If you're a backpacker in the Denver area with an ugly Christmas sweater languishing in a drawer, December 5 is your night. Backpacker Radio — the hiking podcast from outdoors site The Trek — is recording a live holiday-themed episode at Skylark Lounge on South Broadway, and the guest is a big one: Andrew Skurka.
Skurka is one of the most respected figures in long-distance hiking. He's known for ambitious routes across North America, an authoritative book on lightweight backpacking skills, and a career guiding trips that plenty of weekend hikers dream about. Hearing him talk trail craft in a small lounge setting — rather than reading a gear list — is the main draw here.
The format goes beyond a straight recording. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the show starting at 6 p.m., and the evening includes a live audience Q&A, so the crowd gets to fire off its most pressing backpacking questions. Knowing this crowd, expect a mix of genuinely useful route and gear advice alongside the sillier territory the podcast is known for — the hosts themselves tease questions about backpacking, bidets, and beans.
The dress code is ugly sweaters, and the stakes are real: the person wearing the ugliest one earns bonus raffle tickets. Those raffle tickets matter, because a live raffle runs during the night with proceeds going to the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, the nonprofit that supports protection and stewardship of the 3,100-mile CDT — one of America's Triple Crown trails and one that passes close to Denver's backyard.
After the recording wraps, there's no rush out the door. Skurka sticks around for a meet-and-greet along with Backpacker Radio hosts Katie Jackson and Zach Davis. Skylark has a bar on site, and with pizza available across the street, organisers are explicitly promising no one leaves hungry.
Two things worth noting before you go: the event is strictly 21 and over, and it's on December 5, 2026 — the kind of date that sneaks up fast once the holiday season kicks off. Entry revolves around the live recording, so arriving before the 6 p.m. start is the safe play if you want a seat and a shot at the Q&A microphone.
For travellers passing through Denver in early December, this doubles as an easy, cheap evening out in a fun part of the city. South Broadway is packed with bars, record shops, and taco spots, so you can build a whole night around the show. And for anyone who backpacks, it's a rare chance to pick the brain of one of the most accomplished hikers of the modern era while donating to a trail they may one day walk. Bring a friend, dig out the most humiliating knitwear you own, and consider the raffle tickets part of the fun — the money goes to a good cause.
