Aspen Hall-of-Famer and award-winning journalist Paul Andersen has spent a lifetime loving and learning from the outdoors — then sharing that experience with others, through his Huts for Vets nonprofit, wilderness programs for the Aspen Institute, and extensive writing on the natural world. In this keynote speech at Aspen Public Radio’s third annual Backcountry Symposium at TACAW, Paul reflected on what it means to advocate for our environment and appreciate our surroundings.

Avalanches. Injuries. Unexpected medical events. After a disaster in the backcountry, we tend to focus on what happened and what went wrong. But in the hours, weeks and months that follow, survivors and responders still have to heal. At Aspen Public Radio’s third annual Backcountry Symposium at TACAW, Aspen Hope Center Chief Clinical Officer Lily Larkin, LCSW, Aspen Expeditions guide Chris “Sunshine” Edwards, Colorado Avalanche Information Center Deputy Director Brian Lazar, and Mountain Rescue Aspen team member Jordie Karlinski reflect on how we can care for our community in the aftermath of trauma — and how outdoor leaders can balance “lessons learned” with sensitivity to victims and survivors, moderated by freelance journalist Kaya Williams.

Maybe you’ve seen the Super El Niño hats — and stickers, and t-shirts and hoodies and headlines. But what does this change in global weather patterns really mean for our winter in the valley? At Aspen Public Radio’s third annual Backcountry Symposium at TACAW, Open Snow Chief Operating Officer and meteorologist Sam Collentine gets into the forecast for Aspen Snowmass in the 2026-27 ski season and shares tricks to find powder this winter.

At Aspen Public Radio’s third annual Backcountry Symposium at TACAW, Aspen Valley Health’s trauma medical director Dr. Christopher Roseberry offered a primer on field trauma evaluations.

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing is a literary podcast produced and hosted by Mitzi Rapkin. Edwidge Danticat is the author of numerous books, including The Art of Death, Claire of the Sea Light, and Breath, Eyes, Memory. Taking as its title a Haitian Kreyòl word for mourning, Dèy is a profoundly warm and moving novel about the importance not only of sharing grief but also of inseverable family ties.

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing is a literary podcast produced and hosted by Mitzi Rapkin. Each week the podcast features an in-depth interview with a fiction, non-fiction, essay, or poetry writer. The show is equal parts investigation into the craft of writing and conversation about the topics of an author’s work.

On the eve of Aspen’s second Albert Schweitzer Day, three of the world’s most consequential voices in humanitarian medicine shared the TACAW stage for a public conversation about care, conscience, and the demands of this moment.

First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing is a literary podcast produced and hosted by Mitzi Rapkin. Each week the podcast features an in-depth interview with a fiction, non-fiction, essay, or poetry writer. The show is equal parts investigation into the craft of writing and conversation about the topics of an author’s work.

Humans have done a lot of damage to the environment, but we can also be a force for good. Some ecosystems need ongoing care and stewardship to thrive, especially in a warming world. This talk suggests how a perspective shift from saving nature from humans to improving human relationships with other species can enlarge our thinking, make new approaches possible, and create an energizing space for mutual human-nonhuman flourishing.

Colorado is experiencing its warmest year in 131 years of record, and one of its driest. The Roaring Fork Valley sits at the epicenter, among the hardest-hit areas in the state for severe drought. With snowpack now peaked at historic lows, climate scientists are drawing comparisons to years that defined what catastrophic wildfire looks like in Colorado.This event aimed to bring our community together for a direct conversation about what these conditions mean for our valley, what local fire departments and researchers are doing about it, and what each of us can do to protect our homes and our neighbors.