourcing and ecological responsibility.

Restaurant La Table de l’Annapurna, the Annapurna’s main dining room, serves generous traditional French cuisine with a sunny terrace at the edge of the slopes. Head sommelier Valentin Peyrard runs weekly winemaker dinners featuring producers from Champagne, Burgundy, the Loire, Bordeaux, the Savoie, and the Côtes du Rhône, older vintages and menus from Caillon’s kitchen, roughly three hours of genuine food-and-wine immersion. (Weekly tasting workshops for four to ten guests run at €40 per person.)

La Fèrma, the hotel’s 20-seat Savoyard specialist, is where you come for raclette and fondue while the snow falls outside — cheeses selected by Bernard Mure-Ravaud, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France. The bar, where Alain Péant has been making cocktails for 40 years and this season welcomes original creations from French mixologist Jérémy LeBlanche of New York’s Thyme Bar, is the kind of room where the evening extends without asking permission.

Courchevel celebrates its 80th anniversary this season. The resort hosted the women’s slalom World Cup in December 2025 and will host the men’s super-G and downhill in March 2026. The Alps may host the 2030 Olympics, with Courchevel in the running for events. These are indications of a mountain that matters to the world.

The Pinturaults have been part of that mountain since before most of its visitors were born. Their family motto — “le partage en héritage, sharing as heritage” — may sound cliche in English, but happens to be true. What La Maison Pinturault offers across the Annapurna at 1850 and the properties in Le Praz is not a curated lifestyle product, but three generations who live, ski, cook here, and have staked their family’s identity on this particular place and have been welcoming guests into that story for more than 50 years. The fourth generation arrived last year and the mountain isn’t going anywhere.

La Maison Pinturault: Hôtel Annapurna and restaurants open December 12 to April 12, 2026. Hôtel Les Peupliers and L’Épicerie du Praz open November 3 to April 19, 2026. Photos courtesy of the property.

–Author Aaron H. Bible is an award-winning travel and outdoors writer with more than 30 years experience covering the outdoor lifestyle industry. Follow him @DefinitelyWild.

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A decade in, the brand isn’t a running brand so much as a running culture, with a community that skews ultrarunner, tattooed, and serious about both function and what the function looks like. Now adidas wants in too.

The two brands announced a multi-season partnership last week, launching with the ADIZERO ADIOS PRO 4 SATISFY — a limited-edition version of one of the most proven racing shoes on the market, filtered through SATISFY’s visual language. The debut drop landed alongside The Circle Pit, an inaugural running event staged on the pump track at Naranja Park in Oro Valley, Arizona. The debut drop landed alongside The Circle Pit, an inaugural running event staged on the pump track at Naranja Park in Oro Valley, Arizona — a closed-loop format merging endurance, live music, and community in the Sonoran Desert, reimagining what a race can be.

The shoe reads as a genuine collision of two identities. The ADIZERO ADIOS PRO 4 chassis is unchanged where it counts: full-length Lightstrike Pro foam for energy return, a LIGHTLOCK upper with one-way stretch for a locked-in racing fit, hyperzoned Continental rubber grip derived from pressure map data, and carbon-fibre Energy Rods 2.0 for a seamless heel-to-toe transition. What SATISFY brought is everything else — an asymmetric 360 colour fade pulled from the skate habit of mismatching shoes, DIY spray-paint aesthetics worked into the geometry of the upper, matte silver Energy Rods referencing off-road buggies, contrast stitching, reflective metallic 3-Stripes. Signature palette runs army green, earth brown, and core black. The whole shoe shifts colour depending on angle — lateral versus medial, the two sides never quite agreeing on what they are.

The partnership tension is real and worth naming. SATISFY built its credibility through small-batch production, high-end European mills, and a community that skews ultrarunner over casual jogger. adidas is a €24.8 billion operation with 62,000 employees. But the logic holds on both sides. “This collaboration is not simply about combining logos,” said Daniel Groh, SATISFY’s Chief Brand Officer. “It exists at the intersection of authentic performance and cultural relevance. Both brands remain true to their identities while creating something that pushes each perspective further.”

More drops are planned through the rest of 2026 and beyond.

The ADIZERO ADIOS PRO 4 SATISFY is available now on satisfyrunning.com and releases May 25 on the CONFIRMED APP and adidas.com.

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And like all good start ups, Tune definitely solves some problems. The 360-lb. Tune M1 potentially raises the bar on weight-to-space ratio, comfort, and functional versatility for pick-up truck based adventurers. Founded by a team of outdoor industry and engineering veterans, Tune Outdoor is a direct-to-consumer brand launching a premium lightweight pickup truck camper to a growing market seemingly still hungry for innovation, value, and product evolution.

Tune Outdoor unveiled its innovative new entry to the growing lightweight truck camper market and we can’t wait to get out and test one. The striking Tune M1 pop-up canopy truck topper seems to blend design innovation, and simplicity. The brand said a streamlined production process delivers an industry-best weight-to-space ratio, exceptional performance, and a stylish, modern aesthetic, targeting the burgeoning vehicle-based adventure and active outdoor community.

Employing durable, lightweight materials, Tune engineers developed an intuitive design that puts the Tune M1’s base model weight starting at only 360 lbs. It also features a patented wing-wall design with flared sidewalls, a market first, and a fully vertical pop-top, providing more cubic living space than any lightweight truck camper on the market. This exceptional weight-to-space ratio broadens the Tune M1’s utility across a wide range of outdoor and offroad conditions, making it an ideal solution for comfortable camping outdoors, whether you’re fishing, surfing, climbing, kayaking, biking, snowmobiling, hunting, and more.

“We designed a canopy truck topper that hits the sweet spot of lightweight, functionality, and feel, allowing you to access your favorite backcountry places with enough space to bring your toys and gear and still camp comfortably,” says company president Sean Kepler, who has held executive leadership positions at The North Face, VF Outdoor, Reef, and Crocs. Tune’s team of outdoor industry veterans and engineers spent more than two years perfecting Tune’s design and production process.

Tune’s structure incorporates an aluminum frame, injected ultra-strong composite corner brackets, a clean polyester pop-top canopy extension, and easy-to-fit, FRP honeycomb paneling. Each camper comes with three aluminum or glass awning doors that allow for easy access from any angle, low-power interior halo lighting, and over 440 feet of universal T-track on the interior, exterior, and roof for unlimited customization. A large sleeping loft allows users to sleep sideways, while maintaining 6’4’’ to 6’10” of stand-up headroom (depending on truck model). The bed and living area can be enjoyed simultaneously, opening the entire cabin to camp living – from hanging out and cooking, to toy hauling and remote working.

“Tune has engineered a product that is affordable, highly functional, and efficient to build, which empowers outdoor enthusiasts to comfortably enjoy their favorite off-the-path places to play and stay,” adds Kepler.

The M1 is being sold direct to consumers at tuneoutdoor.com with a base model price of $12,999 with an introductory price of $10,999 for a limited time.

Tune innovated a patent-pending industrial design solution that allows the Tune M1 to assemble quickly and easily, translating to fast installation lead times and efficient after-market service. The Tune M1 camper easily integrates with nearly any pickup chassis—from Tacomas to the Ford Lightning—providing unparalleled performance and comfort without extensive modifications.

The co-founder of Tune is an old friend of mine and one of the original inventors and partners at Backcountry Access. He’s got a depth and background in the “living and playing outdoors” industry that is tough to match, along with a background in engineering and bringing real world technical products to life. Tons of respect for those guys.

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The scale of the event continues to align with growth in the performance running footwear category. Carbon-plated racing shoes have expanded beyond elite-only use into broader retail distribution, including limited releases and collaborations tied to major race calendars, and brands including adidas, Nike, On, Tracksmith, and ASICS continue to position race-day product launches around major marathons.

The crossover between performance running and fashion was visible during London Fashion Week when Vanish was there in January, as technical running footwear appeared in runway presentations and showroom environments alongside seasonal apparel with performance models integrated into fashion contexts rather than separated from them.

Within this massive framework, Footpatrol and adidas have released a collaborative version of the Adizero Adios Pro 4 ahead of race weekend.

Footpatrol was founded in London in 2002, initially operating from a small courtyard space in Soho at a time when access to limited and international sneaker releases was more restricted. The store built its position by sourcing rare product, including Japanese exclusives and deadstock pairs, and became a distribution point for early consortium-level releases. It relocated to Berwick Street in 2010, where it remains, and expanded to a second location in Paris extending its footprint into another key European market.

The business operates as both a retailer and a collaborator. It has worked across brands including Nike, adidas, ASICS, Saucony, and Clarks, with a consistent focus on limited runs and launch-driven releases. Its positioning has remained tied to sneaker distribution and community engagement rather than scale retail, functioning as a release point for high-demand product and partnerships.

That history is directly relevant to this release. Performance running footwear—specifically carbon-plated race models—has historically been distributed through performance channels, with limited crossover into boutique retail. This collaboration places a race-day silhouette, the Adizero Adios Pro 4, into that distribution model, aligning a technical product with a retailer typically associated with limited sneaker releases.

The design references the built environments surrounding Footpatrol’s London and Paris locations. The upper uses a one-way stretch textile with metallic three-stripe branding incorporating 3M reflective elements, while the midsole retains LIGHTSTRIKE PRO foam, paired with carbon-infused ENERGYRODS designed for propulsion and efficiency over distance.

The release is timed to coincide with marathon week and is available through Footpatrol’s retail and online channels. Creative Direction and Photography by Anthony Lee.

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Sometimes I like to show up at a new destination having done no research whatsoever. Not always, but I appreciate the sense of new eyes, the experience unclouded by someone else’s report or opinion.

So when the Hoffmann Hotel reached out to me to see if I wanted to come up and check out their new hotel, I was genuinely excited to do something different in a location I already knew well. I was also able to visit an other iconic property in Aspen that I had always been curious. Keep reading.

What I found was a 122-room property sitting quietly in the middle of the Roaring Fork Valley, called Aspen Junction until 1895, and one of the more sensible mid-valley lodging options to date. To the south the four mountains of Aspen Snowmass are all within a half-hour drive. To the north/west, the Roaring Fork runs into the Colorado River at Glenwood Springs, 20 miles down-valley — home to some of the best floating and fishing in the state, hot springs, and with Carbondale and the rest of the central valley’s restaurants and recreational opportunities closer at hand. Rates start around $258 a night.

The hotel sits on Kodiak Lake in the Willits and Tree Farm development, a modern yet rustic little area that wears its Hilton affiliation lightly, including an off-leash dog park and swimming beach out back and in the mornings I ran the paved one-mile loop around the lake behind the hotel, flat and peaceful. It’s a base camp where you can stretch out a bit out of the fray.

A short walk right under Highway 82 and you’ll find Whole Foods, restaurants, and shops. The hotel runs a paid on-call shuttle to Aspen-Pitkin County Airport and the ski areas between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and RFTA’s electric bus system handles the valley corridor for $2 – $4 from Willits depending on where you’re headed. Ski and bike storage is on site along with plenty of parking ($15/day). The hotel staff can point you toward fishing, hiking, biking, or whatever the Roaring Fork Valley has to offer in the current season.

The Hoffmann House restaurant handles breakfast and dinner with a casual European-inspired approach with little of the performance that inflates Aspen’s dining. The salmon with pesto orzo has earned its reputation in the reviews and I loved the lemon Parmesan wings. The bar runs happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. daily, often with live music and a lively local crowd.

Aspen One

Aspen is one of the few resort destinations I’ve been to in the world that looked squarely at what it was becoming and decided to try and manage itself rather than simply be consumed by its own growth or reputation. The Aspen Chamber Resort Association launched its Destination Management Plan in 2022 with three pillars: address visitor pressure, enhance the Aspen experience, and preserve small-town character, a community-built framework developed from 1,300 resident surveys, town halls, and stakeholder input. 

The city has set a target of 100% carbon emissions reduction by 2050. Free transit has been running since 1993; car trips into Aspen have dropped 10% since then even as the valley’s population has grown substantially. RFTA’s zero-carbon electric bus system now connects the entire corridor.

In July 2024, Aspen earned Mountain IDEAL certification through the GSTC-accredited Green Destinations body following a rigorous onsite assessment, making it one of a handful of mountain destinations worldwide to hold the designation. The city runs entirely on renewable energy, a mix of approximately 50 percent wind, 45 percent hydropower, and five percent solar and landfill gas. Eight free shuttle routes serve more than one million residents and visitors annually, RFTA operates eight battery-powered electric buses on city routes, and We-Cycle launched in Aspen in 2013, making it the first resort town in the country with an official bike-share program.

Passengers flying into Aspen-Pitkin County Airport can offset their flight emissions through The Good Traveler program, with proceeds directed to local conservation organization Wilderness Workshop. Aspen has appeared on the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories list three consecutive years and was named among CNN Travel’s ten most sustainable ski resorts in the world.

The four mountains — Aspen Mountain, Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk — now operate under the collective banner of Aspen One, and the unified vision behind them is one of the more enviable post-COVID plays in the industry. Five thousand six hundred and eighty skiable acres, more than 40 lifts, over 410 trails. The crown jewel is perhaps Aspen Mountain itself, rising straight from downtown Aspen with terrain that runs from iconic bumps and steeps to powder-stashes in trees and a legendary fashion and après scene. Snowmass is the largest of the four, with more than 3,300 acres and seven on-mountain restaurants. Both are within 30 minutes of the Hoffmann’s front door.

The skiing and ski touring/mountaineering in the Aspen Valley is some of the best and most breathtaking in the world. Highlands remains uncrowded, serious, a mountain that rewards skiers who seek it out. Snowmass is where I learned to ski, and there’s a reason people come back to Snowmass for decades and keep bringing their kids.

The Hoffmann sits close enough to reach everything in the Valley, yet far enough to cost less and breathe a little bit.

—The Hoffmann Hotel Basalt Aspen, Tapestry Collection by Hilton: 30 Kodiak Dr., Basalt, CO. thehoffmannhotel.com

The Bauhaus Came to Aspen

Most visitors to the Aspen Meadows Resort—sitting on a sprawling 40 acres in the quiet West End of downtown Aspen, and home to the largest standard guest rooms in town—come for the Aspen Ideas Festival, and of course the skiing. But what most visitors to town miss is that the resort is actually one of the most significant design campuses in the American West, a veritable home for the Bauhaus movement, representing the life’s work of Herbert Bayer, the man who brought European modernism to the mountains of Colorado. 

The Aspen Institute, which owns the property and has been operating here for 75 years as one of the country’s foremost think tanks, built the Meadows to give itself a physical home, a place where visitors could, in the original framing, escape their hurried lives and reflect on their values and role in society.

The Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies makes the case for Bayer as one of the more consequential design figures in American cultural history. He left Europe for the United States and found in Aspen the ideal canvas as the earth mounds on the property remain proof. The first earthwork sculptures of their kind in the United States, they play positive and negative space against each other in ways that feel both ancient and entirely modern.

The Salamander Collection took over resort management in 2022 and has been updating the 98-suite property carefully — total room renovation in 2023, a new restaurant and café in 2024 (both resplendent) — without disturbing what Bayer designed. The museum is moderate in size, well-considered, fully staffed, and admission is complimentary. A welcomed respite indeed.

—Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies at Aspen Meadows Resort: open daily noon–5 p.m., free admission. aspenmeadows.com

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On April 8, SCOTT Sports athlete Hannah Otto set a new women’s Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Mauna Kea sea-to-summit cycling route, completing the 55-mile, 13,700-foot climb in 5 hours, 43 minutes, and 50 seconds. The effort is documented in a new film, Infinite Pursuit: Hannah Otto vs. Mauna Kea, released alongside the announcement.

Who Is Hannah Otto

If you haven’t been following the endurance cycling world, you should start here. Otto started racing at nine years old, turned professional in triathlon, and after winning the Overall Amateur XTERRA World Championship title twice, shifted her focus entirely to the bike. From there followed five collegiate cycling national championships, multiple Pro-XCT wins, and appearances on the USA Cycling World Championship XCO squad. She was named to the 2020 Olympic Long Team and won the Leadville 100 MTB race in 2022 — the latter coming one week after she separated her shoulder in a crash. She won Leadville by five minutes.

Her degrees in Athletic Training and Exercise Science led to a Board Certified Athletic Trainer credential and a USA Cycling Certified Coaching license.

She’s one of a handful of competitors, men or women, who have raced all four years of the Life Time Grand Prix and finished top 10 in three consecutive seasons. The LTGP is a six-race series mixing gravel and mountain bike disciplines — including Unbound, Leadville, and Sea Otter. But the FKT work is what sets her apart from the standard professional endurance racer.

The Route

To understand what she did, you first have to understand what Mauna Kea is, which is less a mountain and more a geological argument of scale. The climb begins with the waves of the Pacific lapping at the shore and ends 13,803 feet above sea level at the volcano’s summit, traveling through five distinct climate zones…Lush rainforest at the base, scrubland, then the saddle, a remote high-desert highway bisecting Mauna Kea and its neighbor Mauna Loa, each larger than some mountain ranges, followed by the access road’s sustained double-digit gradient and finally, the summit plateau, which resembles the surface of the moon.

The grade averages 9.9% for the final half of the ride, with sections reaching 16%. At the summit, riders are breathing with 42% less available oxygen. There is also a gravel section near the 9,500-foot mark that demands either a second bike or enough gearing to manage loose volcanic road, after already riding 40 miles and 6,000-plus vert to get there. PJAMM Cycling, which tracks and ranks the world’s hardest cycling climbs, lists Mauna Kea as number one.

The Time

Otto completed it in 5:43:50, a new women’s FKT on the sea-to-summit course. For context, former pro cyclist Phil Gaimon, who has a well-documented obsession with this climb, holds the men’s Strava KOM at 4:52:55, a time he set in February 2024, shaving more than seven minutes off the previous record.

“Mauna Kea is one of those efforts where you know pretty quickly it is going to ask everything from you,” Otto said in a statement. “It is long, exposed, and there is really nowhere to hide once you are in it. Setting the FKT was special, but more than anything, I am proud of how much went into the effort and how we were able to see it through.”

The Moab Triple Crown

Before Mauna Kea, Otto had already built a body of FKT work that doesn’t really have a comparable equivalent in women’s mountain biking. After relocating to Utah in 2018, she conceived what she’d eventually call the Moab Triple Crown: fastest known times on three of the region’s most demanding and iconic routes, each one testing a different set of capacities. She started with the Whole Enchilada, a 55-mile technical loop through the La Sal Mountains, crushing the previous record by nearly an hour with a time of 5 hours and 50 minutes in 2022.

The Kokopelli Trail came next and didn’t cooperate on the first try. In 2023, temperatures dropped dramatically during her first attempt, with wind chills reaching single digits and the trail buried in two to three inches of snow. She developed hypothermia and frostbite on her fingers before finally pulling out. She came back in 2024 and her second attempt produced a time of 11 hours, 53 minutes, and 30 seconds: an hour faster than the previous women’s record of 13:07, set by Kaitlyn Boyle in 2020. The White Rim Trail — 100 miles through Canyonlands National Park — fell on May 2, 2025, in 6 hours, 36 minutes, completing the Triple Crown she’d been building since 2022.

Mauna Kea is a different category. The Triple Crown routes are deep in Otto’s home terrain, at elevations she’s raced hundreds of times, while Mauna Kea starts at sea level. “The goal that I have in this sport is to demonstrate to people that they are capable of so much more than they imagine,” Otto said. “And I think offering that visual component so people see my struggles, not just my triumphs — like the first time doing Kokopelli, when I fell short — I think that’s really important for people to see and understand that even pros still fall short sometimes. That’s OK, you just keep going.”

The Film

“Infinite Pursuit: Hannah Otto vs. Mauna Kea” follows the effort from preparation through execution, described as capturing “the physical and mental demands of a ride where pacing, weather, altitude, and terrain all become part of the outcome.” Which, given the route, is not a stretch.

“Hannah’s Mauna Kea ride is exactly the kind of effort that deserves a larger spotlight,” said Garth Spencer of SCOTT Sports USA. “This is a real athletic achievement on a route that carries weight well beyond a single segment or social post for SCOTT.” SCOTT hosted a screening of Infinite Pursuit during Sea Otter Classic on April 17; the Strava segment from the ride went live April 14.

There are climbs, and then there are climbs…Mauna Kea is the one cyclists agree is hardest, and Otto’s time is now on top.

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And its expansion into hiking and outdoors reflects a broader shift toward integrating technical function into fashion-led systems. Merrell, by contrast, has spent more than four decades defining and refining footwear specifically for the trail, establishing itself through durability, traction, and accessibility, with legacy models like the Moab and Jungle Moc representing category benchmarks.

The duos first collaboration, released as a limited footwear capsule in April 2026, does not attempt to resolve those differences so much as enhance them and create synergy in a world that needed them. The premise is simple and direct: design for the conditions most people actually encounter—short walks, transitional environments, and unstructured time outside—while retaining the material and technical standards associated with performance footwear. Rather than extending trail product outward, dumbing it down or diluting it for casual use, the collection positions everyday movement as the primary, beautiful design constraint.

The capsule centers on two models that map the spectrum differently. The Cham Storm GORE-TEX Sneaker ($180) builds from Merrell’s Chameleon lineage, a platform historically defined by adaptability across varied terrain. Here, the construction is lightened through a textile and TPU upper that maintains support while reducing overall weight and rigidity. A GORE-TEX membrane provides waterproofing with breathability, preserving its utility across variable conditions, while a toggle lace system simplifies adjustment for intermittent use. Visually, the shoe departs from conventional trail footwear through the introduction of floral patterning and FP Movement’s buti motifs, shifting the aesthetic register without altering the underlying performance framework.

Secondly, the Hut Moc 2 Packable Slip-On Sneaker ($90) moves in a unique, different direction, emphasizing compressibility, portability, light weight, and ease of wear. Designed to be packed, clipped, or carried (see photo above), it incorporates a zip connection system and carabiner attachment, allowing the pair to function as a mobile, secondary layer of protection from the elements, when beaches get rocky or when foot meets pavement. Dual-stretch panels enable slip-on access, while the quilted upper and patterned lining introduce a softer, more tactile dimension. It is less concerned with terrain-specific performance than with continuity, life surrounds the primary activity and fills the intervals between it.

What links both models is a shared orientation toward proximity. Framed around the idea of “micro-breaks,” the collection treats outdoor access as something immediate and repeatable rather than planned or destination-based or exclusive. This marks a subtle but meaningful shift in how technical footwear is positioned: not as equipment reserved for defined outings, something exclusive or confusing, but as a constant interface between interior and exterior space, welcoming all people outdoors.

For FP Movement, the collaboration extends its movement-driven framework into more technically demanding product categories without abandoning its emphasis on expression and accessibility. For Merrell, it represents a recalibration of context, of course maintaining its performance foundation, but opening the category to new aesthetic and behavioral interpretations.

The result is not a reinvention of outdoor footwear, but a refinement. By collapsing the distance between specialized gear and everyday wear, the collaboration suggests a model where technical product operates continuously, adapting to a version of the outdoors that begins immediately, just beyond the threshold of adventure and everyday life.

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Before there was a product, there was a piece of gear—an alpaca sweater purchased from a local artisan during a 2015 backpacking trip through the Andes, worn repeatedly, relied upon, and, in time, difficult to replace once back in the United States. What registered was not novelty, but absence: despite its performance, alpaca remained largely unknown within the broader apparel landscape. That gap between utility and recognition became the entry point.

Kris Cody went back to Peru, reconnected with the original maker, and began assembling the early structure of what would become PAKA—less a conventional supply chain than a set of relationships, anchored in place and built incrementally from the ground up.

From there, the company’s framework establishes itself quickly: alpaca, sourced from herds in the high Andes; alpaqueros, whose livelihoods are tied to those animals; and Quechua weavers, whose work translates fiber into finished form.

Where most brands smooth over these transitions, PAKA marks them. Each garment carries a handwoven Inca ID—a small textile signature identifying the individual artisan responsible for its making—a small insistence that authorship remains attached.

Growth does not alter that framework so much as test it. By 2025, the company is operating at a scale that would typically require a degree of separation: tens of thousands of kilograms of alpaca fiber moving annually through a supply chain that touches thousands of families across Peru. What distinguishes this phase is not simply volume, but the attempt to formalize what had previously been embedded—relationships becoming systems, practices becoming policy.

That transition was made explicit with the establishment of the PAKA Foundation in 2025, a registered 501(c)(3) that consolidates the brand’s social and environmental initiatives into a defined structure, funded by one percent of annual revenue and designed to extend beyond the logic of early-stage growth.

Running parallel to this, PAKA operates as a Certified B Corporation, placing its material and social commitments within an external framework that evaluates governance, environmental performance, and community impact against a defined standard. The impact report that accompanies this moment reads like a document concerned with tracing consequence as much as intent.

At the base of that accounting is the animal itself. Alpacas, adapted to one of the most severe and variable climates on the planet, produce the fiber that underwrites the entire system, yet remain vulnerable to the same environmental pressures that define their resilience: drought, disease, and limited access to veterinary infrastructure among them.

In response, PAKA’s 2025 programs focus on herd stability at scale: more than 60,000 alpacas supported through coordinated health interventions—vitaminization, parasite control, medical treatment—paired with educational workshops intended to extend that care beyond a single season. The work is incremental and technical, but its implications are cumulative. Healthier animals yield stronger fiber; stronger fiber sustains product integrity; product integrity feeds back into the economic viability of the communities that raise them.

That same logic extends into breeding. With limited access to high-quality males, many herds face reduced genetic diversity, leading to weaker animals and diminished long-term value. The distribution of 40 breeding males across participating communities, alongside training in herd management, is framed not as intervention but as a recalibration within the system as an attempt to restore balance.

If the animals represent the beginning of the chain, the alpaqueros define continuity. Working at elevations that can exceed 15,000 feet abs, these communities operate within constraints that are environmental as much as economic such as thin air, limited infrastructure, and restricted access to diverse nutrition. Alpaca farming in this context is less an industry than a condition of life, its stability subject to forces well beyond market demand.

The report outlines a set of responses that move laterally across those constraints. Year-round purchasing agreements for alpaca fiber attempt to smooth income volatility; nutritional programs address anemia and dietary imbalance; school renovations—classrooms, kitchens, sanitation—reframe education as both infrastructure and outcome. Parallel efforts, including the construction and rehabilitation of greenhouses, aim to reintroduce a measure of food security into an environment where it is otherwise difficult to sustain.

In aggregate, these initiatives reach approximately 7,300 families in 2025, accompanied by the provision of more than 16,000 meals and expanded access to fresh produce through localized agriculture. The scale is significant, but the emphasis remains grounded: not transformation in the abstract, but continuity under pressure.

Further along the chain, the fiber passes into the hands of Quechua weavers, whose work carries a different form of fragility. Here, the risk is not environmental but cultural—the gradual erosion of techniques that have historically been transmitted through practice rather than preservation.

Through its partnership with the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, PAKA supports a network of more than 300 female artisans, structuring their involvement in ways that bind economic stability to cultural retention. Regular work, access to materials, and incremental improvements to tools and working conditions address immediate needs, while biweekly gatherings, shared meals, collective production, the presence of children, create a space where knowledge continues to circulate.

The Inca ID, attached to each finished garment, is the visible trace of that system, but the system itself is less easily condensed: a distributed network of labor and memory, sustained not by singular intervention but by repetition.

The extension into education follows a similar logic, though its timeline is longer. Through the PAKA Scholars initiative, 15 university scholarships were funded in 2025, bringing the total to 24, with four graduates completing their studies that year. The focus—young women in Cusco facing structural barriers to higher education—positions the program as both corrective and generative.

The addition of an Entrepreneurial Fund in 2025, supporting graduates in the creation of their own businesses, suggests a shift outward from sustaining existing systems to enabling new forms of participation within them.

Running parallel to these social structures is a material accounting that is equally precise. In 2025, 98 percent of the fibers used in PAKA products are natural, organic, and/or recycled, with 60 percent derived from natural sources including alpaca, organic cotton, and merino wool. Traceable alpaca fiber accounts for 45.4 percent of total use, linking finished garments back to specific points of origin within the supply chain.
The remaining figures are presented with similar clarity: virgin synthetics reduced to 1.7 percent, with a stated aim of elimination as alternatives become viable; zero intentionally added PFAS across 2025 products. There is little rhetorical framing around these numbers. They function instead as boundaries—evidence of a system attempting to define its own limits.

Nearly a decade on, what PAKA has built is most akin to a set of interdependencies held in tension: animal health and material quality, cultural preservation and economic stability, growth and proximity. The company describes this as a “chain of care,” extending from the high Andes outward into everyday use.

What the 2025 impact report makes clear is that such a chain does not sustain itself. It requires structure, repetition, and, increasingly, formalization. The creation of the PAKA Foundation—and its alignment with external standards such as B Corp certification—marks that recognition, the point at which origin, no longer sufficient as narrative, is translated into something durable enough to withstand scale.

As the company approaches its ten-year mark, the underlying question remains unresolved: how to continue expanding without dissolving the relationships that give the material its meaning.

Field Notes: PAKA Founder Kris Cody

In conversation, Cody returns to the same underlying premise: building from source, and attempting to hold that position as the company expands.

On the original vision and early constraints…

“The original idea was simple: create the best alpaca gear and connect people to where their things come from. At the time, I don’t think I had a clear picture of how big that vision could evolve. As PAKA is my first-ever company and brand, I was naive when I launched the brand out of my dorm room for what this journey would require—not to mention doing something that’d never been done before. There’s a saying that most founders likely wouldn’t start a company if they fully realized the reality of the journey. Bootstrapping PAKA without investment was extremely difficult. That being said, I think it’s what has made PAKA as special as it is—staying true and honest to where we started, and doing it our way.”

On differentiation and material innovation…

“I think a big part of it is authenticity. Everything we do is rooted in a real story and relationships. We are far from the boardroom.
On the product side, we’re focused on proving that natural fibers can make the best apparel. Alpaca is still less known and relatively underutilized, and we’re continuing to push what’s possible there with products like Breathe (the first alpaca activewear) and PAKAFILL (our patented outerwear insulation made with traceable alpaca fiber). We have a lot more in the pipeline.”

On the favorites that hold up in daily use…

“My favorite pieces are the basics—Men’s Boxer Briefs, Trail ¾ Crew Socks, and Essential Tee—I wear them every single day. We worked hard to get these core pieces right, and they have a lot of engineering in the fabric most people will never even notice. They’re pieces you don’t normally think about, but once you have them there’s no going back to anything else.”

On the future of sustainable performance apparel…

“I believe the future is natural. Nature has evolved with all the performance we need, and we’ve traded that over the past century for oil-based apparel (⅔ of all clothing currently made is synthetic). At PAKA, we’re reimagining and refining natural fibers for modern use. We’re also seeing a big shift with our customers wanting materials that feel better, last longer, and have real meaning/intention behind them.”

On what he’s most proud of…

“Our community—our customers, partners, and PAKA in-house team make this a dream place. And not compromising and staying true to our values.”

On returning to source…

“Spending time at the source inspires me more than anything else. I was just down in Peru last week visiting Quechua weavers at high-altitudes in the Andes, and then traveled out to the Peruvian jungle to visit the farms and people behind our organic Pima cotton. I came back energized and inspired with ideas for both our product and brand. There’s a simplicity that we always try to honor—timeless, functional products made to discover our world and connect you to the people, place, and material. PAKA serves as a vessel to connect people to origin.”

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The Firebird anchors the collection, as it should. But it’s not the Firebird you’ve seen before. New prints — polka-dot, gingham, seasonal pastels and neutrals — move it out of the archive and into actual rotation. Subtle tailoring adds structure without disrupting the silhouette’s ease, and details like double waistbands, peplum shapes, and funnel-neck shirting show up across pieces that first-drop fans will recognize in evolved form. Heavyweight cotton blends and contrasting trims and fabrications give the whole edit a cross-seasonal quality — meaning you’re not boxing it into one moment on the calendar.

The standouts make the case. A polka-dot track jacket and pants set in beige takes the classic two-piece format and runs it through a retro print that lands playful without tipping into costume. The pinstripe track jacket threads a similar needle — sporty construction, tailored detail, the kind of layer that reads as intentional whether it’s going over a slip dress or sweats. And a nylon mix co-ord in soft pink delivers the tonal update the Firebird silhouette has been waiting for: same heritage bones, noticeably fresher energy.

Three pieces, three different registers. The collection doesn’t ask you to commit to one version of the aesthetic.
“This third collection moves the adidas Originals x ASOS collaboration into a more expressive space,” said Vanessa Spence, Executive Vice President, Brand and Creative at ASOS. “With the expansion into the U.S. market, we are able to invite even more people in to embrace the collection and make it their own.”

For U.S. shoppers, this is the first chance to access what European and UK markets have had two rounds to work through. By the third drop, the collaboration has visibly sharpened. What’s available now feels less like licensed product and more like something both brands actually had a stake in getting right. The full collection is available now, exclusively on ASOS — on-site and in the app.

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Running is now borrowing the same ethos, but mind you gravel running isn’t trail running — it’s less technical, less gear-intensive, less committed to a specific landscape: it’s the park path, the service road, the crushed granite connector between the neighborhood and the foothills, and long country roads. Forget routes, finish lines and pace. Brands including Craft, adidas and Mount to Coast have entered the space, but Salomon — with its roots in the French Alps and fingerprints already on a gravel cycling aesthetic — is betting they can own the category.

Most running shoes are optimized for one surface type or another, and the compromise feels exactly that. But the Aero Glide 4 GRVL is Salomon’s argument that the compromise no longer has to feel like one. The shoe’s midsole is energyFOAM EVO, a supercritical TPU compound that delivers more rebound over time rather than packing out after a few hundred miles. The stack/drop is substantial — 41mm at the heel, 33mm at the forefoot, with an 8mm drop — enough to absorb the cumulative impact of a city-to-trail-and-back effort without dulling the feedback that makes a run feel alive. At 9.5 ounces for men, 8.1 for women, it carries that cushion easily.

The outsole draws its geometry from gravel bike tires, which is apt: cyclists figured out long ago that a tread pattern optimized for loose, variable surfaces still rolls cleanly on pavement. Salomon’s contaGRIP compound applies the same logic on foot — woodchips, asphalt, sandy seafront paths, dusty dirt roads — transitioning without the runner having to think about it. That last part matters. A shoe that makes you second-guess your footing is a shoe that pulls you out of the run.

The upper is where the 4 GRVL stakes its claim. A seamless construction pairs with sensiFIT technology and a padded tongue and collar to create a locked-in, glove-like hold — reinforced further by a protective mudguard and a more precise foothold than the standard road version. The quickLACE neo system, a single-pull cord with a gusseted tongue, locks it down in one motion and tucks away clean. The result is something that feels trail-worthy without the stiffness that often comes with that credential.

The gravel running movement asks a simple question: what if the run you actually take on your own on the dusty road alone is better than the one you planned and fought for? The Aero Glide 4 GRVL is built to answer…comfortable enough to run long, confident enough to run anywhere, and still compete when you want to.

$160; salomon.com

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