Based among the awe-inspiring peaks of Crested Butte, Colorado, Morgan Tilton is a Senior Editor for GearJunkie, honing the SnowSports Buyer’s Guides alongside warmer coverage. More broadly, she’s an adventure journalist specializing in outdoor industry news and adventure travel stories, which she’s produced for over 13 years and nearly 90 publications. As the 2025 North American Travel Journalist of the Year and a recipient of 20 travel writing awards — from the North American Travel Journalists Association, Society of American Travel Writers, and Academy of American Poets — when she’s not recovering from high alpine or jungle expeditions she’s usually mountain biking or splitboarding in Southwest Colorado, where she grew up and lives today. From resort to backcountry and human-powered to motorized travel, she loves sliding across snow.
Topics of Expertise: Snowboarding, splitboarding, skiing, snowmobiling, mountain biking, trail and ultrarunning, hiking, backpacking, bikepacking, SUPing, Colorado 14ers, river surfing, adventure travel, solo travel
Years in This Expertise: 31
Experience
Before joining GearJunkie as a Senior Editor, Tilton covered outdoor news, features, reviews, and trends for the team for seven years. Today, her microscope hovers over the snowsports buyer’s guides plus a medley of summer content, and the focus couldn’t be a better fit. Raised in Southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, Tilton’s life revolves around skiing and snowboarding, which she’s loved since first pulling on ski boots at age four at her home area, Telluride Ski Resort.
After growing up sliding on snow, Tilton enrolled at the University of Denver, where she snowboarded every day and worked nights throughout her six-week winter break. During college, Tilton took on many internships, including creating travel guides for AllTrips.com and writing print stories for Backpacker Magazine. She also completed her AIARE 1 certification, the first of many outdoor-related courses she’s pursued beyond three degrees.
As the Senior Editor specializing in snowsports, Tilton manages, writes, and edits the category’s buyer’s guides. While she still avidly rides inbounds, Tilton explores the backcountry, pulls on skis, snowmobiles, and pow surfs in addition to countless hours of shoveling in Crested Butte, Colo., which is home.
Career Highlights
Writing about four friends’ and my first descent of the wild Escalante River on SUP (self-supported), including a multi-award-winning cover feature. Read about our journey here, here, here, and here.
When the former EIC of Encompass Magazine said that one of the greatest stories they’d ever published was my essay about a motorcycle trip with my dad, “Safety Circuit in the Desert,” who passed away in 2022.
Representing the Adventure Travel Trade Association as a U.S. ambassador in Tohoku, Japan, in 2025; as well as Canada and Jordan in 2018. I published “Jordan Travel: 5 Adventures You Can’t Miss” with GearJunkie. Flip through the other stories here, here, here, and here.
A solo Belize expedition through the world’s oldest jaguar preserve to reach Victoria Peak, leading to the “Search for Big Cats in the Jungles of Belize” in the January 2020 print issue of Backpacker Magazine. Read more here.
Running with the Tarahumara in Copper Canyon, Mexico. Read the stories here and here.
Following the 2016 Javelina Jundred play-by-play, realizing an unknown woman was in the lead, Iwrote the profile that opened the world’s eyes to Courtney Dauwalter. Read the OG story on GearJunkie.
Experiencing the first-ever helicopter-supported mountain running adventures in North America. I wrote about it for GearJunkie and here.
Education & Certifications
Education: Bachelor of Arts, three degrees – Italian, English Creative Writing, Journalism – University of Denver
Years of Writing: 13+
Certifications: Yale School of Public HealthClimate Change and Health Program Certificate; SAS Snowmobile Recreational Level 1 course; AIARE 2 Recreational Course; AIARE Avalanche Rescue Course; AIARE 1 Recreational Course; Wilderness First Responder; Adult, and Child CPR & Airway Management; Epinephrine Auto-injector
Club or Association Memberships: Adventure Travel Trade Association, Crested Butte Avalanche Center,North American Travel Journalists Association
Awards or Recognitions: 2025 North American Travel Journalist of the Year, 18 North American Travel Journalists Association awards, Silver Award – Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards Competition, Honorable Mention for the Academy of American Poets’ 2012 Edward M. Lanna Poetry Prize
Previous Publications: Contributed to 90+ publications
A Word From Morgan Tilton
I started pursuing a path as a writer when I was 15 years old, but I’ve always been a writer. My passion as an adventure journalist in the outdoor and travel industries centers on sustainable storytelling that supports local communities and amplifies its narratives. Gear is an extension of that mission.
As a young competitive snowboarder, I was frustrated with the narrow representation of females in snowsports and the media. Reviews existed for products made and tested by men, though hardly any women-specific products were available, and zero female reporters were visible. I’m excited to help change that fact.
I’m proud to work with this team of ambitious, mindful, hard-working reporters.
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