“Executing that first backcountry excursion is often slow, miserable and exhausting (it is, of course, simultaneously beautiful, inspiring, and motivating).”
Jed is a longtime guide bringing humility and a desire to help others reach their potential in the mountains to his craft. Several years ago, he penned a two-part series on mentorship for WildSnow. This is the second piece in the series, “Backcountry Skiing Mentorship 101,” is the first. The series first ran in 2019.
These pieces get us thinking about the season ahead and who we can learn from. The pieces offer sound advice for potential mentees and mentors alike.
Tips for a great first ski tour, starting with the leader
The prospect of going to the backcountry for your first time, for many, is intimidating. Executing that first backcountry excursion is often slow, miserable and exhausting (it is, of course, simultaneously beautiful, inspiring, and motivating). Reflecting on one’s first time in the backcountry, for many, is accompanied by “golly, how did I survive that ordeal?” The antidote to all these stressors is excellent company. But as a newcomer, how do you really identify an excellent leader for your first experiences? How do you determine someone’s actual expertise in the backcountry skiing field?
It is no surprise that internet presence, use of lingo, enthusiasm and bullet-point list of “accomplishments” does not wholly qualify one as an “expert”. I, for one, want your first time backcountry skiing to be with someone who’s expertise is durable, clear and wrapped in excellent leadership and communication skills. Here’s a sample checklist that anyone, regardless of experience level, can use to vet your wild snow sliding mentor or leader. That person, before leaving the comfort of home or coffee shop or ski lodge, must be able to…
-show you precisely where they think you all should go,
-describe how that choice is right for today,
-and describe how that choice is right for you.
Now, further expansion on each.
Your leader, “in this day and age”, should be able to describe and show the terrain choice using maps, guidebooks, online resources, virtual 3-d models (Google Earth), satellite imagery and terrestrial photos. Your leader should have an ideal plan, and one or two less-committing and less hazardous back-up options. Look for language like: “this _____ will be our ascent route”. “If the conditions are as we expect, this is the best way down today.” “If we find that weather, snow, or instability clues are less encouraging than we anticipate, the _____ line is less exposed but still apt to be awesome.” “Download this free app to your phone and I’ll send you a file that will allow you to follow along with gps tracking”.
You also want that person to be able to explain, in plain terms backed up by third-party sources (predominantly, this will be your local avalanche bulletin), how today’s hazards and conditions pertain to the terrain you are in. “This picture/paragraph/chart indicates that xyz slopes hold snow that is likely to produce large human-triggered avalanches today. That is why all of our options are abc slopes.” “The south side of each mountain has breakable crust today; we’ll be avoiding them on the downhill”. “The canyon-bottom exit gets ridiculously cold in the afternoon and evening. We’ll be finishing early so as to be out before this zone gets shady”. “My friend said that there are tons of tracks in this un-treed corridor; just around the corner is this option with similar configuration but less traffic”. “The corn snow oughta be perfect around 11:30 on that aspect”. And so on.
Finally, the person to accompany your early forays needs to consider your background and abilities as he or she chooses terrain. Everyone in the group needs to understand everyone else’s downhill abilities, wilderness skills, risk tolerance, rescue skills, uphill fitness, and so on. Look for your lead skier to seek information on each of these things and to be able to explain how terrain choices reflect them. There is a backcountry tour for every interested person. Excellent downhill skiing skills are almost a bare minimum. Having done an uphill lap or two at your local ski area goes a long, long way. Beyond that, any and all shortcomings can be accommodated for your first tour(s).
Yes, even a lack of avalanche rescue skills is a shortcoming that can be overcome. It is common to hear that everyone should take an avalanche course before ever setting foot in the backcountry. I’ll argue against that (and I teach avalanche courses; I am a direct beneficiary of the cultural pressure to take such a course, but I argue against its importance. At least, at first). I hold that everyone that travels into avalanche terrain in a group should do so with at least a rudimentary ability to participate in an avalanche rescue. First, and very importantly, it is possible to go to the backcountry without setting foot in avalanche terrain. Next, it is entirely possible for a good mentor/instructor to, as an early part of a tour, deliver a short, painless and effective introduction to the components of an avalanche rescue. Who’s been fortunate enough to go heli-skiing? Those who have will know that the rescue briefing is concise, at best. And there are many stories of clients, so trained, helping with simple, effective avalanche rescues.
In summary, rest assured that you, with no backcountry experience or knowledge, have what it takes to size up a backcountry ski mentor or leader. In the rest of your life you know how to recognize precision and accuracy of communication skills. Look for that in your backcountry leader. To put it another way, screen your mentor for your first backcountry excursions by asking them:
-Where are we going?
-How is that right for today?
-And how is that right for me?
That’s it. I don’t care if they’ve been there a hundred times or not at all. I don’t care if they did the first descent or if its a mogul-ed roadside attraction. What I care about, and it should come as no huge surprise, is how well this person communicates. Clear, precise communication is the key to good instruction and partnership, especially in one’s early days. And especially if you wish to launch a long, deep, and varied mountain career.
Jed Porter is a passionate adventure skier and all-around mountain professional. His primary work is as a mountain guide, skiing and climbing all over the Americas and beyond. Learn more about him at his website linked below.
19 comments
Nice pic heading up Volcan Lanín. Saludos de Chile. I would add that if you´re out on your first tour, be totally honest about your ski abilities with the “designated” leader – nothing sucks more than heading out on an intermediate run, after being reassured by the fellow he can ski “black runs” at the resort, and having the ***hole take snowplough turns down the whole face, gripping your head in resignation your day may have to end up in a hospital, and not sipping bears at the trailhead.
Sipping bears sounds way more dangerous to me than backcountry touring. ?
Most important of all be sure to make sure that they have s signed letter from their mom stating that they know what they are doing.
Pretty sure that is in no way relevant to this article, Phillip Gallagher.
I was making a joke, but I guess you don’t approve
Sadly, if the litigation age continues to progress, this may actually become important. Families who have no understanding of the risks their relatives are willingly taking, and no understanding of the relationship or expected duty of care between leader and participant, may well decide to press for compensation in the event of an accident.
I disagree, Kit
Check the participants ski gear; boots, climbing skins, etc the night before? You don’t want to find out, at the trail head that someone forgot their skins, boots, beacon, puffy, headlamp or the skins are for a different pair of skis?
Make sure that they bring a borrowed, or their own Avy Beacons with fresh batteries.
A good first tour starts long before you actually go on the tour:
1. Learn to ski confidently off piste until you can do an easy slope without falling. Get some basic avi tuition to go freeriding.
2. Familiarisation with touring equipment in the garage on a large piece of old carpet. There you can run an indoor tour: run through clipping into the funny new bindings, adding crampons, taking them off without allowing the ski to escape downhill, ripping and folding skins, and so on.
3. Then the first 30 minute (or as long as new boots and fitness allow) uphill shuffle at a ski resort or farmer’s field to put it all together is fairly easy. If boots don’t quite work, that’s time to visit the bootfitter.
4. After this a longer tour.
Combining these 4 steps into one is a recipe for problems.
A thing I liked doing was putting a new skier in the lead on day one. Give them a taste of freedom “if terrain allows.” These are the moments where addiction to BC skiing occurs. Don’t just stick them at the rear and leave them there all day with occasional lectures about this and that. Offer them the wonders of first tracks once you’ve reached the top and skins come off. Lead, but don’t lead if that make sense. We are all adults.
I don’t know, prep is good, but sometimes I just like to “go poke around” on a ski tour without any great expectations of an objective-especially with a new partner. I wouldn’t say that makes me necessarily dangerous in the backcountry. I always get exasperated when a potential new partner–just out of Avy 1–wants to overanalyze everything to the point that they stay home. You don’t know until you go and knowledge takes experience–experience you won’t get if you turn down every potential partner because they didn’t spend the night before compiling a spread sheet.
Agree
I am sad to say that I think this post is a utopian fantasy of the author. It also sounds a bit like an argument for hiring a professional guide, but without saying so directly.
On further reflection, this post is a recipe for taking all the spontaneity and sense of adventure out of backcountry outings. This is exactly what some people want, but not everyone. If you want a programmed experience, ski resorts offer that.
Interesting comments, all. I think this article and some of the reactions to it bring up some complicated realities of the state of ski touring. There’s no doubt a tendency for people to over inflate their backcountry knowledge and experience, especially if they are chanced to be in a leadership role. I think what Jed is really getting at here is that if you’re going on your first ski tour, ideally you’re not just going to latch on to a joe schmoe you met at the bar who seems gregarious and like he does rad stuff but actually has a dangerous propensity for risk and doesn’t have the knowledge to make informed, inclusive decisions with a new comer. Some of us forget how exciting it is to be invited on your first ski tour, and that for a lot of those first ski tourers, they are completely at the judgement and influence of those who take them. I think the more conversations we can start about how important it is to ask questions, to not assume that whoever is more experienced knows absolutely best, the better we can cultivate sustainable, knowledge driven growth of ski touring.
All joking aside I must say that I enjoyed this article and the comments, but in reality a cherry going out with someone into the bc should remember that whoever has agreed to lead and accompany them just might tell them to forget it since so many questions are almost an insult and could lead one to assume that the cherry is somewhat void of common sense.
Ooh, some “boat-rocking” and some buttons pushed… I like it. These are the good, important, and inherent tensions of mountain travel: spontaneity vs structure, responsibility vs freedom, commercial vs recreational, style vs safety (not that each of these pairs is always mutually exclusive…). Each reader can decide how to handle the conversation(s) with a potential partner that is insulted by questions of where, when, and why we’re going…
I appreciated Jed’s article. I have found myself over the yrs starting to heavily self select partners who are a) willing to have these conversations and b) proactive in their planning and communication.
I spent a week last spring climbing and skiing with my son. We’re from the midwest and took lots of time studying the route, discussing weather, winter camping and training on our local tiny ski hill until we were ready. Like other comments above, I agree that fundamentals matter most – things like making sure boots are comfortable for hiking and we were comfortable with clothing and shelter choices in winter. It was a great experience to share and now suddenly I’ve got a strong partner I can depend on who can read a chart and build a strong camp. Care, communication and respect for your climbing partners is paramount.
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