About EPIC

A Mission to the Edge

Welcome to EPIC, an online magazine for people who are passionate about backcountry sports, from rock climbing, backpacking, and bouldering, to trail running, mountaineering, skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing and more.

EPIC will put the focus squarely on the passionate people, spectacular places, and technological innovations that are leading outdoor adventurers to new levels of excitement and achievement.

We'll be bringing you outstanding photography and graphics, but you'll also meet the people in your sport who are out on the edge, leading the way. We'll get their take on gear, training, and technique, and hear from them about what's coming up next season, even what to do in their favorite places, including their own hometowns. Expect cutting edge information and cool take-away resources: downloads about training and trail food, hiking, skiing, and climbing guides for turnkey access to the outdoors.

EPIC is all about insight from, and interaction with, innovators in the gravity defying field of backcountry sports. We want to start a conversation between you and your peers-and your heroes-based around how and why we're all out there.

As you come back to see what's new on the site, know we'll be working to give you an ongoing, even epic dose of outdoor adventure. We'll be sending the nation's best outdoor writers out to meet the world-class athletes you hear about and want to know better. The North Face, like many manufacturers of quality gear, sponsors an elite team of just this kind of adventurer. The North Face brings you this site to expand the athletes' role beyond behind-the-scenes testing and improving new gear. EPIC features these athletes and other experts in an effort to bring their passion directly to people who live for adventure at altitude.

Editing that kind of online enterprise is an exciting opportunity for a journalist like me — a lifelong backcountry enthusiast who's been lucky enough to hike, climb, and telemark slopes and trails all over the world. I've built and managed trails, worked to open emerging, now popular climbing areas, and participated in rescues on rock and in waist deep snow. And I've written about it in the nation's major newspapers, outdoor magazines, and a handful of books. But like you, I never seem to get enough of the kind of experiences I find in the backcountry.

Let us know what you think, where you want us to go, and who you want to take you there. Your comments and contributions are welcome.

Randy Johnson
EPIC Editor