Ten days prior to this photo, none of the skiers involved had skied in this part of this country. Some of the pictured skiers had never skinned. The team had excellent leadership, grew together, got a handle on local conditions, and then pushed it together to “on sight” this 8000 foot climb and descent of Volcan Lanin on the Chile/Argentina border. Photo: Jed Porter
Use conditions, terrain and group dynamics to step it up
There you are, facing that inspiring, but daunting, list of awesome things you wish to do in the backcountry (don’t have such a list? [url=”https://www.jediahporter.com/blog/rowdy-adventuresome-ski-travels-of-the-americas-a-list”]Here’s one[/url]) Each objective in your sights requires that you grow, at least to some degree, as a backcountry skier. How the heck do you organize that path forward? You can, of course, throw figurative darts and hope your path takes you to the radness. Or you can map out your big picture route, much like you will map out the crevassed approach to the line of your dreams. “The journey is the destination” but the destination informs the journey.
If you wish to move forward with some structure, consider the following framework for stepping up your ski mountaineering ambitions and objectives.
