Alpine Touring/Ski Mountaineering

As the snow started falling in Colorado (that would be back in September, actually), the mountains started calling with a new line- Come Ski!!! In a previous life, back when Ryan and I first started dating in college, our adventures consisted of ski trips to various east coast resorts. Skiing was our 'thing'. The lack of good skiing in Michigan, paired with our new found love of other endurance sports, put a damper on that hobby for over 6 years. Even as we moved to Colorado, we both sort of forgot about how much we used to love skiing. That is, until Ryan read that all of his favorite European ultra-runners do Alpine touring, or Ski mountaineering (SkiMo) in the winter!

So what is Alpine touring? It is regular 'alpine-style' (read: downhill) skiing, without the lifts! It is a combination of running up a hill, then skiing back down it! I had no idea this sport existed until a few months ago! And how does this magic happen? It is all in the binding. There are a few companies now that make bindings that can switch from 'Touring' mode, to 'Downhill' mode. In touring mode, your heal is not attached to the ski, giving you plenty of lift, like a typical nordic, or cross-country ski. When you get to the top of the mountain, you switch the binding to Downhill mode, and it locks your heal in place, allowing you to ski downhill just like you would at a resort. Additionally, the binding has optional heal lift, so it isn't as difficult to skin up really steep slopes.

Uphill skiing!

The other crucial piece of gear to make this all work is the 'Skin'. The skin is a piece of fabric that is typically made with a combination of mohair and nylon on one side, with a sticky adhesive on the other, that binds to the bottom of the ski. This allows the ski to have grip on the snow when 'skinning' uphill. At the top of the mountain, you take the skin off of the bottom of your skis, stow it away in your pack, then enjoy the ride back down!

Skins attached to the bottom of my skis

Taking the skin off at the top of the mountain

There were a few reasons we quickly became enamored with this sport:
1. Once you buy the gear, the lift ticket = free
2. Endurance training without the harsh impact of running!
3. We actually love skiing!
4. We get to play in the mountains all year long
5. We kind of like new gear
6. We can ski with Cody!!

I love gear

Cody loves skiing too!

The great part about investing in this ski set up is that you can actually still use it at the resort. Depending on the exact ski set up you get, it may be a little tougher on groomed trails, since a lot of these skis are designed to be light and handle powder well, but as long as your heal is in the binding, you could take those silly lifts if you wanted to. If you were interested in skiing at a resort without paying for a lift ticket, most resorts in Colorado allow skinning uphill for free!

Free skiing

We have explored a few areas in the Front Range so far, and our favorite is Berthoud Pass. It used to be a ski resort, but closed down in 2001. It gets a lot of snow, and with no traffic, is only an hour from our house. There are lots of options to ski, including a very nice, easy route that starts and ends at the car and has very little avalanche danger. I hope to do write ups very soon of the places we have explored- so stay tuned!

Perfect skin tracks

The downside to this new sport is Mother Nature. Colorado is very prone to avalanches, since the terrain is steep and there is a lot of snow. Unfortunately avalanches take about a half-dozen lives every year. Since buying our skis in December, 2 backcountry skiers/snowboarders have already died. We are acutely aware of the risks we are taking. We took a class on how to make better decisions about putting ourselves in danger, and now have the appropriate avalanche gear- beacon, shovel and probe. Neither of us are extreme skiers, so the routes we choose are typically at a low angle, which means the risk of an avalanche is a lot lower.

If you look closely, you can see the avalanche section

Ryan and I bought our skis at Christmas and have been able to ski almost a dozen times already!! Here is a video of our first adventure out, before we even purchased our own! I loved these skis so much that I bought my own.