5 Essential Tips for Safely Skiing in the Backcountry

Disclaimer: This is a beginner’s guide that aims, first and foremost, at awareness. It is not a substitute for training from an accredited guide. To make your first real step towards understanding backcountry safety, we highly recommend taking an AIARE 1 or AAI Level 1 course.

The backcountry looms large in the imagination of skiers everywhere. It’s beautiful, fearsome, and the last best place to score untouched snow. That latter part may be the backcountry’s biggest appeal, but to take advantage of the bounty, you have to know what you’re doing first. 

Why? Avalanches, mainly. These moving walls of snow can strike quickly, leaving skiers buried deep. Don’t let that deter you from taking the backcountry pill, though. It really is gorgeous out there—these are a few safety tips to help you get started. 

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1. Master Skiing First

If ski movies were your only source, you might think that in the backcountry, you’ll only find bottomless powder. On the right day, this is true. The backcountry, thanks to lesser skier traffic, isn’t typically populated with towering moguls.

Still, there’s a wide variety of snow in the backcountry, and some of it is deeply unpleasant to ski. Navigating these tough conditions, especially on lighter-weight backcountry skis, takes skill, and the pressure, at least compared to resort skiing, is on. Depending on how far you venture into the mountains, rescue could take hours. Ski patrol won’t be a chairlift ride away. Accidents and bad falls are best avoided altogether. 

Aside from avoiding avalanches, one key tenet of backcountry skiing is being a competent skier. That includes comfort in a wide variety of snow conditions and terrain. A black diamond trail at the resort, for instance, shouldn’t be daunting if you’re thinking about venturing into the backcountry. To get to this point, spend as long as you need building your ski skills on lift-served terrain. Enrolling in a lesson or two at the resort can help. 

2. Get Educated

Before you enter avalanche terrain, you should know what an avalanche is, how they work, and a few concrete ways to avoid getting caught in them. Some obtain this knowledge through osmosis by skiing with friends or mentors who already know the ropes. Entry-level avalanche courses provide an expedited path towards getting started.

The American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) provides an exhaustive list of upcoming AIARE 1 courses on its website. These classes are foundational, covering the basics of safe backcountry travel. Depending on where you live, recreational-level classes from the American Avalanche Institute (AAI) offer the same education opportunities.

They aren’t the only way to begin understanding avalanches, though. AIARE also offers an online jumping-off point, Avalanche Aware. This free hour-long, self-paced online class includes videos, expert commentary, and real-world examples—all useful reference points for the backcountry beginner. You could also consider online beginner courses taught by licensed mountain guides like Mark Smiley.

Hitting the books helps, too. Bruce Tremper, a foremost avalanche educator, has published two options to choose from. Now in its third edition, Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain is a 352-page bible. It’s thorough, well-written, and, somehow, makes learning about the sometimes dry intricacies of snow science entertaining. Tremper’s Avalanche Essentials takes the key points of Staying Alive and distills them. The book’s description calls it an “Everyman’s guide to avalanche safety that won’t overtax your average ski bums.”

Related: The 10 Best Backcountry Skiing Destinations in North America

3. Get the Gear

Backcountry equipment can be broken into two rough categories: avalanche safety gear and backcountry travel gear. 

These are the basics you’ll need to look into.

Avalanche Safety Gear

• Beacon: Avalanche beacons are used in burial situations. Flip one into “search” mode, and it can find another skier beneath the snow using radio signals, provided they’re wearing a transmitting beacon, too.

• Probe: Probes are thin aluminum tubes with a cord inside. They can be packed down and then quickly deployed to stab through the snow to pinpoint the location of a buried skier. Backcountry skiers use probes together with beacons. They each fill one niche in the multi-step search process.

• Shovel: Lightweight shovels are the final, self-explanatory piece of the puzzle, helping dig up the snow during a rescue.

• Avalanche Airbag: While not technically a rescue tool, avalanche airbags are another powerful tool to help skiers prevent getting buried in the first place. These specialized backpacks contain a large balloon that can be inflated by the skier if they are caught in an avalanche, keeping the skier afloat on the snow. They are not meant to be a replacement for a beacon, probe, and shovel, but are an extra insurance policy worth considering.

Related: Layering Basics for Backcountry Skiing

Backcountry Travel Equipment

• Touring bindings: There are several types of touring bindings on the market, but generally, they include a unique-looking toe piece with two prongs. These pins fit into the toe of a ski boot, allowing the skier to walk uphill without their heel engaged in the binding.

• Touring boots: Touring boots have little slots for those aforementioned prongs. They also usually have a “walk mode” that can be engaged. This increases the range of motion in the boot, making climbing uphill more comfortable.

• Skins: Skins affix to the bottom of your skis, letting them grip the snow. The materials used in skins allow them to slide in one direction—in this case, uphill—but not the other. At the top of a backcountry run, a skier will remove the skins from their skis, stow them in their pack, and slide back down the mountain. 

• Backpack: This sounds like a lot of gear, right? That’s where a backpack comes in. You’ll use it for snacks, water, and everything else you might need to play safely in the mountains.

These are the core elements of a backcountry skiing kit. Skiing, though, obviously involves loads more equipment, from helmets to comfy, waterproof pants. Many brands make backcountry-flavored versions of the gear you already use at the resort. Skis designed with touring in mind, for instance, weigh less and are easier to lug uphill. 

Customize Your Kit

Every backcountry skier has different goals, interests, and techniques. That extends to the equipment they bring along. Some carry extra ski straps for ad-hoc repairs when something breaks. Others toss binoculars or a compass in their pack. More technical backcountry ski trips might require advanced tools like ice axes, harnesses, and ski crampons. Your preferences will emerge after spending hours and days out of bounds, so don’t worry about assembling an eclectic collection of gear right away. With time, you’ll find what you like—or, maybe, it’ll find you.

4. Know Your Gear

Backcountry gear isn’t intuitive at first. The humble kick turn—the technique used to make uphill switchbacks zig or zag across the slope—regularly leaves beginners on their butt (and that’s okay!). Getting the pins to engage on touring bindings can be a stumper, as can applying skins to the bases of skis. Skiing in the backcountry involves far more moving parts than simply stepping into your skis, hopping on the chairlift, and choosing your run.

Our advice? Once you’ve assembled your backcountry gear, take it out for a low-stakes test run. Many ski resorts allow skiers to tour uphill within their boundaries (check your local mountain’s website for a specific policy), where avalanches are much less of a concern, if at all. Getting the equipment basics dialed beforehand will make the transition into backcountry skiing smoother and safer.

This process extends to the main trio of avalanche safety equipment: beacon, shovel, and probe. Using these is covered in introductory avalanche courses. You can also visit a beacon park. These areas contain buried transmitters that respond to beacons, simulating the process of locating a lost skier after an avalanche.

Related: Editor’s Picks: The Best Backcountry Touring Skis of 2026

5. Check the Forecast

Throughout North America and the rest of the world, avalanche centers deliver free forecasts that discuss the weather and snow stability. In North America, they revolve around the North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale, or NAPADS, which includes five colors that correspond with the avalanche danger on a given day. Green signals that the snow is mostly stable. Black indicates that there are extraordinarily dangerous avalanche conditions (read: stay at home).

The NAPADS provide an easy-to-digest jumping-off point. Avalanche forecasts, though, go beyond this colored scale. They examine which aspects of the slopes are most avalanche-prone, catalogue the most likely avalanche types, and provide additional details. To generate these forecasts, avalanche centers comb through weather data, professional snow measurements, and crowdsourced avalanche observations submitted by backcountry users. Then, they distill this information, telling skiers exactly what they need to know.

In short, avalanche forecasts are an invaluable tool packed with data. Checking them before venturing into the backcountry is as essential as bringing a beacon or probe along. Without a good forecast, you’re essentially flying blind—unless you happen to already be an expert in snow science. The mobile app Avy packs several regional forecasts into one seamless interface. For browser users, head to avalanche.org to find forecasts in your area.

Related: Snow Science Storytellers: How Avalanche Forecasters Communicate Risk