I had been aware of skiing for a while when I first decided to take up the ‘ol death sticks. As a kid I went out with the school ski club but didn’t really understand it or stick with it.

Recently the idea of backcountry skiing and making ski descents of mountains has become something I was increasingly interested in. As an adult, accepting the inherit risks of skiing felt challenging but the promise of the experience was also very strong.

Over the Summer of 2024 I finally took the plunge and bought an entry level AT ski set-up. Armada skis, shift bindings, and some K2 touring boots. My initial goal would be to get comfortable at the resort and on local ski trails.

Tussey Mountain, PA, 500 ft vertical, DEC 2024

As winter came around I got the skis mounted and during a holiday vacation I had an opportunity to get out on a small hill called Tussey Mountain near State College PA. My first day skiing was pretty cool! I made a couple runs down the kids area, just getting used to the feeling of sliding around and making turns. Eventually I took the lift up the hill and started making runs down the main “blue square” piste.

The feeling was amazing, I ended up skiing all day and still wanted more. I took a rest day then headed back to the hill for another day of lift skiing. Fresh snow was falling and the only “black diamond” run had opened. I was feeling OK with my ability to control my speed and direction so I pulled up to the edge of the run and took a look. Sparse, tall, firm/icy moguls on a ~25 degree slope.

“I can probably handle this”

I dropped in and made my way down without incident. It was an absolute rush; fast, free, engaging, beautiful. I skied with joy the rest of the day, experimenting with different techniques and terrain.

Building skin skills in the local forest , MA

The next piece would be practicing uphill travel by skinning. We had a couple nice snow events in MA this year and with each one I would head out to the local nature preserves, touring through the forest.

I also started reading about ski touring; skinning techniques, making transitions, avalanche safety, and group level risk management. This stuff is highly technical and the consequences of poor decision making can range from a wet, tired, struggle day to tragedy.

Bluebird skinning at King Pine, NH

I intended to use my resort skiing primarily as training for the backcountry and at the same time I was definitely not interested in paying exorbitant lift ticket fees. I’m the sort that wants to skin up with a backpack all day and hardly go inside. Call it a matter of pride, style, specificity, or financial feasibility.

Lucky for me there’s the New England Uphill Pass!

https://www.uphillnewengland.org/

For roughly the price of a single weekend day pass, you can AT ski at 20 different mountains across New England including some really high quality resorts. There is an awesome AT community here and the good folks at Uphill New England are doing great things.

If you choose to AT ski under this pass, please take the time to read and adhere to each resort’s specific uphill travel policies. This is a great privilege that makes it possible for people to go out solo and get after it!

Skin to ski transition by last light at King Pine, NH

I did my first AT laps at King Pine in New Hampshire, focusing on my clothing system, making efficient transitions, and skiing challenging runs. After a couple days at King Pine I moved on up the road to Cranmore where I made my first 1000+ ft laps. I also spent a day on Berkshire East in MA during adverse conditions. At this point I was comfortable AT skiing 3k+ ft in 4 to 6 hours, descending mostly “black diamond” runs.

My climbing partner D had also started ski touring last year and we arranged to meet up with a trio of his friends to head up into the iconic Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington. We would skin up the TR trail and transition to boot packing at the Hermit Lake Hut then climb up into the ravine as far as we dared before ski descending via the Sherburne Ski Trail.

Tuckerman Ravine Tour – 6 hr, 7.2 mi, 2400 ft ascent with ski descent

The party was 5 in total including D and myself. We gathered up in the Pinkham Notch Lodge, quite a happening place on a February Saturday morning. After introductions, organizing gear, and beacon checks we set off skinning up the trail.

D and I took it a bit easier than the more experienced group, chatting and catching up with life. The skinning felt within my capability and we even successfully took a proper bushwhack detour around a stuck snow cat. We kept up the steady effort and reached Hermit Lake with time to spare.

Approaching the mighty Tuckerman Ravine

At the hut we took a break for food and water, packed our ski’s on our backs, then set off on crampons toward the ravine. The growing view of this massive feature and the feeling of moving through the mountains with other strong, capable people had me pretty fired up. I ended up taking the lead through much of the snow climbing of the “little head-wall”.

We stopped on the floor of the ravine to discuss our lines, snow conditions, and our plan for descent. I saw what looked like a good natural spot for the transition and made that my goal. I set off climbing the firm snow and pretty quickly made it up to my planned spot.

I broke out a small shelf in the slope that made me feel comfortable to take off my pack and get down to business. The transition was smooth, putting on my downhill ski first and stuffing the crampons. Those who had climbed up higher dropped first; when my chance came I slipped out on to the fall line and focused hard as I committed to the first turn.

The skiing felt steep but manageable, in total I got 4-6 good turns on the face and carried on down into the drainage that joins the Sherburne trail. The Sherburne was more at my level but still felt a bit difficult. I ended up taking my first ejecting fall on the Sherb, jabbing the tip of my ski into a bump. I recovered quickly and set back off down the trail, skiing alternately with D as we kept in contact with each other.

We made it back down to Pinkham and went our separate ways. I felt pretty worked and made it a point to stretch, eat, and get into bed early. The plan for the next day would be something a bit more laid back.

Mt. Washington Cog-way Tour – 2.3 hr, 3.5 mi, 2000 ft ascent with ski descent

The next morning we assembled at the Mt. Washington Cog base station with the intent of touring up alongside the tracks as far as possible before making a ski descent. The Cog is a specially modified locomotive that climbs a rib of Mt. Washington all the way to the summit.

We knew that snow was in the forecast and light snow was falling as we gathered equipment and did a beacon check. Setting off up the skin track, we were excited about the fresh snow and the skinning was relatively easy.

At the Waumbek hut we took off packs and had a food and water break. The snow was falling steadily and we had encountered a mountaineering party who were descending after meeting with white-out conditions near the summit. I could tell that D wasn’t feeling good and he decided to descend on his own from this point.

The remaining four of us geared up for the heavier conditions above and decided to push on. As we moved upwards with purpose I really felt like part of the team, each of us totally locked in and watching out for each other. Knowing I was certainly the weakest skier of the group I was keeping a close eye on the terrain I would have to descend.

We started to break into the alpine zone and the skinning was definitely becoming more difficult. The terrain was also becoming steeper and narrowing. On the skiers left would be rocks and the Cog trellis, to the right would be a drop down the steep, forested wall of Burt Ravine.

Lunch Break in Fresh snow on the Cogway

Eventually we reached a rock garden that we did not want to ski through in the low visibility conditions. We decided to duck under the tracks here and make our transition to skiing. The transition was smooth and everyone was ready in a few minutes. We all dropped in sequence, enjoying the fresh snow.

The first ~ 500 ft of skiing was pretty engaging, keeping things under control on the narrow line. In what felt like my main screw-up of the trip, I took a non-eject fall here, sliding out on my hip/butt in a poorly initiated turn.

The fall shook me up a bit but at the same time I could feel I was “warming-up” and skiing better. By the time I reached the more mellow terrain below I was skiing pretty fast and really enjoying my turns.

We took a quick break for lunch sheltered behind one of the train cars, waving and whooping for the passengers riding the Cog. I had the distinct feeling that to these civilized tourists we must appear like an exotic species native to the mountain; deeply specialized in our evolutionary niche, fully engaged with our environment of rock and snow.