Author: Andrew Ross

Show don’t tell—a glade skiing maxim.

Years ago, I came across a few photos of what appeared to be the perfect Northeast backcountry glade. Its balsams and birch trees were spaced so wide it looked like you could carve giant slalom turns between them, and the understory was totally clear—a rare treat in the tangled second-growth forests of New England. In a word, it looked like a tree skier’s Nirvana. I knew I had to try to ski it.