Backcountry Skiing

For backcountry skiers, the "high season" begins later in the year, when the days are longer and the snowpack has settled and stabilized between storms. That's when they can access the mountain mosaic of forest and snow and experience skiing on un- disturbed and unpopulated slopes.

The choices of equipment range from snowshoes and snowboards, to climbing skins and randonee bindings, heck, even throwing your skis over your shoulder and walking is possible in the right conditions.

But don't be a total ski flake and ignore the risks. Get educated before heading for the hills. Not only about the proper gear and clothing but also the "know-how" of survival. Avalanche awareness and rescue clinics are offered every year through outdoor shops and college classes. They are invaluable for the serious backcountry enthusiast.

Backcountry skiing can be as easy as slipping down a sun softened slope and booting back up the hill in shorts and shirtsleeves, but for some the ultimate trip is spending the night out.

This may seem like an activity best suited to polar bears and lunatics, but when you learn a few highly technical secrets of overnight survival and comfort, it becomes much more appealing. Sure.... there are tents and snow caves and igloos, but if you want to ski fat city... look for a hut.

The closest and perhaps most accessible of these huts is just over the border on Kootenay Pass between Creston and Salmo, British Columbia. An hour's ski south of the pass is the Ripple Ridge Hut. Actually there are two huts there, one that seems to have been there forever, with lots of nostalgia and a smoky wood stove and another hut right next door that is almost brand new with lots of windows and a very effective wood stove. We found out how effective as we roasted in the loft without sleep until 3 A.M. when someone finally discovered that the window actually opened.

One beauty of skiing to a hut is that you need not be bothered with the weight of a tent and extra clothes. Naturally this available room in your pack gets filled with extra jugs of wine, cookies and other essential gourmet fare... like I said... this is fat city skiing. The wood stove is wonderful for melting the snow from your fleece, drying out your polypropylene, and when administered with one of those jugs of wine, thaws the toes and reddens the nose.

Arguably, morning is the best time in the hut. Instead of waking in a tent and facing the challenge of making oatmeal and coffee, you can relax in leisure until the eggs Benedict is served. Slip into your warm and dry ski boots and ski off into telemark heaven.

Backcountry skiing may really mask a deeper need of the human soul, an antidote to cabin fever or the winter doldrums, a need to pursue what Kipling describes as "something hidden... behind the mountains... go and find it."


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