Skiing is a wonderful activity and ski touring is an excellent way to get some cardio in and change it up from riding lifts and experiencing the thrill of the downhill. Getting into ski touring can be a bit of a daunting task. One of the magic things about ski touring is that wherever somebody can imagine skiing, they can go skiing there. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and sometimes starting can be a more confusing and difficult task than skiing down Mt Gnarly a few years later.
This is meant to be a beginner’s guide to taking the literal first steps in skiing uphill in order to ski downhill. One of the biggest scariest most intimidating things to learn is about avalanche conditions. We do not cover this here, but we will point you towards some resources.
Ski touring, skiing, and winter recreation comes with inherent risks. None of this information is to be considered a way to reduce the risks. By seeking out this information and acting on this information, you are actively choosing to take on all of the inherent risks.
There are generally 6 categories of things to take into consideration when learning to ski tour- the Five S’s and C: Skier, Skis, Strategy, Squad, Style, and Communication. These building blocks can be built upon and made more complex through somebody’s ski touring career, or they can remain as simple as somebody wants.
This is by far the most important part of ski touring. Life is a team sport and it is critical to communicate to your team mates what you want in order to get it. Your team mates include who you buy equipment from, who you learn from, who you ski with, and who you share your excitement with.
Learning to identify the purpose of going ski touring and the goal for the day and communicating it is paramount to enjoying ski touring.
Some people are happy to get some exercise on sunny days. Other people want to ski deep powder in storms. A small fraction of people want to ski steep gnarly lines in remote areas where mistakes could cost somebody their life. Without properly identifying and communicating the desired feelings for the day, it is going to be difficult to team up with people who have what you want.
Even if going solo, understanding what you would want to say to a partner if they were there is important. Communicating where you will be and when you should be back to a dependable friend is also critical should search and rescue need to be called.
Skiing in the resort and skiing in the backcountry are two different jobs with specialized tools. It’s nice to have the right tools for the job. Getting the right tools together can be a daunting task, but it’s not impossible.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in all the latest and greatest gear. Retailers will love you if you walk in and say “here’s my credit card, set me up”. That rarely ever happens, and is probably not appropriate for the first few ski tours. To dabble and see if the idea of earning turns is for you, it’s best to start with what you’ve got and then buy what makes the most sense next.
There are a few categories of equipment to acquire before going uphill for the first time. In three categories there are the tools to actually go uphill, personal comfort, and snow safety
Walking uphill with skis can be done with regular alpine equipment, but it’s not the best tool for the job. Dedicated ski touring equipment is a lot easier to walk in. This consists of everything that actually touches the snow. Skis, boots, bindings, skins, and poles.
Boots are the absolute most important piece of equipment. Even if the skis were to magically disappear, boots are still needed to walk through snow. They are asked to do a few things- walk uphill, carry a ski uphill, attach to a ski with heel and toe attachment points, and then perform on the downhill. It’s a miracle that ski boots can do all that they do. If you are serious about ski touring, go to a dedicated and reputable shop to get boots that match your feet. It will be worth it.
Bindings are important too. They attach the boot to the ski and allow the toe to pivot while walking uphill and lock the heel down. There are generally two types of ski touring bindings, frame bindings and tech bindings. Frame bindings have largely fallen out of fashion by 2024, but they still exist and are a great tool for first ski tours or short ski tours. They have the toepiece and heelpiece attached to a frame that pivots on a hinge under the toe. Traditional ski boots can be used with these. Tech bindings have a toe piece that pinches into two metal recesses on the toe lug of a touring boot and two pins in the heelpiece that lock the heel down when it’s time to ski. Tech bindings are considerably lighter and better for uphill travel.
There’s not much to say about skis for starting ski touring. Any pair will do. Of course, the lighter the better, but don’t stress much about it. Ski touring often encounters plenty of unmarked hazards like rocks, so if you have an old pair to dedicate to the cause, use those until you really know what you want your ski touring days to look like.
Skins are what go on the bottom of skis for traction uphill. They have a contact adhesive on one side (like a sticky note) and a directional fiber, usually mohair or nylon or a mix of both, on the bottom. The fibers slide uphill when the ski is pulled uphill and then dig in and provide traction when stood on. They are surprisingly grippy!
Ski poles are generally the same as what’s used in a resort. Some people like adjustable ski poles for ski touring, but for starting out just grab anything that works.
If selecting and buying all of this just to try it out seems daunting, specialty shops will rent the whole package. In Salt Lake City, you can rent ski touring gear from SkimoCo and the University of Utah outdoor recreation department.
Personal comfort gear is everything that touches your body. At a ski area, it’s pretty simple. Dress for sitting on a chairlift for 5-10 minutes, and then downhill activity. Ski touring is more complex. A human body puts off a lot of heat on the way uphill for an hour or so and then wants to cool off quite a bit on the way downhill. The key to success is staying dry and having a variety of layers available to accommodate different levels of exertion and weather conditions.
From the outside in, a good pair of uninsulated shell pants and an uninsulated shell jacket are a good start. This allows for protection from snow and wind while walking uphill without overheating. A puffy jacket underneath the shell provides good warmth on the way down. Layers are hard to advise on because every body is different in the way that they move heat to different body parts, create heat overall, and tolerate the cold. Synthetics, shells, and layers are the key to staying dry and modulating heat capture as necessary.
Snow safety equipment is another consideration, and good for anybody who is going into snowy mountains- skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, snow showers, everybody who is traveling in, around, above, and below avalanche terrain. The essentials are a shovel, probe, and beacon. Being familiar with how a beacon works and how to deploy a probe and assemble a shovel is also important. Practice for the first couple of times at home before going out. The same places that rent ski touring gear will also rent beacon, shovels and probes as packages.
If you are set on buying equipment, go to a specialty shop and ask what the ski patrollers and guides all like to use. A beacon is one piece of gear not to skimp on. Some popular beacons have been recalled recently and others should have been recalled because they don’t stay on.
Choosing where to ski tour for the first time or first few times can be as daunting as picking out the gear. It doesn’t have to be. There are generally two places where people can earn turns. Ski areas that allow uphill travel and the rest.
Before using the gear on a cold snowy mountain, use it in your living room first. Put skis on skis and pull them off and fold them up. Pack your backpack and make sure that everything fits inside it with only moderate zipper wrestling. Put your boots on and attach them to your skis. Switch from walk mode to ski mode and back again. It is far easier to learn your new gear in a warm familiar environment before learning to use it in the cold with gloves on where dropping something might mean it slides down the mountain. Plus it’s a good excuse to watch a ski movie.
Once you’ve gone for Ski Tour 0 in your living room, it’s time to make it happen in the snow. The simplest place to go is a ski area that has uphill travel available. That reduces the need to have knowledge about how to route find in avalanche terrain and partner rescue. Skiing uphill at a ski area is a great way to learn how to use the tools in the snow.
It’s also a great way to learn how your body works on the uphill. How much heat is created and where? Which layers are appropriate for walking uphill compared to skiing down? How tiring does 1000 vertical feet feel? 2000 feet? How do the boots and skis feel compared to your normal resort gear? These are all questions that can be answered without needing to stress about avalanche knowledge.
Getting these experiences in before taking a first avalanche class can make the avalanche class so much more valuable. Instead of trying to learn all of the aforementioned questions while also trying to learn about route finding, partner rescue, and snow science, the latter three can be focused on entirely.
When it’s time to make your own ski touring plans in the wild, the strategy can consist of moving through certain terrain, on top of certain snow packs, during certain weather.
This is what it is all about! Choosing the people you want to ski with is so important. Humans are hard wired to be part of a small group. Skiing is what attracts people to the same location, but the people we ski with are why we keep going back.
When first getting into ski touring, it’s important to surround yourself with people who support your goals, answer your questions, ask questions, and are enjoyable to be around. A nice mix of fellow new skiers and experienced mentors will provide a healthy group.
If you’re hungry for knowledge and feel like you’re not bringing anything to the table, just remember that anybody can bring good snacks.
Skiing is a recreational activity and there are many styles that each person and group of skiers can have.
When starting out, keep the style simple and communicate so. Skiing is a miracle. Being able to gracefully slide down a mountain covered in snow on clown shoes is an absolute wonder. There’s no need to go big on the first ski tour, or ever.
One of the best styles to start with is the “one and done and happy to be here”. One way up, one way down, and a big smile the whole way. That reduces the likelihood of things going wrong, peer pressure to ski more and while fatigued, and whatever else. If “one and done and happy to be here” is an attractive style, communicate it to your squad and relish it. That way expectations are all set and everybody can show up on the same page.
If going big is likely in your future, let it happen organically. There’s plenty to learn in your first two or three seasons that will only support you in the pursuit of no-fall zones, complex avalanche situations, and rope work.
Ski touring is a recreational pursuit, so it is difficult to control people’s behavior while they do so. However, ski touring is often done in a dynamic environment with multiple decisions that need to be made with large consequences.
Is The Skier, you, the person reading this, capable of bringing at least a B+, ideally an A to the game? In aviation, there’s a checklist that can be used to methodically assess if a pilot is bringing their A game, mentally, to the table. IMSAFE stands for Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol/ drugs, Fatigue, and Eating.
Skiing while ill or fatigued from a long skin might not be the smartest idea on account of having slow reaction times. Recognize it, call it out.
Skiing after a change in regular medication use or while using alcohol or drugs might have some wild consequences. Know how your body and decision making changes after changing a course of meds before taking your body out into a wild environment. Skiing while under the influence is kind of like driving under the influence. It’s hard to stop somebody from doing it, but if somebody crashes and the story is “well, they were really zonked out of their minds”, it’s hard to feel bad.
Ski touring can also come with a variety of operational pitfalls. These are less internal motivators for decisions and more external. The list is long, but sometimes people go for a ski tour because they want a cool picture, to impress a potential mate, or because they are dead set on certain goals. There’s a huge variety of operational pitfalls to choose from, and it seems like the list is ever evolving. No skier can be perfect, but recognizing operational pitfalls can be the biggest part to avoiding them or at least mitigating them.
Getting into ski touring can be a daunting task. Getting a bunch of new gear and walking into avalanche terrain introduces a huge amount of variables all at once that don’t have to be introduced. People used to do that 100 years ago because they didn’t have any alternative. Now they do. You get to stand on the shoulders of giants and take small bites, increasing the amount of commitment and random factor as one gets more comfortable. Ski touring is a very intentional activity with a lot of moving parts. Breaking it down into these few categories can help make the moving parts more manageable.
Communication
Skis
Strategy
Squad
Style
Skier
Hopefully this is a helpful guide to taking the first steps in a wonderful new activity!