How to get into backcountry skiing
Start by skiing the resort well, then book a recognised avalanche course before buying any equipment, rent a setup for the course, then buy a transceiver, probe and shovel and practise with them under a stopwatch. Buy skis, bindings and boots last. A complete first touring setup including the course runs under $4,000.
The order most people follow is buy the gear, then take a course, then find partners. The order that works is close to the reverse, and following it costs less money, produces better equipment choices, and is considerably safer.
<!-- gift-guides-xlink -->The sequence
1. Season zero: ski the resort well
Backcountry snow is variable, often bad, and always unfamiliar, and you ski it on lighter softer equipment with a pack on. That skill is learned twenty runs a day on lift-served terrain, not two runs a day eight miles from the car.
2. Book the avalanche course before you buy anything
AIARE 1, AST 1 or equivalent. Courses fill early, so book in the autumn for the winter. Doing this first also means you buy equipment understanding what it is for.
3. Rent or borrow a setup for the course
Most shops in ski towns rent complete touring setups, and courses often include rental. You will learn more about what you want from three days on rented gear than from any amount of reading.
4. Buy the three items and a pack
A transceiver, probe and shovel that are yours, that fit you, and that you have practised with. Plus a pack with a dedicated tool compartment, which is the specification that makes it a touring pack.
5. Practise, with a stopwatch, with your partners
Single burial, under ten minutes, gloves on, at the start of every season. This is the step nearly everybody skips.
6. Buy the hard goods
Boots first, as always, then skis, bindings and skins. By now you have skied a rented setup and know whether you want a light kit or a hybrid one.
7. Find partners with matched training
A party is only as safe as its least prepared member and its worst decision. This matters more than any purchase and takes longer to arrange.
8. Keep learning
A rescue refresher every season, a level 2 course when you have the days, and a guided objective once a season. This is where continuing tourers spend money that other people spend on airbags.
Season zero, which is not optional
You need to be a competent resort skier before you tour, and this is not gatekeeping. Backcountry snow is variable, often breakable, and always unfamiliar. You ski it on lighter, softer equipment with a pack on your back, and the consequences of a fall are much higher because help is far away and the party is small.
The descending skill that makes that manageable is learned far more cheaply and far more safely on lift-served terrain, where you get twenty runs a day and where patrol will come and get you. Every guide, instructor and avalanche educator gives the same advice, and the people who skip it are disproportionately represented in accident reports for reasons that have nothing to do with avalanches.
Why the course comes before the gear
Three reasons, and none of them is moral. The first is that the course teaches you what the equipment is for, so you buy better. Somebody who has spent three days searching for buried beacons has opinions about interface clarity that no review can give them.
The second is that courses fill early and run to a schedule. Booking in the autumn for the winter is normal, and discovering in midwinter that everything is full is also normal.
The third is that the course is a genuine test of whether you want this. Three days of climbing, digging pits and discussing terrain is representative of the hobby in a way that a powder video is not, and some people finish a course and decide it is not for them. That is a good outcome and it saved them several thousand dollars.
Rent before you buy
Most shops in ski towns rent complete touring setups, and many avalanche courses include or arrange rental. Three days on a rented kit will tell you more about what you want than any amount of reading, and specifically it will tell you the one thing that decides your whole purchase: what fraction of the day you actually enjoy going uphill.
If the climb is the part you liked, you want a lighter kit and you will chase vertical. If the climb is the price you pay for the descent, you want a heavier hybrid kit that skis well and you will do shorter tours. Those are genuinely different purchases and getting it wrong costs a thousand dollars.
What to buy, in what order
| Buy | Why here |
|---|---|
| Course | First, before any equipment. It changes what you buy and whether you buy. |
| Transceiver, probe, shovel | Yours, fitting you, practised with. Never shared, never borrowed on the day. |
| Pack with a tool compartment | The dedicated shovel and probe sleeve is the specification. A hiking pack is not a touring pack. |
| Boots | The hard good that decides comfort and efficiency. Get fitted, and shop on cuff rotation first. |
| Skis and bindings | Chosen together, because the binding is mounted to the ski and the brake has to match the waist. Compare the best touring skis and the best touring bindings side by side. |
| Skins | Sized from the ski tip, trimmed to leave the steel edge working. The one consumable in the kit. |
| Ski crampons | Cheap, light, binding-specific, and the difference between climbing and turning around on a spring morning. |
| Airbag pack | Last, after a second course and real practice. Never a reason to ski a slope you would otherwise walk away from. |
The first backcountry touring setup prices all of this line by line with a running total, and the course is the first row rather than an afterthought.
Finding partners is harder than finding gear
A party is only as safe as its least prepared member and its worst decision, and the single most underrated part of getting into this sport is finding two or three people with matched training, matched equipment and a compatible appetite for risk. That takes a season or two and it is worth more than any purchase.
Practical routes in: the people on your avalanche course, local mountaineering or ski clubs, and guided days, which are also the fastest way to learn terrain judgement in unfamiliar mountains. Be honest with new partners about your experience, and be alert to the acceptance heuristic, which is the tendency to go along with a group decision you would not make alone.
The first several tours
Go with somebody experienced. Choose low-angle terrain on a known route with a set track. Start early, set a turnaround time in the car park and honour it. Do the trailhead beacon check every time, out loud, even when it feels excessive. Plan with the touring time calculator and use the trail-breaking rate if there is fresh snow, because that correction is why parties finish in the dark.
Expect the first few tours to be slower, colder and more chaotic than you imagined. Transitions take twelve minutes before they take four. Skins fail. Somebody overdresses and sweats through everything on the climb. All of that is normal and all of it improves quickly, which is why the early tours should be on terrain where being slow is merely annoying.
Related
Avalanche safety basics covers the order that keeps people alive. How to plan a ski tour covers the sequence from forecast to turnaround, and how to skin uphill covers the technique that saves more energy than any equipment. If you are still deciding, which skier are you works through the question honestly.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start backcountry skiing?
Ski the resort well first, then book a recognised avalanche course before buying any equipment, rent or borrow a setup for the course, then buy a transceiver, probe and shovel and practise with them. Buy the hard goods last, after you have skied a rented setup and know what you want.
How good a skier do I need to be before touring?
Comfortable skiing variable snow on unfamiliar terrain at moderate speed, which is a solid intermediate to advanced resort skier. Backcountry snow is often bad, the equipment is lighter and softer, and you will be carrying a pack. Falling eight miles from the road with a party of two is a rescue rather than an inconvenience.
What does a first touring setup cost?
under $4,000 including an avalanche course, covering touring skis, tech bindings, a touring boot, skins, poles, a transceiver, probe and shovel, a touring pack and the layers that go with it. The course is the first line and the largest single item that is not equipment.
Can I try touring before committing?
Yes, and you should. Rent a complete setup for a day, go with somebody experienced, stay on low-angle terrain with a known track, and book the avalanche course first. A guided introductory day costs less than any two items on the touring build list and tells you far more.
Do I need an avalanche course if I only ski low-angle terrain?
Yes. Recognising what counts as low-angle terrain, understanding what is connected above it, and reading a forecast to know whether today is a low-angle day are all skills the course teaches. Deciding you only need mellow terrain is itself an assessment, and it is the assessment beginners are least equipped to make.
Should I buy a splitboard if I snowboard?
If you want to travel in the backcountry as a snowboarder, yes. Booting with a board on your back is far slower and far more tiring and keeps you in avalanche terrain longer. Splitboarding climbs less efficiently than skis, sidehills poorly and has slower transitions, and the avalanche training requirement is identical.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, published certification standards and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test equipment in person, and every figure quoted here is the manufacturer's published number unless we say otherwise. This is researched buying guidance and not professional instruction: binding release values are set by a certified technician on a calibrated jig, and avalanche terrain requires formal training and a current regional forecast that no article can replace.
