Backcountry skiing in the Dolomites with your local IFMGA mountain guide

As a mountain guide, I offer also ski touring weeks in the Lofoten Islands, allowing enthusiasts to explore the breathtaking Arctic landscape with expert guidence. More details can be found here.

Good to know: the meaning of different types of snow and equipment

Just watching the snowfall fills each ski tourer heart with positive thoughts. The anticipation of the next backcountry ski tour increrases. It’s high time to study the tour map and check the weather stations. The next outdoor adventure is taking shape!

It hardly seems credible, but in terms of safety, the more snow the better for each ski tour. The weight of the snow has, amongst other things, a positive effect on the snow profile

Powder snow or fresh snow:

Sometimes fresh new snow makes every descent in deep snow easier. Even inexperienced skiers will find good opportunities to draw a good line in the snow. It’s not just the snowflakes that fall softly, we ski tourers also fall softly when a set turn doesn’t fit in powder snow. In the best conditions, even up to 30 cm of fresh snow can be harmless for the avalanche situation. Great pictures, wonderful snow-covered forests and good memories round off the day in the white.

Blowing snow

The wind is the master builder of avalanches. That’s why we ski tourers hate it like the plague. Firstly, it has the ability to press loose snow into each other and thus create unfavorable snow cover situations. Secondly, the crystals carried by the wind hurt your face. Not a good deal! Drifting snow can also settle with the sun’s rays. As a result, after a few days, the situation can become friendly again for us winter freaks.

These snow drifts are accompanied by sastrugi, cornices and snow dunes. Experienced ski tourers can read the wind direction from them.

Harsch

The longer the day and the stronger the sunlight (or wind), the more intense the effect on our beloved snow cover. As a result, the uppermost layers of a snow cover tend to melt. The low temperatures of the night cause them to freeze again and form a hard, thin layer of small crystals on the surface. The snowflake has lost its wonderful ramifications. What remains is a layer that is often unsupportable for us ski tourers (broken snow). We break in, our wedeling becomes laborious. A proper downhill style, wide skis and strength can save us to some extent. Hopefully we will find better conditions at lower altitudes and in the forest.

Firn

Firn is the old brother of hard snow. A friendly companion if you choose the right time of day for the descent. Still frozen hard in the early morning (spring), it can soften in the late morning and support the descent with wonderful conditions. At the beginning of the sport of ski touring, tours were almost exclusively carried out in just such conditions. An early start, good tour planning, reaching the summit at the right time and with the right amount of sunlight on the downhill slope is as enjoyable as on the ski slopes. In addition, the risk of avalanches is reduced to a minimum.

Lazy snow

Lazy snow is a gritty, coarse-grained affair. You will come across it if you are out and about too late in the spring. The firn continues to rise and you sink deeper and deeper into the snow cover. The pleasant, easy to ski on melted firn layer several centimetres deep has left us. The danger of avalanches is now increasing rapidly.

The lunch aperitif had to wait too long for our sunburnt faces.

Wild snow (Champaign Powder)

We Alpine Europeans rarely get to experience real wild snow. It forms at the coldest temperatures from moisture in the air and trickles down to the ground. A similar variant could be blown snow deposited in wind-protected gullies. It is small-grained and fluffy. Fun to ski in!

Ski touring skis

Now we are tackling a really diverse and extensive topic. That means 1000 people, 1000 opinions and possibilities.

As a recommendation, as a golden mean, I nevertheless recommend the following. A touring ski should have between 88-98mm in the center of the ski and weigh between 1300gr. and 1500gr. per ski. I would set the length up to your height.
With longer models, which may be more than your height, there are again problems with the hairpin turns. This is not conducive to ascents in spring, in tough conditions, on steep terrain and costs additional energy. With models that are too short, on the other hand, the skier needs a lot of balance to control the ski. Short or very long skis, only for advanced and good skiers.

Ski touring bindings

„According to me, the ski touring binding systems are somewhat simpler. A descent in powder snow is generally forgiving of minor errors in stance and power transmission via the binding systems. In broken snow, however, the situation is somewhat different. However, here too, the normal ski tourer will never reach the maximum loads of professionals. That’s why I advocate classic pin bindings with stoppers (weight 300-500gr.). Closed on the ascent and open on the descent, I have never had any problems with the binding opening on its own on the descent.
I personally don’t need a heavy frame freeride binding with a camber release value, I prefer to focus on technique training.

Ski touring boots

The ski touring boot should have a certain stability, i.e. not be too light.
In my opinion, however, the shape of the foot takes precedence over the brand. Try, try and try again, eventually one will fit. You’ll feel it immediately. Sore feet spoil every ski safari.

Crampons

The crampon is a climbing aid in hard frozen snow and works in much the same way as a crampon on skis. This curved “thing” made of hardened aircraft aluminum is guaranteed to be in your backpack next to your bivy sack in autumn. They are available in any size and for any binding and ski.