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

[riverc0il]

The backcountry scene here in the northeast is so secretive and private.

I gotta disagree. David Goodman's "Backcountry Skiing Adventures" is in its second edition in two seperate volumes. Both are invaluable and highly recommended and definitely no secret containing all the major Backcountry skiing locations in New England and a few of the lesser known spots. Forums like this have some buzz on Backcountry skiing. The forums at First Tracks Online!! have consistantly had a lot of backcountry talk. Additionally, Time For Tuckerman (T4T) has hundreds of Backcountry skiers that post about various places to earn turns in New England, though of course the board is mostly focused on Tuckerman Ravine and the other nearby gullies of the Presidential Range. North Conway has a reputable outfitter that teaches Avalanche courses (sorry, can not remember the name). You won't find people calling out the lesser known places in public forum, you will eventually need to find a buddy, study some maps, or do a lot of research to figure some of the more choice lines out. But I have yet to encounter a Backcountry skier that was not willing to share some insider knowledge in person.

The downside of Backcountry in New England is very few ski shops carry gear and most skiers do not know much about Backcountry. For longer than I care to admit, I believed you needed Telemark gear to skin. That delayed me a few years from doing something I have come to love very much. A certain lack of information is definitely prevelent, unfortunately, but hopefully forums such as this, FTO, T4T, etc. can help spread the info to get folks going. There is definitely not much secrative about New England Backcountry from my experiences. Just a general lack of information.

 

[awf170]

The downside of Backcountry in New England is very few ski shops carry gear and most skiers do not know much about Backcountry. For longer than I care to admit, I believed you needed Telemark gear to skin. That delayed me a few years from doing something I have come to love very much. A certain lack of information is definitely prevelent, unfortunately, but hopefully forums such as this, FTO, T4T, etc. can help spread the info to get folks going. There is definitely not much secrative about New England Backcountry from my experiences. Just a general lack of information.

I agree. There really needs to be a foot fitter that does AT and tele boots. There isn't one right?

 

[riverc0il]

There are definitely shops out there that have AT and Tele boots and will fit them. Bob Smith's in Boston comes to mind immediately. I can not remember which shops in VT have backcountry gear, but there are a few. There is a shop in North Conway in another shop in Maine that both have Backcountry gear, the names escape me currently. It would be cool to get a list of all BC shops in New England together for future reference. Actually, what I have debated doing is dedicating part of my web page to BC resources. I have not gotten around to it yet.

 

[AHM]

getting into bc not that hard...................

All finding the gear and getting into the sport is pretty easy. For most, the easiest way to get the gear is to get a decent set of fat skis (90 mm waist or greater), a pair of fritschi freerides, an appropriate set of skins, and finally some adjustable poles . This set up will allow you to ski anywhere in the backcountry very easily. They double as a single set of skis for any western trip and will work great for eastern backcountry.

You actually do not need AT specific boots. I have toured for a week straight using my Lange comp 120s and it was no problem. In fact after touring for a week straight in a pr of adrenalines, about the only advantage I found was that the adrenaline was better for rocky scrambling due to the lugged sole.

So, start with the skis. The reason I would go with the freeride is because you do not need to buy boots right away. This will save you some cash and get you into the sport.

Shops in many areas carry the freeride or you can simply buy it on linne. A good source for AT and BC questions is mountaingear in Spokane Washington (www.mgear.com).

For eastern skiers, you actually do not really need probe, shovel, and transceiver to start and this will lower your initial cost. Do I take p,s,t to tucks when I go, yes. Did I always, no. Not when I did not own them. For western tours (guided and that's where you should start--guided) you'll be able to rent p,s,t.

Dave Goodmans' books are excellent choices and you can find nice tours to get you started here. Also, tour you own ski area to get used to using your skins, going up hill etc. If they are not hip to the idea do it at night using a basic headlamp. You'll find it fun, it's safe and it is great training. There is a night time touring going on a many VT ski areas. Touring your ski area also gives you the advantage of getting in touring shape. I use this approach all the time and before major touring trips am touring my ski area regularly. For a touring trip, you should be at least able to go up 3000 feet over the course of the day. For someone in decent shape the tour to the top of a VT ski area (> 2000 verticle feet) should take about two hours. Once you've done it a few times it'll get to about 90 min to get up 2500 verts.

Avalache courses: you can use marc chauvin of chauvin guides (www.chauvinguides.com) to get you started there or the AMC (Appalacian mountain club). Also, a super idea is to make it part of a western trip: kinda two vacations in one.

One way to accomplish this is to say do a trip to southwestern CO. Hit Telluride and then call San Juan Mountain guides to get a day or two day trip into the backcountry. SJMG is located in Ouray. You can rent the gear in Telluride (Telluride Mt Sports I think) or most likely SJMG has it.

A second way is to contact Jorg Wilz of OntopMountaineering and do the trip in British Columbia. You can do some alpine skiing at areas like Kicking Horse, Fernie, or the Banff Areas, and then meet Jorg in Rogers Pass (one of the prime BC touring areas). The pass has a cheap hotel and you can do day tours out of there with your guide. The town of Golden will have all the BC rental gear you need and OnTopMountaineering can set up the touring trips and combine those with an avalanche course and you will learn the basics and you will have an awesome vacation.

Once you have the basics under your belt, you can begin to combine the two sports: alpine and touring. This is what most skiers will do 'cus the lift is pretty fun and for the eastern skier the backcountry options are not as great or as plentiful, but they are certainly there.

Backcountry skiing actually starts a bit later than Alpine skiing, unless you live near Rogers Pass or good early snow areas (early snow can mean avi as there is not a big snow pack and bonding can be suspect as it is early bonding to the ground layer.

The beauty about the later start is that you can alpine ski early to get your legs and then kick the BC off in say March. I typically tour the area a great deal early just for the uphill workout. Once the BC really gets going, the eastern alpine is heading towards the end and you can start hitting the BC instead. The best western trips are really spring trips. I was recently at the Fairy Meadows hut (see the alpine club of Canada website) for a week. We were there from April 21 - 28 (a time most would consider corn or slush) and found very nice northern aspect glacial powder. A week long hut trip will provide endless options, fantastic scenery and provide a ski trip unlike any other.

Finally, now that you have some gear, you need to do some reading. Get Goodmans book, buy snow sense, and start surfing the web for info. A bit of homework will get you rolling. For the eastern skier a copy of VT Long Trail guide can also get you going for tours like Camels hump. Also, the Goodman book will take you to Mt Cardigan in southern NH etc.

So that's enough for now. That should get anyone curious going. Eastern shops in ski towns like Sugarbush (Alpine Options and Clearwater sports sell BC gear), Stowe (Umiak and Skier shops) also can get you started. The AMC runs day tours as well. Sugarbush knows how to get in touch with backcountry guides to set up trips as well. Finally, suscribe to Coulior and Backcountry (this will run you about 30 $) and that can help with some of the homework.

Have fun and enjoy a new twist on skiing. Snowboarders: you too, buy a Voile split decision or a prior split tail and you are good to go. I suggested this to a snowboarder friend and he is absolutely nuts on it. Not sure he uses anything but a split board anymore. AHM

 

[Marc]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to write all that. I've been looking at pictures of Fairy Meadows for a while now and it looks incredible. That is definitely on the long range hit list for me, as is the whole Banff/Golden area.

Also, thanks a bunch for mentioning the guide services and the avi course info. Of all the info I've been able to find on the web, those types of resources seem to be the least plentiful.

I read Lou Dawson's blog religiously. There is another great resource- www.wildsnow.com

 

[pepperdawg]

The term has been around for a while... I like to stress it - because - sure it's easy to walk off a lift - sneek into the woods and ride some untracked trees.

But it's SO different to have to plan routes, bring extra equipment, read topos, choose skiing routes, dealing with water and food, etc....

e.g "Cheap" Pow...

Sometimes just hiking a powerline and building a kicker with a 12 pack and a buddy is considered back/slack country to me...

of course a power line (southern VT) with snow this year was hard to come by....

 

[dmc]

e.g "Cheap" Pow...

Sometimes just hiking a powerline and building a kicker with a 12 pack and a buddy is considered back/slack country to me...

of course a power line (southern VT) with snow this year was hard to come by....

I still call that "sessioning"

 

[salida]

Thought I might link 3 recent backcountry reports from FTO for spring tours or slack country...

Berthoud Pass, CO http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2095

Medicine Bow, WY http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2098

Loveland Pass, CO http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2100

Sorry to cross post. But this is an eastern site.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Thought I might link 3 recent backcountry reports from FTO for spring tours or slack country...

Berthoud Pass, CO http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2095

Medicine Bow, WY http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2098

Loveland Pass, CO http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2100

Sorry to cross post. But this is an eastern site.

Did alot of BC sking around the Snowy's when I was going to U. of Wyoming. Opposite side of the Snowy's from Saratoga. Saratoga is a sweet spot being just off the beaten path enough and small enough so it's not commercialized. Did you partake in the local hot spring?

 

[salida]

Of course I partook! If thats a word. Saratoga is a neat little place. Had some delish breakfast burritos in the cafe on the way out of town to the north.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Back country, Slack Country, Front Country (like Tuckerman), on piste, all of the above.

Not much left. Yesterday was ok, but fading fast. The last pair of boards hits the rafters tonight. I did get to ski in 8 Months this season. Not bad for the East.

 

[tirolerpeter]

backcountry skiing

I have done a bit of "out of bounds" skiing in Utah, but can not claim any true "back country" experiences. I do look forward to doing so after I move to the Salt Lake region this year. I fully intend to take the appropriate courses regarding safety and avalanche danger. And I won't try any of it without being fully and properly equipped, and without experienced and qualified companions. It looks like a great way to enjoy ski country and I'm psyched for it.

 

[NYDrew]

Marc,

You've never skiied out back? For some reason that really surprised me.

 

[Marc]

Marc,

You've never skiied out back? For some reason that really surprised me.

ttt


It won't be that way for long. Our season will likely be K and Jay as early as possible, and if we get some southern snow, starting off with small southern tours like Greylock and Monadnock.