What Is Off-Piste Skiing?

Off-Piste Skiing Tips

• Take a lesson: Whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or even an expert, ski lessons are a solid way to take your skills to the next level. Skiing as much as possible will slowly improve your ability to navigate the mountain, but having someone watch you ski and critique your form can expedite this process.
• Ensure your ski boots fit: On groomed, gentle runs, the fit of a ski boot isn't particularly important. However, in thick, heavy snow — or icy moguls — poor-fitting boots can become a problem, as off-piste skiing requires more precision and deft edge control. So, consider checking in at a ski shop to see how your current boots fit. If they're loose and uncomfortable, it might be time for an upgrade before you tackle more challenging off-piste terrain.
• Try wider skis: When it comes to off-piste skiing, wider, longer skis are typically the way to go. While fun on groomers, narrow front-side carvers will suffer when they encounter mixed snow. Mid-width "all mountain" skis are a good place to start when considering an upgrade, as they strike a balance between on and off-piste skiing and serve a wide variety of skiers.

What Is Backcountry Skiing?

Backcountry skiing is any skiing that takes place outside of avalanche-controlled ski resort boundaries. Climbing up and skiing a mountain in a National Park? That's backcountry. So is shredding a snow-covered hill near town.

If you're interested in backcountry skiing, there are a few boxes you need to tick before traveling into the mountains outside ski resorts — each winter, on average, more than 100 skiers and backcountry travelers are killed by avalanches:

• Get trained: Organizations throughout North America and the world provide avalanche training courses at varying levels. These classes teach aspiring backcountry skiers how to read the snowpack and, in the case of an avalanche, rescue their ski partners quickly. The basics of avalanche safety are relatively simple, but truly understanding how avalanches work and react to changing weather conditions can take years, if not decades.
• Get the gear: A beacon, shovel, and probe are mandatory pieces of equipment for backcountry skiing. The beacon sends out signals that can be used to find someone buried under an avalanche, while the probe is used to pierce the snow to make sure you're in the right spot before you start digging up a lost partner. The shovel is used to remove the piles of snow that form after avalanches.
• Learn to read avalanche forecasts: Avalanche centers issue forecasts that explain the avalanche danger for any given day or week. These forecasts are a vital tool and are relied upon by backcountry skiers everywhere. To stay safe, ensure you can digest and use your local avalanche forecast. Entering the backcountry without checking the avalanche forecast would be like getting behind the wheel of a plane blindfolded.

What Is Sidecountry?

Sidecountry is a convoluted term that, in many cases, describes backcountry areas easily accessible from a ski resort's boundaries. The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) now encourages the media and public not to use the phrase because, in their words, it "creates a false sense of safety" because "'sidecountry' is analogous to 'backcountry' in that it refers to terrain that is neither patrolled nor mitigated for avalanches."

To the NSAA — and others — sidecountry is backcountry with all the associated risks.

There is a wrinkle, though. Some resorts do have areas that blur the boundary between resort skiing and backcountry skiing. Alpental, Washington's Back Bowls, for instance, can only be accessed by skiers with avalanche rescue gear and a special pass. This zone, according to the resort, "is not managed or controlled for avalanches to the same extent as terrain in the developed ski area."

Terrain networks like the Back Bowls could also fall under the sidecountry umbrella, as they almost — but not quite — qualify as backcountry skiing. Alpental itself calls the Back Bowls "sidecountry."

What should you do with that admittedly confusing information? If you stumble across a gate at a ski resort, don't waltz through without asking a local or ski patroller about safety procedures first. It may lead into a controlled, relatively safe area — or it might lead directly into the backcountry where hazards like uncontrolled avalanche terrain exist. As always, know before you go.