A bit of the backcountry, and a poll for everyone-

[Marc]

During my last outting at Killington, while shooting the breeze with our telemarking trail mates, I mentioned the website to them, as their pictures would be posted there (still waiting for that comission, Greg...)

He asked me what percentage of the site participated in, thought about, and talked about back country skiing. I could not give him a solid number, but told him a fair number of skiers here were at least occasional back country skiers.

Certainly a higher percentage here participates in back country than you would find in a cross section of the average skier at a big mountain resort.

So take the poll, so we all can know. While I do not and have not done any back country skiing (although hiking at K felt a little like it) I plan to, and have begun to immerse myself in the sport, and certainly am always willing to talk about it, I have voted choice #1. If you don't fall into any of those categories and don't back country ski, ski tour, ski mountaineer, or otherwise earn your turns, choose #2.

Also feel free to discuss anything backcountry here :beer:

 

[riverc0il]

marc, you are certainly on your way to the backcountry experience if you enjoyed your turns at kmart. but make no mistake about it, there is a fine line between earning your turns and earning your turns in the backcountry. though i do not want to turn this into a definition of backcountry, it is certainly more of a remote experience than hiking a closed ski area or hiking sidecountry at an open ski area. i much prefer the term 'earning your turns' to a stricter definition of backcountry, as earning your turns applies most any where you hike to ski (though i wouldn't include most lift assisted turn earning as the hikes are generally fairly short). dropping into wild and untamed places has more the feeling of backcountry and is distinctly different than hiking a closed ski area. it is also much more dangerous.

being a turn earner, i am strongly motivated by a desire for fresh snow and uncrowded terrain to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing. but rather than keep quiet, i can not help myself but encourage other folks to see the proverbial light. it is an experience i treasure, it is also an experience i treasuring sharing. so i recommend any one polling 'neg' in the poll give a shot at least once to see what the fuss is all about.

 

[dmc]

I'm down with "slack country"...

 

[loafer89]

I skied Tuckerman once in May of 1990, besides that I skied in Rocky Mountain National Park, but we had a car and my uncle was driving as our shuttle.

That is the extent of my backcountry ski experience, but I am not adverse to trying more, especially since I will soon be living closer to the mountains.

 

[awf170]

From my two back country trips I am totally hooked. Once I get into to college I can almost guarantee that alteast 50% of my days will be BC and if I can find a bunch of cool partners I bet I will almost never ski inbouds. I love the hiking part too, even if I couldn't ski down I would still have fun hiking high peaks like Mt. Washington in the winter. I love going up steep boot packs, so much fun.

 

[Marc]

marc, you are certainly on your way to the backcountry experience if you enjoyed your turns at kmart. but make no mistake about it, there is a fine line between earning your turns and earning your turns in the backcountry. though i do not want to turn this into a definition of backcountry, it is certainly more of a remote experience than hiking a closed ski area or hiking sidecountry at an open ski area. i much prefer the term 'earning your turns' to a stricter definition of backcountry, as earning your turns applies most any where you hike to ski (though i wouldn't include most lift assisted turn earning as the hikes are generally fairly short). dropping into wild and untamed places has more the feeling of backcountry and is distinctly different than hiking a closed ski area. it is also much more dangerous.

being a turn earner, i am strongly motivated by a desire for fresh snow and uncrowded terrain to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing. but rather than keep quiet, i can not help myself but encourage other folks to see the proverbial light. it is an experience i treasure, it is also an experience i treasuring sharing. so i recommend any one polling 'neg' in the poll give a shot at least once to see what the fuss is all about.

Indeed, I agree with the sentiment, which is why I choose the wording I did in my inital post. Backcountry skiing is always earning your turns, however, earning your turns does not necessarily mean you're skiing backcountry. I made sure to point out I had no real backcountry skiing experience. A fault I will remedy within the year's close.

 

[ChileMass]

marc, you are certainly on your way to the backcountry experience if you enjoyed your turns at kmart. but make no mistake about it, there is a fine line between earning your turns and earning your turns in the backcountry. though i do not want to turn this into a definition of backcountry, it is certainly more of a remote experience than hiking a closed ski area or hiking sidecountry at an open ski area. i much prefer the term 'earning your turns' to a stricter definition of backcountry, as earning your turns applies most any where you hike to ski (though i wouldn't include most lift assisted turn earning as the hikes are generally fairly short). dropping into wild and untamed places has more the feeling of backcountry and is distinctly different than hiking a closed ski area. it is also much more dangerous.

being a turn earner, i am strongly motivated by a desire for fresh snow and uncrowded terrain to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing. but rather than keep quiet, i can not help myself but encourage other folks to see the proverbial light. it is an experience i treasure, it is also an experience i treasuring sharing. so i recommend any one polling 'neg' in the poll give a shot at least once to see what the fuss is all about.

So by this definition, non-BC skiers don't earn their turns. Hmmmmm - I didn't think I was a total skiing wuss, but thanks for hipping me to that.......I'll try to do better and see the light sometime in the near future.....

 

[Marc]

So by this definition, non-BC skiers don't earn their turns. Hmmmmm - I didn't realize I was a total wuss, but thanks for hipping me to that.......I'll try to get more hardcore in the future.....

Don't get all uppity old man! Or we're going to have to have the orderly get you the O2 and your walker.



Just because nancy boy RC let a little fractured bone sideline is BC skiing doesn't mean you have to go all elder rage on him.

 

[riverc0il]

So by this definition, non-BC skiers don't earn their turns. Hmmmmm - I didn't think I was a total skiing wuss, but thanks for hipping me to that.......I'll try to do better and see the light sometime in the near future.....

no, actually i specitically stated the exact opposite of your interpretation. i specifically stated that:

i much prefer the term 'earning your turns' to a stricter definition of backcountry, as earning your turns applies most any where you hike to ski

thus, earning your turns is not strictly a backcountry definition and i was actually suggesting that the term earn your turns be used in such a pole instead of backcountry which has a more stricter definition. though earning your turns does strictly denote hiking up to ski down, anything lift serviced is suspect unless there is a lot of hiking after the lift.

 

[ChileMass]

Don't get all uppity old man! Or we're going to have to have the orderly get you the O2 and your walker.



Just because nancy boy RC let a little fractured bone sideline is BC skiing doesn't mean you have to go all elder rage on him.

Dude - you're awesome.......

All I know is my bones and muscles hurt at the end of a day of skiing inbounds and that works for me (and the majority of skiers, I'll bet). Have fun in the backcountry. Send me a postcard if you make it back to civilization.......

 

[ChileMass]

no, actually i specitically stated the exact opposite of your interpretation. i specifically stated that:


thus, earning your turns is not strictly a backcountry definition and i was actually suggesting that the term earn your turns be used in such a pole instead of backcountry which has a more stricter definition. though earning your turns does strictly denote hiking up to ski down, anything lift serviced is suspect unless there is a lot of hiking after the lift.

Your definition of earning your turns is narrow and excludes anyone not going to the backcountry or hiking to ski. As a lifelong skier, I find it offensive. MY definition of earning your turns is ripping GS turns as fast as my skis will go on an inbounds trail that has had the bumps flattened out of it. Or someone else's definition of earning your turns could be bashing moguls on Outer Limits. Or a newbie's definition of earning your turns could be making it down the bunny trail. Or X-C across a lake. Or a hundred other things. My hardcore may not be your's, but it sure is fun for me.

Enough defining of terms. I have no problem whatsoever with backcountry or BC skiers. Have fun. I'll pray no one gets stuck overnight. The problem I had with this post is the inference that non-BC skiers don't earn their turns. There's a lot of skiers of all different types out there, friend........

 

[knuckledragger]

Although I do not agree with posting bc sites I do not mind telling people how to find an area that is suitable and how to do the recon of a potental site.

 

[John84]

I'd like to get into the bc, but in the mid-A there are only a few spots that are decent for a short period of time; all of them at least 3.5 hours from my house.

 

[Marc]

Although I do not agree with posting bc sites I do not mind telling people how to find an area that is suitable and how to do the recon of a potental site.

When I say "talking about backcountry skiing" I'm referring more to talking technique, trip reports, and gear.

No one's expecting anyone to be posting detailed directions and topos of their favorite stashes.

 

[riverc0il]

chile, i think you are going to be hard pressed to find many folks that would use the term 'earning your turns' for any other form of skiing except hiking. sorry if you find that offensive, but i just don't see how taking a lift to the top of a ski area is earning turns. even before i started hiking, i would not have believed using a lift was earning turns. the most prominent backcountry skiing magazine out there is colouir, and their motto is "earn your turns." it is not meant to be an offensive term to those who choose not to hike, more power to you. i have only been hiking for turns for three years, and the 20 years before that i spent riding a lift. the point of a definition is that it is shared by everyone that uses the same language, we can not all define terms differently to suit our own use of the word or else the entire human race could not communicate. i think you will find there is fairly wide agreement that turn earning means hiking for turns. that is not to say that folks ripping hard GS turns or bashing big nasty bumps are not working hard on every turn they make, they sure are and i still do this type of hardcore skiing myself on piste.

i guess maybe we should just stick with backcountry after all

 

[Greg]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I've always defined "earning your turns" as hike up/ski down, with the "earn" part meaning hiking.

With that said, I've never done any BC. Always thought about it, but just haven't gotten around to it, I guess. I also want to become a true advanced all mountain skier first on piste, i.e. to be able to ski bumps, powder, crud, ice, hard pack, etc. gracefully and with ease and confidence. I'll probably then graduate to skiing marked glades of which I've only dabbled. If/when that ever becomes boring, I'll look into BC more seriously. As I've posted before, I'm more of a quantity over "quality" type guy. Quantity is my quality. I've only been skiing 13 seasons, starting as an adult, with some of those seasons only being half dozen day counts. There is plenty of in bounds stuff to keep me occupied for likely several more seasons.

BC or even earning them up a close ski area is actually VERY appealing to me. I've been a hiker long before I was a skier (20+ years) although the last few years I haven't hiked that much. Some aspects of hiking (views, mountains, terrain, etc) are what really appealed to me in skiing. Combining the two seems like a natural progression for me eventually. However, currently I'm at the point in life where lift-serviced will suffice for now. I have two small children, a wife, a new house, etc. There is some inherent risk in BC and I really can't afford to get hurt or worse right now. Not that getting into trouble in the BC will be any better when the kids are older, but it just seems appropriate for me at this point in my life to remain a bit more cautious. Again, given my current skill set, I'm satisfied in bounds...at least for now.

 

[Marc]

Absolutely Greg, this was meant to be an honest poll.

I hope I haven't in any way given the impression of denigrating on piste skiing, or somehow implied backcountry is better or makes one more of a skier.

I was just curious to see what folks did and what their interests were.

Skiing, above all, is a recreational pursuit. If you're not enjoying yourself, then something is wrong. If on piste lift served is what makes you happy, then that should be all that matters.


I'm so glad it's Friday.

 

[Greg]

I hope I haven't in any way given the impression of denigrating on piste skiing, or somehow implied backcountry is better or makes one more of a skier.

I didn't get that at all from you.

 

[amf]

Here's a bc vote from a long-time turn-earner. Although I started dh in high school, I quickly left for the bc and stayed there for a good 25 years until my daughters decided they wanted to try skiing & boarding. The return to dh was certainly enjoyable, what with the new shaped skiis & high speed lifts, but still doesn't quite have the magic of a good day in the bc. Managed to get my boarding daughter into Tucks one year, & planning to again next year. I'll make a split-boarder out of her yet!

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I'm down with "slack country"...

Slack country for me too. I don't know if DMC coined that term or not, but I first read it in one of his posts and I use it all the time. I think it's the perfect 2 word defination for lift serviced natural terrain skiing.

Whenever someone at WF refers to the Slides as back country, I correct them with Slack country. No further explanation required, I always get a smile and nod of understanding.