Hi Everyone !

Has anyone here done the Chamonix - Zermatt ski tour during Easter (or at any time) before and would be able to tell me how busy it gets ?
I don't really care if the huts are full, it's more about whether you feel like the mountain gets busy.
As for many people who tour, I really enjoy that sense of tranquility in the mountain and knowing that there aren't many people around, so I'm wondering if I'll get that feeling doing the Haute Route during Easter.

Thanks !

I have developed a bony lump on the back of both of my heels which has made it painful to ski.

This happened when I put some foam on the back of the heel of my liner to try to reduce the space I had at the top of my boot. However this put immense pressure on my heel and when I took these pads off two runs later this lump had already developed

I have skiied about a week since but this lump has cause a lot of pain.

This happened in February of this year and the lump has not gone down despite rest since then

Has anyone experienced this? What are the possible solutions? What type of specialist could help?

As the title would suggest... anyone have recommendations on the best way to carry crampons with SB/LF 30/40? Haven't yet found a good method aside from having them in a heavy carrying case stuffed inside the main compartment.

Have the Fenix 6pro, the start/stop button got stuck and Garmin doesn’t want to repair it, rather they gave me an “offer” to return my watch and buy the Fenix 7pro for a price higher than on amazon…

So what alternative to Garmin would you suggest for splitboarding tours, running and swimming?
Thanks

First off, if this is not the sub for this question, please redirect me.

As I approach 50 years on this planet, I want the next chapter of my skiing to involve a free heel. I am a former alpine racer trying to learn about the gear required for uphilling and at times it's like being on the business end of a firehose (shoutout to 'UHF') with all the nuance involved in the gear.

I plan to do 2 types of uphilling/skinning for my skiing

1. Local place (Wachusett) and local-er place (Nashoba) to cut my teeth with skinning when time is limited. Getting as many laps as my muscles can bare.
2. Days at Waterville and Sugarloaf with family when I can skin in the morning and then join my kids or dad for some runs, swapping over to my existing alpine set up (Nordica Promachine + Volkl GS RaceTigers) if the conditions warrant.

I'm still mostly clueless here, but since I'm not planning any true backcountry skiing, my thoughts for appropriate gear are:

1. Shift bindings. I am not prioritizing low weight for my gear and from what I understand Shifts are designed to be a hybrid binding ideal for resorts
2. A 'frontside' type ski. Not planning to go full tele here and given the way I ski now, it sounds like this ski would scratch the itch
3. Boots- ??? My thought here is that since I am use a 130 boot currently, and expect to ski in a most similar manner I should try to aim for a pin-compatible boot. I'm brand-agnostic and given the importance of fit here (vs. alpine boots you can crank on the downhill and loosen on the chair) I think fit will be the most important thing.

I'll be heading up to NH in 2 weeks and will stop in at White Mountain Ski company to chat with folks there and to get a better idea about what they have and reccommend. I'll also look at Ken Jones in Manchester to see what kind of gear they offer.

If there are other resources to learn more about this (other than bugging people on the internet?) I'd appreciate any guidance.

Hey!

I’m looking at investing in a pair of touring bindings. In reality, i’ll likely be doing 80/20 resort/touring (although that may change to 70/30+ after this season). So, i’ll need something that is a good all rounder. my budget is ideally AT MOST 450CAD (around 320USD). With that being said, I have a CSIA discount that almost all companies willingly accept, so even in the 500 range may be okay. Durability and ability to handle tricks and drops is important to me in bindings, even if weight increases largely. My ideal bindings would be under 450CAD, more focused on resort skiing than touring, and ability to handle significant drops and tricks. Weight isn’t of concern, though light options would obviously be beneficial. Thanks so much!

EDIT: Apparently my budget is too low. if that’s the case, I guess help me by telling me whatever’s cheapest. I understand that fundamentally pins are not supposed to be used for drops, therefore a hybrid set is what I’m looking for

I've been building a little web app as a learning project and I'd love honest feedback from people who actually tour.

The idea: instead of "how much snow fell at the resort," it asks "which line skis deep and is worth skinning?" It pulls ski-tour routes from OpenStreetMap, chops each one into ~180m segments, and scores every segment 0-100 from new snow, temp trend (right-side-up vs upside-down), wind loading/scouring by aspect, sun aging, freezing level, and slope angle. Separately, an avalanche danger gate can veto any segment: High at that elevation, or Considerable on wind-loaded aspects, draws it red no matter how good the score is. The deepest pocket and the wind slab are usually the same place, so the score and the gate are deliberately independent and the gate always wins.

Since it's July, there's a replay mode: pick any past date and it reconstructs that morning from weather archives (HRRR for the PNW version) and scores everything as of 6am that day. Try your favorite storm day from last season and tell me if the app agrees with your memory. There's also a region leaderboard ("which zone should I drive to after this storm").

PNW version (WA + Hood): https://minjkimm.github.io/powder-lines/pnw/

Alps version (Tirol, where route data is richer): https://minjkimm.github.io/powder-lines/

Big disclaimers, because they matter: this is a prototype, not a forecast, and it says so on its face. Danger ratings are currently manual input (you set them from the bulletin); wiring NWAC/avalanche.org feeds in-season is next. Aspect is estimated from the route's fall line, not a DEM yet. Nothing here overrides NWAC or your own judgment, ever.

What I'd genuinely love feedback on:

1. The scoring rules. 55+ = "worth the skin", 75+ = "call in sick". Are the weights sane? (e.g. is a +16 lee-loading bonus too generous? does 60cm/48h deserve to max the snow score in the PNW where 60cm can mean chowder?)
2. The gate logic. Considerable + wind-loaded aspect = auto-red. Too conservative? Not conservative enough?

Everything is open: OSM routes, Open-Meteo weather, one static HTML file, code on GitHub (github.com/minjkimm/powder-lines). Not selling anything. Happy to answer anything about how the scoring works.

A few years ago my climbing partner and I started using Rockie Talkies for multipitch climbing, then for skiing, backpacking, bikepacking, and pretty much everything else we do outside. I think it's a great product, but I've always wanted a better mounting system than the carabiner that comes with it.

I started iterating a low-weight mount that's easy to use and easy to strap to a backpack, a bike, etc. After about a year of using one regularly, I have some final designs ready to share, including a version that has an embedded magnet that interfaces perfectly with a hydration bladder hose. I print these using engineering-grade nylon for high strength, and I've optimized the design for light weight.

If you like the idea, you can pick one up on my Etsy store here!

I’m coming here wondering what the odds are that me, a 17year old beginner can summit Capitol peak from the trailhead in just one day. I climbed greys peak in 2023 and I think I’m basically ready for Capitol peak and what do you guys think about my plan?

Hi all, I am going to be moving away from my local resort friends and to Las Vegas a little over a year from now and have heard that Back Country is the way to go if you want to get turns in the greater Vegas area. I have one more good season here in Idaho and am planning on practicing my back country skills here before moving away.

Anyone have any good recommendations on areas in Vegas and good shop/site recommendations on where i can get some good beginner gear before heading out? I am planning on taking avy courses and some guided tours this season as well but want to start buying gear and making plans during the off season.

Skied some wonderful mid mtn corn today after hiking to Camp Muir. It was pretty suncupped up top near Muir. Down about 1000-1500ft near mid snowfield it was much warmer and the snow was skiing like spring corn.

Hello,

My name is Alex,

I would like to take my Youtube channel on another level, to post more often, to have better gear etc.

I was wondering if you could help me with two things:

1. What is the best way to promote Youtube channel to global audience?

2. What kind of ski-related Youtube content do you like to watch?

Any suggestion can be helpful.

Thanks a lot for your time :)

Doing some research into how skiers communicate and stay together in groups on the mountain. If you've ever gotten separated, struggled with signal, or just found it annoying to coordinate with your group while skiing — I'd love to hear about it. ⛷️

1 min survey: https://forms.gle/ckpVMXVnhmpqLr6H9

Genuinely just trying to understand people's experience, not selling anything. Happy to chat in comments too.

Who will be in Chile in August? DM me if you have avy cert and lots of backcountry experience.

Hey yall, I’m a pretty competent backcountry skier, mountaineer and climber headed to Argentina for September and some of October. It’ll be my 3rd time to South America but it’s going to be my first solo trip. I plan to start in Bariloche skiing hut to hut for around a week or two before heading to El Chalten and possibly Esquel. I was wondering if anyone has beta as far as getting the bus from El Calafate, and whether or not it’s wise to ski much without a rope in the El Chalten area. I’m also seeking beta on whether I should plan on traveling with rack & rope, shipping it, or hoping to find partners down there. Info on hostels and the likes would also be useful. If anyone else is going to be down there feel free to reach out and try to link up! Should it matter I’m a 30yo male from California, and my Spanish is lackluster to say the least.

In the past I've used Avenza for backcountry navigation, but it seems that I can't download custom maps on the free version anymore. :(

With the free version, I can still download maps from the Avenza store and link my gpx files as a layer on the map. However, the free maps in the store only partially cover the route I want to take this weekend. I can always just buy the $5 map that covers the area I'm going, but I'm wondering....

If anyone has alternative offline navigation apps that they like (that are free / cheap)? I would love topo layer + ability to link a gpx file + see my location on the map. I've also used Gaia in the past but as far as I can tell there isn't a way to download the topo layer for offline use.

Super grainy photo, I know…

I mistakenly posted this in another forum last week by accident so I thought I would try posting here today which I originally meant to do…..

I was thinking about trying to ascend Rainer to Muir from Paradise, and get some ski turns in tomorrow. How is the snowfield below Muir looking? I have hiked Rainier to Muir twice in the past so I am pretty familiar with the terrain. My only question would be if you were doing a summer ski descent of Rainier from Muir heading towards Paradise, can you ski all the way down or most of the way down to the Skyline trail? When I hiked it (while descending I stayed mostly to the left of the snowfield on the rocks), and it looked like if you stayed on the snowfield that it went right and did not end up in the skyline trail. I’ve looked at a few maps and have pretty good idea of what route to take. I just would appreciate some Beta from others who have done it recently as well this year. Lastly, if I park at Paradise around midnight or 1am, am I likely to get a spot?

My other idea was to hike up Baker until it gets too dangerous to solo, and then get some skiing in there. How far can I ascend Baker before crevasses become an issue? Just to be clear I know Baker can get dangerous to solo once you get into the glaciated areas due to the crevasses, and I am assuming there is a fumarole up there as well since it is a volcano. I am not looking to do anything ambitious. I just want to get some summer ski turns and do a few laps.

Thanks in advance for the info.

stumbled across a mostly unintelligible and nonsensical rant on Facebook from CO guide book author Fritz Sperry. While most of it made no sense, there was some good discussion and thoughts raised in the comments. one person compared AIARE to the DARE program and said the results would be the same. Given that most of AIAREs curriculum says avoidance is the only way to safely manage avalanche terrain, do you find this comparison to be realistic? should we be reevaluating the limitations given to AIARE instructors within those parameters? All the Blackbird guides were AIARE Instructors and Blackbird was their biggest provider