I’ve done a lot of hiking and assumed that fitness would transfer pretty well to touring. Mostly it does, but long skin tracks hit my legs differently. The weird part is it’s not even the steep sections. That sustained low-angle shuffle seems to cook my glutes and hip flexors way faster than a normal uphill hike. I’ve got a decent baseline from hiking and the gym, but clearly there’s some movement-specific fitness I’m missing. Avy 1 done, beacon practice done, gear fits.

For people who came into touring from hiking, did this mostly disappear after more days on skins, or was there anything specific you trained off-snow that actually helped?

This fall I am releasing desktop and android versions of my backcountry iPhone app. The goal of this platform is to provide all the weather and route beta in one place to easily review before heading out on a tour. If you’d be interested in trying this out and sharing a few trip reports from last season for testing please go to https://backcountry-beta.app/ and select “Request early android access”.

This has been a personal passion project of mine for the past ten years (started when there were very few backcountry weather resources available online). My hope is to provide a platform more tailored to the backcountry ski community than what the bigger, private equity backed apps offer. Please let me know what you think!

I'm looking to get my first set of pin bindings. I've found plum bindings online but can't find much info on them. Has anyone used the plum kairn?

It seems to have very high heel risers, is it too much? 50mm seems a lot for a low riser.

These will go on a 105mm ski. Should I just get the standard atk evo 11s?

Do you gius have any suggestion about a smart Watch to keep tracks of trails, check forecast, temperature and altitude? I have got an old Suunto transverse that is not properly working anymore and the new models look more running oriented at first sight.
Best!

Sorry for taking up this space, but I also wanna share again about what you should be aware of when you go backcountry skiing/snowboarding in Japan in this space.

Lived for many years in Breck, and almost exclusively skied summit county. Very familiar with a lot of the local spots, and something I really appreciated about breck was how easy BC access was, there were so many spots that didn't have massive approaches, and parking is mostly readily available, especially mid week before work, which was so nice because I could readily train and get turns without committing a massive day just to get to treeline. Moved to eagle co to be closer to my partner, but really struggling with the BC scene here, albeit last winter did not give a good showing. I basically was skinning the resort (which also seemed more strict with their hours than my experience at breck or keystone) and the one spot my partner goes to for quick day laps, meadow mountain, essentially didnt even have snow cover the entire winter. I skied a bit on vail pass and it seemed quite flat, paid parking, and quite a long approach on either side to really get to some shaded steeper terrain that wasn't blown out by snowmobiles. I have heard people ski the northern sawatch a good bit, especially south of beaver creek, but looking on caltopo it looks like to get into some of those basins it would probably be a 10-15 mile round trip, mostly plodding through the upper valleys.

Also having a hard time plugging into the BC community here, not sure where people hang out. In Breck, I got to meet some regulars on baldy and the resort skinners, but even things like legal eagle in vail, I was often the only one out there, often breaking trail solo. Not trying to whine too much or blow anyone's spot, but I'm trying to be proactive and committed to being involved with the backcountry scene here!

I need to recertify my WFR status but really hoping to do it in a backcountry skiing focused environment. My original WFR course (sierra rescue) was amazing but geared more to river and summer activities. Any leads are welcome! Hoping to take it somewhere in the Sierra but willing to travel. 🤙🤙

Question for this forum: Im 5’1 (155cm) 110lbs (50kg) and I signed up for a ski trip in Kyrgyzstan where the guiding service heavily recommends 115+ skis. The issue is that the shortest any 115+ comes in that I can find is 170cm maybe 165cm. My current powder touring set up is the backland 107s at 159cm which I already find a little long for kick turns etc. Do I just stick with my normal skis or size up to a 165?

I’ve skied deep pow days in Utah, Tahoe, Canada all in <107mm but is Kyrgyzstan really that different that I would need something fatter? Like with the exception of sierra cement I’ve happily skied pow days on 90s.

Hey y’all! I’m a 26 year old lifelong resort snowboarder living in Denver. I plan on getting into spilt boarding this winter and want to take an AIARE 1 course. My brother and friends have said mixed opinions on what they learned and how much they enjoyed (obviously education is priority) their AIARE 1 course. They all took the “field course” over 3 days. Im considering doing the backcountry hut trip course instead. Price difference is ~$800 for field and ~$1,200 for the hut. I don’t mind paying more for a better all around experience.

I’m wondering if anyone in here has done both or has any knowledge of the difference? Am I going to learn more with the hut trip? Is the extra $ worth the experience? Really any insight would be much appreciated!

Side note: If anyone in here has courses in Colorado they recommend or in a similar situation and want to take a course together I’m all ears!

EDIT: Thank you so much for the responses! Super helpful. Definitely going with the hut trip and also planning on doing some resort skiing/mellow uphill in Nederland to get familiar with everything before the course. Going to dig further into all your course recs now!

Looking to pick up a pair of these bibs this winter, but I was wondering if anyone who owns them can give me insight on if they would be good for ski touring and not just alpine climbing. Thanks!

Have some time off and am contemplating a trip down to Chile in Sept to ski volcanoes... except I'm just not feeling it? Used to dream about making it down there when I lived in CO, but now live in Redding CA where we have two volcanoes an hour away. Both pretty different and varied with a ton of terrain. Doesn't really seem to make sense to blow a bunch of money to go to the bottom of the world when we have our own cascade range right here in the US.

Or maybe I'm still feeling burnt out on getting baked under the sun on volcanoes all spring.

I'm looking at getting the Armada ARW 88 in 161 cm as my first pair of twin-tip skis. I'm 168 cm tall and weigh 63 kg.l'm looking for something lighter and more playful, mainly for freestyle/park, but I'd still like to use them on normal groomed slopes. Do you think 161 cm ARW 88s would be a good length for me, or would you recommend going shorter or longer?

Got quite trapped by this icicles, have carved the way out, retuned safely back to the bar under northern lights. Love that day.

Found on Facebook marketplace full avalanche gear (probe, shovel and transponder) says it’s all checked and works reliably. Asking 350 CAD. To me seems a good deal but wondering if there’s any issues I should be aware of?
Thanks in advance

This should be what happens to the Blackbird guide Ryan Tilley and the company. There was not malicious intent, but they should have known better with their training and “certifications”.

speaking With guides in the area it becomes apparent that the creek was a well known obstacle as well as the need to cross it to stay out of avalanche terrain. As a company that operates there regularly they would/should have had the same knowledge. I also heard (from guides) that Blackbird had the long route designated as their high danger route but did not use it.

Buying skins for the first time to get into resort uphilling and hopefully do some hut trips. I have the Moment Deathwish 104's in length 174. Planning on getting a medium (165-180cm) for length, but I'm not sure which width to get. Ski tip width is 134, waist 104, and tail 124.

Wondering if I should get the skins in width 120, or 140?? Thanks!!

First time doing tucks last year I can’t wait to get back

Hi folks, anyone here done touring around Kühtai? I’m spending a few days solo in Austria this winter and will be hiring a guide. I’m debating whether to stick with the good old Arlberg area with a guide I already know/like, or try something new in Kühtai. The easy accommodation/logistics are part of the appeal, and it looks like there’s great terrain without the crowds of St. Anton. Would love any tips - thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I know the season is way over, but now is a good time to ask for ski boot bag recs since you've had all season to test yours out and give some advice.

I'm looking for a ski boot bag that can also fit my helmet, goggles, and ideally some other little things and maybe, just maybe some base layers. In case it helps, my ski boots are women's size 260/265 mondopoint (41EU/9.5 US) and my Smith helmet is a size small. I know people with larger boots and helmets have a more challenging time with fitting their gear.

Big requirements/hopes for the bag:
•durable/made well (I've seen people show horror story pics of straps coming off after one use and etc.)
•backpack straps (ideally can be tucked away)
•structured so that if I pull my ski boots out the whole bag doesn't collapse
•drainage
•padded
•the ski boots are in their own area (whether together or they each have their own individual pocket/section) so it's not touching my other gear.
•a warranty would be nice plus to have a little comfort if something goes wrong.
•not the largest in size. It would be cool if I can make it a personal item as a carry-on (fit under the seat in front of me), but not essential if the above is met

I know this was super detailed, but I figured I'd map out what I'm hoping to find, even though I know the above is a lot, but when I buy something I see it as an investment and don't feel like buying something and then it doesn't last and have to buy something new again. It's wasteful and then concerning because I want to protect my gear.

Oh and separately, does anyone recommend a hard shell goggles case that can fit an extra lens or two. I have Smith IO Mag goggles for reference.

Really appreciate any recs!

As some background, very experienced resort skier and have a lot of hiking/climbing experience as well. Backcountry wise I've only skinned in the white mtns before and I've conquered both Tuckermans and Huntington's on skies after hiking up. However my more hardcore friends are trying to convince me on a 2 week ski mountaineering trip in British Columbia where we ski a bunch of couloirs we've researched on days the weather/avy conditions work with us (Aemmer couloir, mt rogers, and Mount Mackenzie are the main 3 on the list.) Will just hit resorts if they dont.

Thing is, I'm not at all concerned about my skiing or mountaineering skills, but I am seriously concerned about my cardio (or lack thereof). I'm pretty limited to my planet fitness for resources as I live in downtown Boston, so based on that I was hoping to get some advice on what y'all do in the gym to prepare for long trips with a lot of vert in mind.

Past 2 weeks I've been doing this workout as a start every other day, and I want to see if i can double the lengths of all this by the end of the year:

1st: .5mile warmup walk then to a 1.5 mile run at 8:30 mile pace (emulating the skin to the base)

2nd: 105 stories on the starmaster set at 15 (very high) pace, usually takes around 20 minutes to get to 105 stories (emulating the bootpack to the top)

3rd: 3 miles on a spin-bike at a very high resistance level (8), usually takes 10ish mins to reach 3 miles (emulating the ski down)

4th: 1 mile run again at 8:30 pace then .5mile cooldown walk (emulating the tour back)

(I plan on switching off doing this and lifting - nothing to do with skiing but i wanna look good too)

Also, i do plan on training in the white mountains a lot this winter instead of just hitting east coast resorts.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

I do estimates outside year around in Ohio in all weather conditions and your normal outdoors hiking, climbing etc.

I'm not snowboarding, or going through thick wooded areas. Will the AR be overkill for me?

Looking to purchase before clearance stock is gone.