Author: Alex Lee

Backcountry Skiing: Thoughts on Getting Started

Over the past decade, the backcountry boom has flooded trailheads, skin tracks, and gear shops alike with a deluge of enthusiasm from newcomers to ski touring. COVID amplified this but has been a long time coming. The sticker shock of a day pass at your local resort, slow and steady gear innovation and accessibility, ever increasing beta availability, and social media have all paved the way for more folks to get into the backcountry for the first time.

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Life Happens: Becoming a Ski Dad

I skied every week of the winter, and yeah, I slid down plenty of vert on skis, and of course, I set my share of skin tracks, enjoyed plenty of ridge top time, and sucked cold air through a buff with snow flying in my face…Fine, maybe I have to concede I skied a lot this year, but it was different. I didn’t get any big days in the backcountry. I didn’t venture off into the big mountains. My summits were all familiar. I never slept in a tent in the snow. I skied no dawn-to-dusk ‘full days.’

My daughter was born last fall. Along with a myriad of major and wonderful life changes, I am becoming a ski dad. 

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