Backcountry Ski Tips
Looking for Freshies? Tips For Backcountry Adventures
The backcountry offers freedom and untouched powder for advanced skiers and snowboarders who want to push their limits. But to have a great instead of dangerous experience, you must have the experience, skills, and specialized equipment necessary for safe, self-sufficient backcountry travel.
"Earn your turns" is a common mantra of the backcountry crowd. With no chair lifts out there, skiers and riders must hike up the mountains in order to slide down. Clearly, it's not for everyone -- it takes a certain attitude to haul yourself and 50 pounds of equipment up 3,000 feet of vertical to a 13,000-foot peak all in the name of fun, especially when $50 will buy you a day of chair lift rides just a few miles down the road.
At many resorts, such as Jackson Hole and Vail, gates at the resort boundaries permit access to the backcountry, offering the best of both worlds all in the same day. When you see someone skiing at Vail with a shovel attached to a pack, it's a good bet he or she is heading out-of-bounds that afternoon.
Backcountry adventure isn't limited to the Rocky Mountains. Places like Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota have all seen recent increases in backcountry adventurers.
Good equipment is essential to fun in the backcountry
Compass, topographic maps, and route-finding skills are essential for safe backcountry travel. Getting lost can be as dangerous as getting injured.
Every member of a group heading into the backcountry must carry and know how to use an avalanche transceiver, collapsible shovel, and probe poles. In the event of an avalanche, if a member of the group is buried in the snow, these tools can help save a life. Avalanche shovels have a telescoping shaft with a removable blade. Probe poles come in an adjustable, telescoping ski pole package made by several companies. Snowboarders don't use poles inbounds at resorts, but they make life much easier in the backcountry when hiking uphill with a pack. Backcountry snowboarders prefer three-section poles because they collapse to about two feet in length for easy storage on the ride down.
Snowboarders usually rely on snowshoes to hike up the mountain. Telemark skiers just slip climbing skins onto the bottom of their skis and glide up. Alpine skiers can now skin uphill, thanks to binding inserts called adventure skiing bindings. These inserts give alpine skiers free-heeled capability. At the top of the mountain, skiers remove the insert and ski down in traditional alpine bindings.
Snowboarders can also skin uphill now, thanks to revolutionary "split-apart" snowboards. Basically, the board splits down the middle and the bindings swivel to create a pair of fat skis. Once up top, the boarder re-attaches the fat skis to make a snowboard and heads down.
Of course, a reliable, well-fitting backpack is essential to hold all this gear. Such packs range from about $100-$250.
