For snow sports outside of the resorts. This community includes back country skiing, snowboarding, telemarking and more.
Posting Guidelines
Anyone can comment or post regardless of their experience with snow sports in general. We welcome all those who want to ask questions or share their adventures.
Safety
Always know your limits when going into the back country. If you are just getting started, in-person avalanche training is essential.
Remember that anyone can post to this community regardless of experience so do your own research.
Books
Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper
Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering by Martin Volken, Scott Schell, and Margaret Wheeler
AUTONOMY MASTERY AND PURPOSE in the Avalanche Patch, Bruce Kay
Mountaineering the Freedom Of the Hills
Avalanche Forcasting Centers
Colorado Avalanche Information Center
Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center
Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center
Alaska: Chugach Avalanche Center
General Avalanche Information
US Forest Service Avalanche Center
Trip Planning and Mapping
USDA NRCS - for finding where the snow has accumulated
Acknowledgement
A thank you to /u/pragmaticminimalist and the /r/backcountry community on Reddit for supporting a great community for over 12 years. Many of the links in this side bar come from /r/backcountry as they are good resources.
Moderators
If you are interested in helping to moderate this community, please contact @[email protected].
We prefer moderators who have formal avalanche training (E.g. AIARE level 1 or equivalent) and a few years of back country skiing experience, but lets see how this goes.
We all have those times when we are terrified in the moment but it makes a great story later.
Here is mine: "The white strip of doom" when you are cruising along a one-ish foot wide strip of snow with rocks and bushes on either side. Perhaps road rash from skiing is a rite of passage?
I'm principally a hiker so not too many stories here that are daring lol, but I do get a certain thrill out of stepping onto a portion of mycelial mat on a bog or marsh and being terrified my entire leg will get sucked in.
Bogs and swamps count for sure! I have spent many hours of quality time having type 2 fun in swamps. They are the one thing I have found everywhere I go yet still manage to be unique each time.
Could you explain what "type 2" means? I'm unfamiliar.
It's the kind of thing where it's not fun or just scary at the time. But it makes for a great story so it's worth it in the long run.