And There Is No Such Thing As Being A Little Bit Dead.

Yesterday we rode the chairlift with a bozo. Okay. Maybe he wasn’t a bozo. Maybe he was just clueless. All the way up he yapped about his skiing prowess. And near the top he phoned home to give his wife his location. “She worries about me,” he said.

She should worry. He planned to duck under the boundary rope and make some turns in the deep, unspoiled powder beyond.

“Take your avy gear,” we said.

“Don’t need it. It’s in the car. I’m just doing side country,” he said.

Somehow he missed hearing that there is no such thing as side country.

The term “side country” hit the scene a few years ago, and it was quickly squelched by the ski industry’s leading avalanche experts, snow science experts, the U.S. Forest Service, ski area risk managers, mountain patrollers and others. It was likely a marketing brainchild used to promote the newest boots and powder-specific skis and boards.

The term had obvious appeal to intermediate and advanced skiers and riders. They could buy the latest gear and try their skills beyond the rope line thinking it would be okay. They could be a little bit naughty.

But the ski industry took a stance saying you’re either within a resort or else you’re in the unmonitored, ruthless back country. You’re either in bounds or you’re out of bounds. There’s nothing in between. There is no such thing as side country. There is no such thing as “kinda” out of bounds.

“We all must focus on educating skiers and snowboarders that backcountry terrain accessed from a ski lift has the same risks as any other back country or out-of-bounds area,” says the National Ski Area Association.

Later in the day I caught the TV news. A skier died after being caught in an avalanche. The avalanche occurred in the very out of bounds area where a guy— with too much macho and too little knowledge—went to ski. There’s no such thing as side country.

There’s no such thing as being a little bit dead.