Backcountry skiing is growing in popularity, but experts warn it’s more dangerous than you think
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When 19th-century California naturalist John Muir famously said, “The mountains are calling and I must go,” he couldn’t possibly have imagined slushy parking lots crowded with Teslas and short tempers, or bars selling $15 beers.
The allure — some would say the siren song — of the backcountry is the absence of everything resorts represent.
But backcountry skiing isn’t for the faint of heart. If anything goes wrong, there’s no one there to help, cell service is spotty, at best, and even if you can make a call, help might take hours to reach you.
And then there’s the risk of an avalanche.
In the last decade, at least 234 people in the U.S. have been killed by avalanches — the vast majority in the backcountry, according to data compiled by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the U.S. Forest Service. Some victims were hikers and snowmobilers, but more than half were skiers. Reporter Jack Dolan says that’s a shocking number given how small the community of hardcore backcountry skiers is.
The allure — some would say the siren song — of the backcountry is the absence of everything resorts represent.
But backcountry skiing isn’t for the faint of heart. If anything goes wrong, there’s no one there to help, cell service is spotty, at best, and even if you can make a call, help might take hours to reach you.
And then there’s the risk of an avalanche.
In the last decade, at least 234 people in the U.S. have been killed by avalanches — the vast majority in the backcountry, according to data compiled by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the U.S. Forest Service. Some victims were hikers and snowmobilers, but more than half were skiers. Reporter Jack Dolan says that’s a shocking number given how small the community of hardcore backcountry skiers is.
