All about Off-piste

Skiing off piste offers some of the most memorable experiences on snow: the exhilaration of untouched powder, the solitude and beauty of the mountains, and a glowing feeling of self-reliance and achievement. At some point every skier begins to feel limited by the terrain offered by groomed runs, and tempted by the expanses of snow off piste.

Whilst everyone from strong intermediate up can enjoy skiing off piste, you must be aware of your limitations, and avoid being over-ambitious. Here you will find information on the precautions you should take before leaving the marked runs, and introduces the techniques needed to cope with the conditions you are likely to encounter.

Off-piste or back-country skiing should never be undertaken without caution and respect for the mountains. Never venture off-piste without planning and unless you know exactly what you are doing, use a guide.

See also our extensive guide to avalanches and how to avoid them.

If you leave the marked pistes, it is assumed that you know what you're doing - and you do it at your own risk.

• Make sure you are allowed to leave the marked runs. In certain areas, especially in North America, back-country skiing is restricted in order to protect important wilderness nature reserves. If you ignore signs, you risk a heavy fine and/or the confiscation of your lift pass.
• Never ski off piste alone. Unless you are really familiar with the route, take an experienced guide. Simply following a set of tracks is no guarantee of safety: conditions change rapidly in the mountains, and the author of the tracks may have been a much stronger skier than yourself - or lost.
• Before setting out, make sure that you are familiar with the resort and the conditions. Routes alter with the seasons and the weather: an enjoyable gully in February might be a roaring torrent in April.
• Make sure that you are aware of the level of avalanche danger and check the weather forecast: being caught off piste in fog or in a blizzard is extremely dangerous.
• If you are venturing into terrain where there may be avalanche danger, make sure you are properly equipped. Each member of the group should carry a working transceiver and you should have at least two collapsible shovels between you. If you are in any doubt about how to use this equipment, you should be skiing with a guide.
• Before you set out, always let someone know where you are going, and agree with them what to do if you don't return by a specified time.
• Plan your path to avoid walking uphill as much as possible.
• Learn to read the terrain: gentle dips in the snow could hide streams or even crevasses; suspicious bumps could be rocks or tree stumps.
• Make sure your insurance policy covers off-piste skiing. In some countries you will be charged the cost of recovery if you need to be helicoptered out, which doesn't come cheap.

Powder

Powder: the skier's nirvana.

Powder is the skier's magic word. It is fresh snow which has not yet been skied or affected by sun or warmth. Good powder is dry, creaks when you step on it, hisses when you ski on it, sprays in a fine dust at speed and gives you the experience of a lifetime.

For many skiers, learning to ski powder is the holy grail of skiing. It can, however, be an elusive goal, and many skiers give up after a few frustrating wrestling bouts with the formless white enemy. It need not be like this.

For a start you should never be intimidated by less than 20cm of snow (more if the snow is very light). Up to this depth, your body weight is still largely carried by the firm snow below the powder. No dazzling new technique is needed. Difficulties can arise because the smoothness and sound absorption of the powder dulls the feedback you expect from your skis. Moreover, the psychological effect of not being able to see your skis can be unnerving. The secret is to ski normally, tune in to the sensations in your feet, and stay strong, in other words don't let the powder pull your feet apart or trip you.

Once you get into deeper snow, the rules of the game change. You no longer have a firm surface under your skis, and the key is to get used to the feeling of floating on a cushion of powder. This, of course, takes time and experience.

Exercise

Experiment with your stance until you feel comfortable in powder		Don't sit too far back

Platform Turn

The easiest way to ski powder is to use platform unweighting. As you finish each turn, you allow pressure to build under your skis, forming a firm platform. From this base you can up-unweight and begin your next turn.

As you finish each turn, anticipate the next by flexing down. Apply pressure through your heels to form a platform under your skis.	Plant your pole and extend to up-unweight.
Steer your skis into the fall line	Continue to steer your skis, finishing the turn fully to regulate your speed.

Compression Turn

Finish each turn by extending and pushing down through your heels to regulate your speed				As the pressure builds under your heels, allow your legs to flex, bringing your skis to the surface
Steer your skis into the fall line				Extend your legs, pushing your heels into the snow once again to regulate your speed

A more elegant and less strenuous technique than up-unweighting is the compression turn. This doesn't involve projecting the whole body out of the snow to initiate the turn: instead the skis are brought to the surface by retracting the legs.

Skiing powder in this way is very similar to skiing big, rounded moguls: only here you let the build-up of pressure from the powder compress your legs up under you, instead of the mogul (hence the name). This is the most elegant way to ski powder and certainly the most sensuous. Such a good word, that - sensuous.

Conditions

All powder is not created equal. At higher temperatures, the moisture content of the fresh snow rises. The snowflakes stick together and pack densely. Instead of throwing up a fine spray as you ski, large lumps are detached. Turning is hard work. The best technique to adopt is platform unweighting. Exaggerate the unweighting by punching with the outside hand and thrusting your feet forwards. Even heavy powder can lift your spirits
Porridge "Two days before I showed up, they had epic powder. Now they have epic oatmeal" - The legendary Two Budha of rec.skiing.alpine	Porridge: this is unfortunately not the smooth, creamy oats dish, but heavy, wet snow with lumps. It is either fresh snow which has fallen above freezing point or been rained on, or older melting rubbish. If not too deep, it can be skied in the same way as slush. Otherwise, as with heavy powder, the only solution is to try platform unweighting. Porridge requires a lot of brute force, and since it is the cause of many late afternoon accidents it is sometimes known as leg-breaker snow.
Crud After a fall of powder, you will rarely be the only skier on the mountain. Ultimately, every powder slope ends up crisscrossed by tracks, and the resulting surface can be a difficult one to ski. One moment, your skis are slowed by the resistance of powder; the next, they shoot out into someone's old tracks. You try as long as possible to pretend that you are still skiing powder, but at some point you have to admit it: you are skiing crud. Look ahead and concentrate on the approaching terrain. Stay balanced over your skis, and stay strong: do not let the patches of powder catch your legs and pull you off balance. Try using more speed than you would normally on a packed slope of the same steepness. This will make your skis plane through the remaining powder, evening out the surface. A fall shouldn't hurt.	Have fun in crud at higher speeds than you would normally contemplate.
Windblown Snow Wind ridges, called sastrugi, are evidence of high winds and warn of avalanche danger.	Windblown or windpacked snow is the result of a snow-fall accompanied by high winds. The wind action breaks up the flakes, allowing the snow to pack densely in a series of crusty ridges. Skiing windblown snow is rarely much fun and can be similar to skiing crust. Windblown snow also presents a strong avalanche danger, since slopes and cornices will be loaded and may release without warning.

Spring or corn snow

The only trick to skiing spring snow lies in the timing: arrive too early and you will be skiing on boiler-plate; stay too long, and your skis will sink into a melting layer of slush. Try south-facing slopes earlier in the morning, saving the north-facing slopes for later, once they have thawed somewhat.

Crust

Everyone who skis off piste will meet breakable crust at some point. It is what powder often turns into when the top level is repeatedly warmed and then refreezes. Like a creme caramel, it consists of a hard crust on top of a soft under-layer. If the crust is very thin, you can ignore it and ski on the snow beneath. If it is very thick, you can stay on top of it, and may even get spring skiing conditions. But between these extremes lies one of the most difficult and dangerous of surfaces. It will support you until you try to turn, at which point you break through.

The Soft Touch The first thing to try when you encounter crusty conditions is to avoid breaking through. If you can stay on the surface, you are in control and less likely to trip. Ski as smoothly as possible. Try not to use your edges. Keep your weight evenly on both skis. Use up and down motion to absorb shock.

Keep your weight evenly on both skis or you may find one breaks through...

The Jump Turn Sometimes the crust will be too thin to bear your weight, but too thick for you to ski normally. As its name suggests, a jump turn involves jumping your skis out of the snow, turning them in the air and landing with them in the new direction. It will often get you out of trouble. Jump turns are very hard work. All but the most fanatic of skiers have headed for the groomed slope or the café by now.

The Compression Turn

If you persist inskiingoff piste when the conditions are crusty, you had better perfect the compression turn. Finish each turn by extending and pushing your heels into the snow, breaking the crust strongly.

 

Flex your legs to bring your skis out from under the crust. This is the tricky bit - don't trip.	Steer your skis through the fall line.	Stay balanced as you finish the turn and your skis break through the crust once more.

The Cheat

When all else fails, you can always cheat. Interspersing long traverses with kick turns, you will always be able to get down. This is not very elegant, but is guaranteed to get you out of a nasty situation. Use a very shallow traverse to keep your speed down, and stop by performing a strong, slow uphill christie.

Cornices

Cornices are formed when snow is deposited on the lee side of a ridge by the wind. You can have a lot of fun with cornices, popping through small fresh ones from below, or dropping off larger ones onto a powdery landing. But never forget that they are dangerous. Even small cornices can consist of many tonnes of snow, and the slopes below them are frequently unstable wind slab. If you have to cross a cornice and you are at all unsure about its ability to hold you, you should be roped up.

Skiing below a cornice is very dangerous - the chances are you are on a wind slab waiting for the right moment to avalanche.

Cornices can be fun, but never underestimate their danger

Gullies

Skiing the very steep, also called extreme skiing, can be a lot of fun. It is more than just a technical challenge. The element of fear tests your concentration and nerve to the utmost, as you savour the exhilaration of hanging weightless between turns. The sense of achievement last for years. Very steep slopes can be found in most large resorts, though they may be quite hard to reach. Certain ski areas, such as Chamonix in France, Blackcomb in British Columbia and Jackson Hole in the American Rockies, have become famous for their steep skiing.

For your first attempts, you should look for a very short, open slope, not a long narrow gully. As you start to look further afield for steep skiing challenges, never forget that it is dangerous, and always take sensible precautions:

• Always go with someone who knows the slope.
• Never ski steep slopes under avalanche conditions.
• Never ski in big groups.
• Don't stand beneath other skiers.
• Don't be embarrassed to sidestep down, or back up
• Don't ever take friends unless you are sure they can cope.

Tips

• When you are airborne between turns, bend your knees to keep your tails from snagging on the slope behind you.
• On a really steep slope, you may have to jump off your uphill leg, as your downhill leg is already fully extended.
• If you fall and start to slide, use your poles to stop.
• If you get panicky, hold still for a while, breathe, sidestep down (do not side-slip).
• If a companion gets panicky, try to calm them down. Get them to stand still, then start to sidestep down if it is safe to do so. Do not leave them alone unless you are sure they will stay where they are. On a purely selfish note, do not stand beneath them.

Steep Turns

Use a strong edge set to form a platform under your skis. Plant your pole.	Jump out from slope to unweight, pushing off with your pole.
Rotate in the air, using your pole for balance.	Land and immediately set your edges to form the next platform.