After years of chasing lift lines and powder days at some of the world’s most iconic ski resorts, I’m finally venturing beyond the ropes and into the world of backcountry ski touring. It feels like a natural evolution after so many seasons of alpine skiing at places like Palisades Tahoe, Jackson Hole, Chamonix, Val d’Isère, St. Anton, Breckenridge, Snowbird, and Verbier. Each of these destinations has shaped my love for skiing, steep chutes, deep snow, and endless laps, but lately, I’ve found myself looking beyond the resort boundaries toward the untouched lines I can only reach on my own two feet.
Photo: https://www.chamonix-guides.com/en
A big part of this shift comes from my passion for mountain biking. There’s something about grinding up a long climb, earning every foot of elevation, and then flowing down singletrack that has always resonated with me. The rhythm, the speed, the sense of flow, it’s addictive.
Backcountry skiing offers a similar kind of satisfaction, the slow and steady glide up through quiet forests or open bowls, followed by the thrill of dropping into fresh snow that’s never seen another set of tracks. It’s the same spirit as biking the trails, just with skis instead of wheels.
Photo: https://www.engelbergmountainguide.ch/
Even though I’ve spent countless days exploring resort terrain, some of my favorite spots like the Headwall at Palisades Tahoe or the Hoback's at Jackson have always hinted at something greater just beyond the ropes. Chamonix and Val d’Isère in the Alps take that feeling to another level, with legendary off-piste zones that merge seamlessly into the high alpine. St. Anton and Verbier have that same appeal as they are playgrounds for advanced skiers, but they also serve as gateways to vast, untouched backcountry terrain. Once you start noticing those untracked faces in the distance, it’s hard to stop wondering what it would take to get there.
Photo: https://www.chamonix-guides.com/en
That curiosity is what’s driving me now. Of course, stepping into the backcountry means new gear and new skills. I’ve started putting together my setup: an alpine touring (AT) rig with pin bindings, climbing skins, and telescoping poles. Avalanche safety gear is a must, beacon, shovel, and probe and I’m planning on taking an avalanche awareness course before my first real mission.
I’ve also been eyeing the Tecnica Zero G Tour Scout boots, lightweight, stiff enough for solid descents, but built for long uphill pushes. It’s a totally different toolkit from what I’ve used on the lifts, but that’s part of the excitement.
Tecnica Zero G Scout
The idea of earning my turns, exploring remarkable mountain zones away from the crowds and merging my love for skiing and trail exploration feels like a new chapter in my time on snow. Resorts will always have a place in my heart, the camaraderie, the chairlift banter and of course the slopeside après scenes, but there’s something deeply rewarding about the idea of setting off into the backcountry with just a partner, a plan, and a map of untouched terrain.
The Alps have long been home to some of the most legendary routes in ski mountaineering — the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt and the Urner Haute Route, also know as "the skier's Haute Route" across central Switzerland. Both represent the ultimate expression of earning your turns: linking glaciated valleys, remote huts, and high alpine passes under your own power. Just reading trip reports or tracing their lines on a map feels like an open invitation to take skiing beyond the lifts and into pure exploration.
This season, the mission is simple: take everything I’ve learned on the slopes, pair it with the endurance mindset from mountain biking, and see what lies beyond the resort. If the view from the top is anything like I imagine, this could be the start of a whole new kind of adventure.