Tips for Beginning Backcountry Skiers
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TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS By Brett St. Clair and Craig Evanoff TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS IS BACKCOUNTRY SKIING FOR YOU? • Are you growing a bit frustrated by If you answered yes to these questions, then The purpose of this little book is to help those weekend crowds and rising ticket backcountry skiing is most likely something you’ll who are new to backcountry ski touring, or prices at the ski hill? find challenging and rewarding. considering taking it up, to sort through many of the decisions that you’ll have to make as • Are you in decent physical condition If you are currently a nonskier or a relative someone beginning the sport. With that said, and looking for a new way to get beginner, it’s probably wiser to build your technical we chose purposefully not to go into great some healthy exercise? skills at the ski hill for a season or two before depth here. These tips are to help you get venturing into the backcountry to avoid frustration. • Are you a solid enough skier* to be started and to avoid making some common able to reliably link turns? mistakes. • Do you enjoy being outdoors in A PLACE TO START Experience is the best teacher and you’ll relative peace and quiet? Backcountry skiing is growing exponentially in learn more as you go – just like we did. • Are you tired of fighting the rush for popularity and we noticed that while there’s a lot first tracks in fresh powder snow? of advice out there, it didn’t seem like anyone had put it all (or much of it) in one place. • Do you have at least a moderate tolerance for risk and enjoy making your own decisions? WARNING: Participating in backcountry ski touring carries risk. You will be exposed to objective and subjective hazards that may result in injury and even death. The advice given here is meant to help you enjoy the experience, but by no means should be perceived to provide you immunity from its inherent risk. 2 TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS CONTENTS IS BACKCOUNTRY SKIING FOR YOU? . .2 TECHNIQUE..................................17 HOW SAFE IS BACKCOUNTRY SKIING?...........4 UPHILL TRAVEL ...........................18 AT THE TOP ...............................19 BACKCOUNTRY SKIING TOOLS .................5 DOWNHILL TECHNIQUE................... 20 SKI CHOICES & SPECIFICATIONS ................6 BINDINGS.....................................7 FUELING AND HYDRATION ................... 22 BOOTS .......................................8 TRIP PLANNING ............................. 24 POLES ........................................9 MANAGING YOURSELF AND YOUR GROUP .... 28 CLOTHING ...................................10 PACKS .......................................11 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ........................31 AVALANCHE RESCUE GEAR ...................13 THANKS .................................... 32 CLIMBING SKINS..............................15 WHAT TO PACK...............................16 *NOTE: WE USE THE TERM “SKIER” ALL INCLUSIVELY TO REFER TO ANYONE USING ALPINE TOURING, TELEMARK OR SPLITBOARD SETUPS. COVER: TOURING IN THE DEZAIKO RANGE. PHOTO BY DAVID SNADDEN 3 TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS HOW SAFE IS BACKCOUNTRY SKIING? Like anything we do, backcountry skiing • Taking an avalanche safety course so that bulletins so you know what avalanche does have some risk associated with it. You you can learn to recognize avalanche terrain conditions to expect on the day of your can keep your own risk in the backcountry and avalanche conditions and know how to backcountry trip. to a level you are comfortable with by being perform a rescue. • Choosing experienced trip partners so prepared, having proper equipment, getting • Ensuring that you and everyone in your that you can continue to learn avalanche some training and by using the terrain wisely. group has the appropriate avalanche rescue safety from them. Unlike a ski resort, the backcountry is an equipment and is well practiced in its use. A good introductory resource is the Know uncontrolled environment. The snow is • Consulting public avalanche forecasts or Before You Go program found at www.kbyg.org. not groomed. The obstacles and dangers in the terrain are not marked. And there are no avalanche safety teams and ski patrol to manage the avalanche danger or come to your aid if you are injured. Most injuries in the backcountry are the result of a bad fall or a collision with an obstacle, such as a tree or rock. You can minimize the risk of an injury by: • Skiing in control, always, by keeping your speed to a comfortable level for the conditions. • Ensuring the safety features, such as ski binding release, of your equipment are in good working order. • Wearing a helmet. • Skiing with a partner. Avalanches, while uncommon, are a reality in the backcountry. You can minimize the risk of an avalanche involvement and know what to do if you or a member of your group is caught in an avalanche by: 4 TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS BACKCOUNTRY SKIING TOOLS The most important advice we can give Finally, we cannot emphasize enough the Plus, if you have a problem with a piece of gear you about your gear is to try it out and get importance of buying your gear directly from a year or two down the road, your local shop to know how to use it before you get deep a reputable local ski shop if you have one will typically work with the manufacturer to take into the backcountry, particularly if you are in your area. The advice they’ll give you and care of that for you if you bought it there. launching off for a multiday trip. It’s fairly the opportunity to physically touch and try on common for backcountry skiers to run into gear before you buy it is worth way more than gear problems the first time they use brand the few bucks you might save by ordering new or unfamiliar gear. online. Second, most backcountry skiers enter the sport from a resort background. It then takes a while to mentally transition from thinking that what has always worked well for you at the ski hill will work well in the backcountry. For example, unlike resort skiing, 90% of your time in the backcountry will be spent walking uphill. So the heavy, badass powder skis and stiff 4-buckle boots that are fun to ski back in civilization turn out to be a drag (literally) when you are plodding uphill. LIGHTER IS BETTER In the backcountry, lighter is generally better. With experience you’ll gladly sacrifice a bit of downhill performance (the 10%) for better performance on the uptrack (the 90%). The same concept applies to clothing. Because you spend most of your time moving uphill, you generally don’t need to dress as warmly as you typically do for a day at the ski hill. 5 90% OF YOUR TIME IN THE BACKCOUNTRY WILL BE SPENT WALKING UPHILL, SO LIGHTER GEAR IS GENERALLY BETTER. TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS SKI CHOICES AND SPECIFICATIONS Backcountry ski specifications are generally Skis are getting better and lighter all the time. Most experienced backcountry skiers (just a better guide to potential performance Your ski choice should be guided by where like experienced alpine skiers) eventually own characteristics than ski model names or you live and where you’ll do most of your more than one pair of skis for use depending brands. The shortcut to zeroing in on a ski’s backcountry skiing. The Buddhist philosophy, on their intended mission or snow conditions. characteristics and best use is generally follow the middle way, is a good guide for its waist (the section that’s underfoot) selecting your first pair of backcountry skis. measurement in millimeters. The tip and tail Unless you are trying to specialize, don’t go too widths are generally proportional to the waist skinny and light or too fat and heavy. width. Backcountry skis can generally be divided TERRAIN AND CONDITIONS into 4 categories by waist width: If you live in the West where the powder is deep • Racing / light touring (65-80 mm) and dependable (like Craig in British Columbia), your best first ski choice would probably be in • Touring specific (85-95 mm) the 100-106 mm range. If you live in the icy East • All mountain touring (95-106 mm) (like Brett in New Hampshire), your best first choice might be in the 95-100 mm range. • Powder touring (112 mm+) The right length for you is generally We’re not going to get into recommendations determined by your weight (remember to for tip and tail rocker or exotic composite add in the approximate weight of your pack) materials here. Again, your local ski shop or and to some extent whether you ski primarily experienced friends are your best source of in tight terrain (if in trees or couloirs go a bit guidance for what’s a good first choice for you. shorter) or open bowls. The manufacturer will Ideally, you would demo skis before you have guidance on this. purchase them, but there are typically few As a general rule, the longer, wider and opportunities to do that with backcountry bigger the ski, the more it weighs and the skis. Most of us tend to follow the herd and better it floats in deep snow. The smaller the buy what our friends like, follow ski shop ski, the less it weighs and the less effort it recommendations or read reviews and make requires to move uphill. judgments from those. 6 TIPS FOR BEGINNING BACKCOUNTRY SKIERS BINDINGS Alpine touring (AT) bindings may be own with a new ski, climbing skin and binding Then, when you’re getting dropped by your generally divided into three categories: setup. friends, you’ll figure out that you’re dragging twice the binding that you actually need uphill • Super-light race bindings (±1 lb/ If all you think you’ll ever do is a dawn lap all day.