As we turn the page on 2002, we wanted to take a moment to review the best of the past year on MountainZone.com, and one more moment to give you a preview of 2003.

Around our offices, 2002 will be remembered as the year we came back to life. At MountainZone.com, we have been through a lot, but we're still climbing and writing and shooting photos and living the life. And we're still trying to bring you the best coverage of life in the mountains. Below are links to our favorites from the year.

Looking Back: The Best of 2002

Climbing: Dave Hahn

Hahn

Acclaimed writer Dave Hahn had quite a year, and told us two amazing stories of his own survival.
Strap On The Nitro
Chopper Gumbo

Climbing: Expedition Dispatches
Weeks on end at altitude produce some pretty interesting throughts and moments recorded in our expedition. Three of our favorites from this year:
Willi Prittie, Everest: High Pucker Factor
Robert Anderson, Vinson: "We don't believe anybody's been in there before."
Vern Tejas, Denali: On Top of North America.

Snowboarding

Mason

Nine Lives
Chevy Grand Prix
Snowboarding Athlete's Voice
Todd Mason
Ross Powers

Skiing
Molson Canadian Freeski, Death Cookies and Chicken Heads
Iditasport Classic
Skiing Athlete's Voice:
Bill Johnson

Mountain Bike

La Ruta

Chamonix: Sick and Steep
La Ruta de los Conquistadores
MTB Athelete's Voice:
Fionn Griffiths
Brett Wolfe: TransAlp Challenge

Adventure Racing
2002 Eco-Challenge

Out There

Patagonia

Banner Season In Patagonia

Weekend Journal
Rainier: A Cautionary Tale

Photos
2002 Gallery Index

Looking Forward: The 2003 Lineup
Our goal is to continue to provide a wide variety of high-quality features and coverage about life in the mountains.

Climbing
We're strongly committed to bringing you live coverage from climbing teams around the world. Right now we're with two climbing parties in Antarctica. Throughout 2003 we'll extend our coverage to include a mix of private and guided expeditions.

Our Everest 2003 coverage will be the most extensive in MountainZone.com's history, fitting for the 50th Anniversary of the first ascent. We'll be following multiple teams on the mountain via cybercasts, and we're adding many other new elements to our coverage as well. We'll give you a complete preview in the weeks to come.

Of course, Dave Hahn will continue to be a regular columnist on the site, providing some of the most compelling and humorous commentary seen anywhere in the climbing world. In fact, we've just posted Dave's newest piece, The Sheriff of Hunziker Bowl. And Peter Potterfield will be bringing you new, exclusive interviews with Lynn Hill and Greg Childs, among others.

Skiing and Snowboarding

The World Cup season is in high gear, and we're there week after week, providing complete coverage from preview to race results. Plus big photo galleries and interviews. Look for our mid-season report next week, and we'll be live at the Chevy Grand Prix in Breckenridge this weekend.

Coming throughout the rest of this season, Lucas Kane is going to be contributing from Chamonix, while Hans Prosl will be on board from Whistler and the Pacific Northwest. They'll deliver features, interviews and photos that'll take your breath away.

Photography
A brand new feature is coming: the Daily Photo Gallery. Over the years, we've collected thousands of photos on the site, and we'll give you a small selection to view each and every day. No repeats. Also in the next few weeks we'll have a brand new professional gallery from one of the world's greatest outdoor photographers, Art Wolfe.

And coming January 15th: a remarkable new gallery from Bradley Washburn. At 92, Washburn has enjoyed a remarkable career as a geographer/cartographer/explorer, creating the first detailed maps of many remote mountain ranges. His work provided incredible photo opportunities, and Washburn took full advantage. Those photos are featured in a new book and a gallery showing this February in London. MountainZone.com will give you a sneak preview.

Mountain Biking
Sea Otter. World Cup. La Ruta. Himalayan Race Series. We'll be there. Plus the same kinds of features we had this year, from world class riders like Hans Rey and Brett Wolfe.

Gear News and Reviews
We're expanding our coverage in this area to give you more and better information on the best gear available. Look for a completely redesigned and upgraded section over the next few weeks.

Weekend Journal
We want your contributions. Got a great story? We want to hear it. Got some photos to send along with it? Even better.

MountainTalk
We're inaugurating a new feature, MountainTalk, which pulls together the best, funniest, most interesting quotes we find each week, either from our own stories or from elsewhere on the web. Like the quote? We'll link you to the rest of the story.

Membership Program
In December, we launched our MountainZone Membership program, designed to provide great values to our members. For starters, membership offers a $25 coupon on REI.com for great gear, plus discounts from Art Wolfe and Trails.com. Coming this month, the first of our travel specials for members only. And we'll keep adding to it throughout the year.

Membership is one of the programs that allows us to keep bringing you great coverage from around the world, so please consider taking advantage of the great deals and giving us your support at the same time.

It's all on tap throughout 2003, and we look forward to seeing you on the Zone. And if you have thoughts or comments, we'd like to hear them. Email us. Thanks.

— Tim O'Mara, President, MountainZone.com