A serene tour in mid-winter light.
How do those new to backcountry touring perceive the endeavor? Forbidding? Extreme? Serene? LA Times reporter Jack Dolan wrote about the topic recently and he’s our guest on the podcast.
There’s something a bit different on today’s episode. It all started back in March when I Googled a general term like “backcountry skiing in the news.”
A February article from the LA Times was indexed. The piece was by LA Times writer Jack Dolan, and it was titled: “Backcountry skiing is growing in popularity, but experts warn it’s more dangerous than you think.”
Dolan wrote a story and included an accompanying video. I’d give the video a watch if you’ve got a moment before listening to the podcast, as it provides some context for the episode during which I interview Dolan. The video is linked in the show notes and on The High Route website.
For some skiers and boarders, backcountry touring begins when they realize lift-serve skiing is either too expensive, too crowded, or a combo of the two. Dolan says in the video that a day at an area can feel “like a Day at Disneyland, not the Great Outdoors.”
About 30 seconds into the video, the piece pivots from images of skiers in a way-too-long lift line to serene images of powder skiing on some sun-kissed backcountry mountain slope. Yes, the backcountry.
A minute into the video, the tone changes. The music becomes more intense, and we learn, through Dolan’s careful language, that ski areas are what we already know, somewhat curated and controlled mountainscapes.
Soon enough, Dolan begins to explore snow instabilities and avalanches. Topics you are likely aware of if you are a regular THR reader or listener.
The combination of the music, the narrative, and the images, at least to me, presents a forbidding vibe. A vibe so intense that I came away from the video thinking, “Why do I partake in backcountry touring?”
Mine is just one perspective, I get that Dolan’s is another.
After asking myself this somewhat rhetorical question, I then found myself asking, why would anyone half interested in backcountry touring want to try the endeavor after seeing the LA Time’s video: certainly, some enticing moments in the video capture what most of us seek in the backcountry, but if one word can surmise what I was seeing: that word is scary.
More to the point, what I saw in the video seemed dissonant from 99% of my backcountry time. Which isn’t and wasn’t scary at all, but rather, blissful, cleansing, and frankly, great for my mental health.
I suppose, if the general public does a somewhat casual search of the backcountry scene, what populates, most often, is the more extreme: the steep selfy-stick lines, the avalanche incidents, the heroes and heroines dancing along spines, or the way-to-close snap and crack of a weak layer that then cascades to the left as the snowboarder sweeps to the right—all by design.
Maybe the algorithm selects for extreme over serene.
I’ll preface the interview with Dolan by stating that backcountry touring can be dangerous. But, it can also be super safe, outside the possibility of twisting a knee or breaking a bone, which, for that matter, is something that can happen on any sports field or mountain bike trail. Or city street.
Part of my motivation for reaching out to Dolan had more to do with explaining that touring can be the opposite of forbidding. And that it’s ok and not a ton of work to ski or ride very mellow terrain on any given day. Which is what most of us do anyway.
So, in the episode, we get a beginner’s perspective on backcountry touring. We should note, as you’ll learn, Dolan is no stranger to taking calculated risks.
Thanks for listening, and have a good day,
The High Route Team.
