Skiing Yellowstone’s Backcountry
Why would you hike up a mountain just to ski down when you could ride a chairlift to accomplish the same thing with a lot less bother? As an 80-year-old backcountry ski guide in Yellowstone National Park, let me explain.
As active seniors, we all know the benefits of maintaining a vigorous, active lifestyle, particle in a natural outdoor setting. Combine that with skiing truly untracked powder – and there you have it. Any backcountry ski adventure can be rewarding, but skiing Yellowstone’s backcountry is beyond rewarding – it’s magical.
Yellowstone is the wildest landscape remaining in the contiguous US, and in fact, one of the few fully intact temperate zone ecosystems on the planet. Combine that with the rich cultural history of the world’s first National Park, and what more could you ask? Oh yeah, how about setting tracks in pristine snow that might not see another skier the entire season.
Here are some tips to transition from a polished resort skier to a backcountry adventurer.
Backcountry Skiing
With modern BC equipment, the skiing skills we already have seamlessly transition to the backcountry, but that leaves two issues – fitness required to climb a mountain and dealing with the objective risk of skiing in a wild, unmanaged setting. As seniors who maintain an active lifestyle, we are already positioned to transfer aerobic fitness from these other activities to backcountry skiing. Fortunately, skinning up a mountain is exactly the type of conditioning required to – skin up a mountain. A great way to get in shape and connect with nature.
As far as risk, it’s a tradeoff. Swap a resort with squadrons of unguided missiles for an unmanaged environment where misidentifying a safe travel route could end badly. No way would I trade the antiquated long narrow, straight skinny skis and leather boots I learned to telemark on for today’s light in-bounds gear. But the old days had the advantage of a long, slow learning curve spent with knowledgeable friends and learning safe downhill skills by osmosis.
Today with modern gear, the siren call is to immediately jump into challenging terrain, that coincidently, also holds high objective risk. As legendary avalanche guru, Bruce Tremper, is fond of saying, “The trouble with learning backcountry skills on your own is that the final exam might come before the introductory lecture.”
Such objective risk might be the single greatest barrier to a senior skier interested in venturing beyond resort boundaries. The question becomes, how do you mitigate this concern? Of course, learning backcountry travel in the company of experienced friends is an option, but you had better trust them.
As a skiing partner of mine would say, “You can be friends with anyone you want in the bar, but you had better choose your friends wisely in the backcountry.”
Gradually stepping into the ‘side-country’ is also an option. Many resorts allow uphill travel, a great conditioning tool and a good way to become familiar with backcountry gear, hone your uphill technique, and make similar-minded friends. Backcountry guiding has also blossomed in the past few years.
Long a European tradition, there are many qualified backcountry guiding services, like Yellowstone Ski Tours, the outfit I work for. Others include licensed backcountry guides from Big Sky and from Jackson Hole, the two major downhill resorts closest to Yellowstone National Park.
Jesse Logan skis more than 100 days a year in the backcountry in the NE corner of Yellowstone National Park. He has guided backcountry skiers for a decade and enjoys skiing with anyone wishing to broaden their backcountry experience to include the rich natural and cultural history of the world’s first National Park.
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It’s great to see this article, partly as an 80+ year old and partly as a former winter guide in Yellowstone. Jesse sounds like a helluva guy and guide!
So encouraging to hear of those in their 80’s still living their best life. What an inspiration for us all!!
I used to lead xc trips to Yellowstone in the 80-90’s and would always include a back country tour out of Cooke City. Easy access and incredible skiing.
I should do this again!!