this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2023
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backcountry

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For snow sports outside of the resorts. This community includes back country skiing, snowboarding, telemarking and more.

Posting Guidelines

Anyone can comment or post regardless of their experience with snow sports in general. We welcome all those who want to ask questions or share their adventures.

Safety

Always know your limits when going into the back country. If you are just getting started, in-person avalanche training is essential.

Remember that anyone can post to this community regardless of experience so do your own research.

Books

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper

Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering by Martin Volken, Scott Schell, and Margaret Wheeler

AUTONOMY MASTERY AND PURPOSE in the Avalanche Patch, Bruce Kay

Mountaineering the Freedom Of the Hills

Avalanche Forcasting Centers

Colorado Avalanche Information Center

Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center

Sierra Avalanche Center

Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

Mount Shasta Avalanche Center

Alaska: Chugach Avalanche Center

Canada

Montana

Sawtooth (Idaho)

General Avalanche Information

US Forest Service Avalanche Center

US Avalanche Center

Canadian Avalanche Center

Trip Planning and Mapping

USDA NRCS - for finding where the snow has accumulated

Hillmap

Cal Topo

GaiaGPS (non-free)

Google Earth Pro (free)

Acknowledgement

A thank you to /u/pragmaticminimalist and the /r/backcountry community on Reddit for supporting a great community for over 12 years. Many of the links in this side bar come from /r/backcountry as they are good resources.

Moderators

If you are interested in helping to moderate this community, please contact @[email protected].

We prefer moderators who have formal avalanche training (E.g. AIARE level 1 or equivalent) and a few years of back country skiing experience, but lets see how this goes.

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Since things are pretty small right now, I am going to make a few posts introducing the sport of back country skiing. Remember the first step before going into the back country is to take an in person avalanche course (see the side bar). All the titles will start with "Back country skiing 101" so they can be found easily. As always, questions comments, or snide remarks are welcome!

One of the first questions people usually ask me about back country skiing is "How do you get up the mountain without a chair lift?".

There are a few different ways but the most common is called "skinning" as shown by this photo. The skis are pretty similar to resort skis (but often lighter). I use bindings that can be released at the heel and pivot near the toe letting the ski slide along as you walk like a cross country ski. There are skins attached to the bottom of the skis that allow the ski to grab the snow rather than sliding backwards. These skins also allow the ski to slide forward easily. The skins attach using a combination of removable glue and hooks on the front and back of the ski (the orange tails on the back of my ski are where these hooks mount).
The boots are also a little different from what you may find in a resort, the ankles can pivot freely until you lock them in place. At the top of the hill, I remove the skins, lock the boots and heels in place and ski down.

I hope this is helpful for people, let me know what you think of this kind of post.

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[–] HairHeel 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Great post. How do I get started shopping for gear?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

101 should start with "Take an avalanche course before even touching the Backcountry"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes look into avy courses before anything, back country snow sports are dangerous without the right knowledge. This is in the side bar but I added it to the post as well. Perhaps I will do another post today or tomorrow and post a couple photos of my AIARE 1 course and explain what these courses are like.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

As @hyperhopper suggests, look into in-person avalanche training before anything. Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to take one until next year if you live in the northern hemisphere. I have several good links in the information bar for this community (see the info button if you are on the app).

The first couple times you go out, you probably want to see if you can rent the gear. You can even do the avalanche course on snow shoes which is quite a bit cheaper than the back country setup. There are also guided trips where you can try it out with a professional before committing to learning everything from scratch.

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