One of my biggest passions in life is skiing. I've been riding two planks downhill since I was 4 years old and I'm now in my early 30s and still going as strong as ever. There's just something incredibly special about carving a deep, bottomless pow turn. It feels like you're floating.
Ski touring adds a whole new depth to this. For those who don't know, ski touring, simply put, involves walking uphill, with skins on the bottom of your skis to keep you from sliding backwards. The skis have special toe and heel pieces on the bindings that allow you to pivot your toe and lift your heel as you ascend. The ski boots also have a lever at the back switching from walk to ski mode. Walk gives you a lot more range of motion to move uphill easier. On top of this you should have some sort of avalanche training as well as gear because travelling in the backcountry can be dangerous.
Basic avalanche gear consists of a beacon, shovel, probe and backpack. The beacon sends out a signal. In the, hopefully unlikely, event one of your friends gets buried you switch your beacon to search mode in order to find them. Then when you get close to the signal you start to probe for them with your probe and once you've located them you dig them out with your shovel. The beacon is carried on your person and the rest is safely tucked away in your backpack.
I live in Golden, British Columbia. Just an hours drive from here lies one of the premier ski touring meccas of the world, Rogers Pass. As the guidebook says, there is no beginner terrain here. One must often cross avalanche paths and learn good terrain management skills in order to safely recreate here.
It's been a late start to the season, but over the weekend I got out with some good friends and had some mellow days in the sunshine. It was freezing, but the company was great and the views were amazing.
I hope you enjoyed the shots as much as I enjoyed taking them :)
As always, feel free to checkout my social media and website below! I do offer print and NFT sales :)