After the snowfall on Saturday, Sunday dawned clear and bright and it looked like being a pretty good day for our backcountry ski touring trip.

It was.

Ski touring uses a different sort of binding to attach you to the skis. There are a number of settings which allow you to have your heel free for going cross-country (or up-hill!) and then you can clamp the heel down and glide through some untracked pow on the way down. Or that at least is the theory. The other trick is to attach skins to the bottom of your skis when climbing. The skins (which once upon a time were probably seal skin or something) allow the skis to glide forward but stop them sliding backwards. So in the end you get an excellent bit of winter hiking, with some skiing thrown in. Top banana!

We got a ride in a snow-cat to the top of the ridge opposite the ski hill and set off from there. The snowboarders wore snowshoes while we skinned up (blimey!). The views were stunning and the whole experience was really fun, moving slowly through the woods as we inched our way uphill, then cruising down through the pow. Only sometimes it wasn't pow in fact but a kind of hard-packed crust that made for some pretty hairy skiing. Phil took his agression out on a tree which came of worst but otherwise we all survived. And then right at the end we got a tow behind a snow-mobile to add to the experience.

We also had Diva, avalanche rescue dog in training, to come find us if we got lost!


- Matt at one with nature
- Phil Hargreaves - mountain man.
- FAR from afar.
- Chris the centrefold.
- one of me!
- up through the trees.
- cheating!