So what to pack when you’re headed out into the backcountry? We go over safety gear in this story on avy safety, but here’s the rest of what we recommend.

Two low-profile packs that stand out are Deuter’s Freeride Pro 30 ($149; deuter.com) and Mammut’s Nirvana Snowpack ($170; mammut.ch). Both ride well, hold just the right amount of gear for anything from quick laps to a big day and make it easy both to carry skis/snowboards for bootpacking and to access gear. Inside, we like to stuff Arc’teryx’s Atom LT Hoodie ($199; arcteryx.com), a light, insulated Polartec shell that can serve triple duty as an emergency mid-layer, skinning or spring-day shell. For women, we recommend Patagonia’s Skinnard ($300; Patagonia.com), a breathable, light (22 ounce) shell with guts. For a classic mid-layer, check out Melanzana’s Micro Grid Hoodie ($61; melanzana.com), a multi-functional piece, perfect for a cold-conditions mid-layer and made here in the U.S.A. in Leadville by a true Colorado homegrown business. Down below, nothing beats FlyLow’s Chemical Pant ($270; flylowgear.com), which provides ample venting for the skin up and burly reinforcement for the tumble down. Many people forgo the helmet in the bc, but we have yet to test a helmet as suited to hiking and touring as Smith’s Maze ($100; smithoptics.com), which provides all the protection you need in tight trees and loose-rock couloirs, yet weighs in at just 11.5 ounces, ideal for huffing it uphill. Combining Gore-Tex and leather, Scott’s Bolt ($80; scottusa.com) glove holds up to wilderness rigors without too much bulk. All you ask of your skins is not to fail. BCA’s new Climbing Skins ($102–$140; backcountryaccess.com) impressed us as far as being easy to stay on and strip off with ease. A spot of tea always makes a backcountry trip more civilized, so we put some Puh Ehr in Stanley’s Nineteen13 vacuum bottle ($25; Stanley-pmi.com).

TELEMARK
22 Designs Hammerhead
The Hammerhead has become the hands-down favorite when it comes to tele bindings. Why? Reliability and snappy big-ski performance for one, but even better is the ability to adjust it at five different tension settings.
$225; twentytwodesigns.com

Black Diamond 01
The best tele touring binding we have tested, the O1 is easy to click into skinning mode and the system doesn’t make any sacrifices to downhill performance.
$300; blackdiamondequipment.com

SNOWBOARD
Spark Fuse
An effective split-specific binding makes all the difference when you want to slap skins on the bottom of a snowboard. Made in Bozeman, Montana, by a company that specializes in nothing but splitty bindings, the Fuse slides into place for effective touring and locks down for performance that, to be honest, is better than many resort bindings.
$299; sparkrandd.com

AT
Marker Duke
The Duke changed the AT game and it’s still the best combination of touring functionality and in-area lock down. With a 16 DIN, it’s the absolute best choice if you want to run with your AT set-up as your day-to-day resort skis.
$495; marker.com

Dynafit TLT Vertical FT 12
The connoisseur’s choice when it comes to fast touring to big backcountry lines, this carbon binding offers super light performance (just 19 ounces) alongside a bomber 6–12 DIN range.
$570; dynafit.com

BOARDS

K2 Darkside
Our go-to ski for tearing through big dumps, the Darkside looks like a waterski at 156/128/144—and it absolutely floats at high speed in deep stuff. Yet what really impressed us was how it could turn in area since the rocker is only in the tip with regular camber underfoot and in the tail. This is the weapon of choice for dream days—cat skiing, a trip to Alaska, Utah backcountry or an epic resort dump.
$1,000; K2skis.com

Black Diamond Justice
At 115 underfoot, the Justice is the quiver-of-one ski for the backcountry. It’s got just the right amount of bulk and rocker to float pow and crush crud, yet it’s not unwieldy in marginal conditions. Plus, camber underfoot means it can still hold its own on a resort powder day.
$700; blackdiamondequioment.com

Dynafit Manaslu
You won’t find a better tool for serious ski mountaineering than the Manaslu (122/95/108 in the 187 cm length). After all, it was developed for an expedition on its namesake Himalayan peak. The result is a light (for skinning), rockered (for float and crushing junk) ski with a snappy sidecut profile (for quick turns away from danger).
$700; dynafit.com

Rossignol SAS S7
Want to have fun in the backcountry? A big rockered tip and traditional camber profile underfoot mean that the S7 rides like a freestyle ski in deep stuff. At 145/115/123, it’s agile enough to navigate tight trees and stable enough to open up on big lines.
$950; rossignol.com

Ski Trab Stelvio
At 117/84/105, this sexy Italian board is meant for good, old touring. It weighs in at just 6 pounds, 10 ounces, but still has the guts to jump tight turns in a couloir and float variable snow.
$699; skitrab.com

Völkl Kiku
Here’s a women’s powder ski made for women who ski better than their male partners. At 137/106/122 with rocker, it’s got all the burl of a dude’s board, but it’s light thanks to the same sensorwood core Völkl uses in its iconic Gotama. Like the best men’s powder boards, it earns its keep in the untracked but can still hold an edge in area.
$825; volkl.com

Venture Helix Split
Most splits are powder specialists, but the split version of Venture’s Helix can do so much more than float big lines. Yes, it’s rockered for the deep stuff, but it’s also an aggressive-flex twin tip (the only twin-tip split out there), allowing for freestyle riding in the backcountry. To top it all off, the split system is solid and user friendly.
$895; venturesnowboards.com

BOOTS

TELE: Black Diamond Custom
Don’t believe hype about the four-buckle Custom being too stiff. It’s not—but it sure does drive big skis.The BOA liner makes it comfy, easy to adjust and ideal for touring.
$750; blackdiamondequipment.com

AT: Scarpa Skookum
This four-buckle boot defines the new AT attitude. It’s stiff and powerful enough to use day-to-day in the resort or hit aggressive backcountry lines, yet fairly light at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and Dynafit compatible for fast touring.
$769; scarpa.com

WOMEN’S: Dynafit Gaia
The Gaia packs all the stiff-yet-light performance of the brand’s men’s boots in a women’s model. Complete with a TF-X thermomoldable liner and weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces, it tours like a dream and still performs on the down.
$670; dynafit.com

Got the itch? There are more powder stashes and corn-covered peaks along the I-70 corridor than you could ski/snowboard in a lifetime—all within a short drive of downtown Denver. Local legend and guidebook author Brian Litz runs down three favorite spots to get it on.

High Steppin’: Front Range touring is a workout.

A few years ago, I slipped out of the office for a mid-week morning ski tour with a buddy of mine. Our destination? Herman Gulch. Just east of Loveland Ski area and a 30-40 minute drive from the Denver suburbs, Herman Gulch has long been a very popular summer hiking trail. Yet in the winter it is one that that barely registers on the radar of the vast majority of skiers hurtling along I-70 towards destinations farther west. In winter, the Herman Gulch trail is deserted, with rarely more than a handful of skiers and snowshoers to be seen even on weekends. My ski partner and I thought it would be a great place to get out, stretch the legs and work the lungs.

We skinned away from the parking area, immediately skinning into the blue-shadowed lodgepole forest. It was one of those rare, blessed Front Range days—utterly windless, the sky unbroken by even the slightest hint of a cloud. The previous evening, a potent upslope storm had rolled through, leaving in its wake a seamless, undisturbed shroud of deep, light, frigid snow. The kind of snow that hisses quietly by, offering no resistance as it parts smoothly around your boots and lower legs.

Fade to Black: And it’s brewpub time.

The short-yet-steep initial south-facing climb above the parking area passed quickly. On the lookout for possible slides from the avalanche paths on both sides of the trail, we climbed steadily in and out of open meadows and stands of spruce and fir. Finally away from the asphalt interstate, we entered the silent wonderland of the upper valley. Though only a mere forty minutes from downtown Denver, we felt a world away. The head of the valley, ringed by a massive, glacially carved stone rampart connecting Citadel Peak to Pettingell Peak, was drenched in new snow. Every ledge, every boulder, every irregularity seemed to support a beautiful fluting of snow. It felt more like some unknown cirque in the Peruvian Andes than our backyard Rockies.

We stopped at a lunch spot amongst bonsai-like groupings of wind-formed krumholtz and flag trees on a high pass east of Pettingell Peak. With Canada Jays flitting about, we enjoyed tea, cheese and bread.

Yes, the ski down was memorable, epic even, but for some reason it was this moment before we took off our skins that really stuck with me. It hit me how lucky we are to live on the Front Range. You won’t find many major metro areas lying so close to such beautiful alpine topography. After 30-plus years of skiing off-piste in Colorado, and after penning three separate ski-touring guidebooks to the state, it never ceases to amaze me how I continue to find unexplored tours, undiscovered, powdery nooks and crannies, and how even on terrain I have enjoyed and have returned to over and over, I still find brand new moments of pure joy and exhilaration.

In that spirit, I wanted to share these three lesser known tours along, or very near, the I-70 corridor.

THE TOURS

QUICK TURNS

COON HILL
3 miles round-trip • 1,525 foot elevation gain

WHAT IT IS
The oddly named Coon Hill is the craggy-sloped peak you can see just above you and to the northwest of the Johnson Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial tunnel coming from the west. A readily accessed, alpine summit, Coon Hill is a wonderful, short tour for those with limited time and/or who want to introduce a friend to the joys of high altitude peak-bagging on skis or split board.
Coon Hill serves up a panoramic view of the Gore Range to the west and of all of the other peaks around Loveland Pass and Summit County. Remember, though, that Coon Hill is a true alpine summit, so you need to play heads-up ball when making this ascent.

GET THERE
Park immediately west of the tunnel, near the west end of the large semi parking/pull-off area. Note that to return east after your tour, you can drive back east (past the little office house) up and over the actual tunnel building to get back onto the east-bound lanes. When coming from the west, you can exit and drive up and over to get to the same parking area.

THE RIDE
The route up Coon Hill is mostly straightforward though you may need to make adjustments and check current avy conditions. Leave the car, walk back toward the office, then skin straight north up the flat valley. Once beyond the lower, rocky slopes of the false south summit of the peak, begin following the path of least resistance west. Ascend up steeper terrain aiming for the saddle between the south summit and the main peak. Turn north again, and skin up the south ridge to the summit. For the trip down, choose a line down the steeper, exposed east face. Once in the valley bottom, glide easily south back to the cars.

Log Jammin’: Kurt Hoefler seeks the snow.

FULL DAY

BALD MOUNTAIN
9.6 miles round-trip • 3,600 foot elevation gain

WHAT IT IS
Dwarfed by the surrounding rockier and more vertiginous Gore Range peaks, Bald Mountain is a smallish, outlier peak located directly to the north across from Vail Resort. It’s also one of the absolute best day ski tours accessed directly from I-70. Save this tour for a cold, clear day after a nice powder dump and you’ll enjoy not only the best in Colorado backcountry skiing but also top-shelf views of Vail, the Vail Valley and the central Gore Range.

GET THERE
Drive to the main Vail exit. Park either in the lower forest service lot (immediately on the left) or drive to the top of the road (past the mansions) and park at the plowed road’s end, near the small summer stables.

THE RIDE
The first 1.8 miles follow the Spraddle Creek Road/Eiseman Hut trail through open aspens before climbing steeply into the woods. Continue climbing east/northeast on the road past the Eiseman Hut trail turnoff. Before the creek/drainage narrows and bends north to become the bowl southwest of the summit, strike off directly north and break trail staying west of the creek, following the path of least resistance. Gaining altitude quickly, you’ll climb up through meadows and lovely stands of aspen.

At the head of the drainage/basin, climb up through the sheltered safety of spruce woods aiming for the lower stretches of the treeless west ridge. Once on the treeless ridge, turn east and skin up the safe, wide, spectacular, wind-scoured ridge crest to the summit. There are many possible routes down, but all begin by skiing back down the ridge. Depending on conditions, you can either ski the open bowls or follow the trees used for the ascent to get off the upper ridge.

Hot Start: Chris Clark drops a cornice.

TRAVERSING

VAIL PASS TO FRISCO
8.6 miles one-way • 1,320 feet up • 2,800 down

WHAT IT IS
This fine high altitude traverse is surprisingly moderate, quick and safe. It travels through serious alpine terrain but is mostly comprised of intermediate level skiing. Since this is a “Point A to Point B” tour, you need to arrange a car shuttle.

GET THERE
Drop the shuttle car off at the second (heading west) Frisco exit at North Tenmile Creek. Next drive up to Vail Pass and park. Remember that Vail Pass is now a fee use area; you will need to pay a per-head fee.

THE RIDE
Walk across the overpass and enter the woods. Follow the popular Corral Creek Nordic trail, emblazoned with blue diamonds, which veers sharply north. In short order, the trail gains the top of a low, round ridge that runs straight north and divides the Corral Creek drainage from the I-70 corridor. Follow this mostly flattish, scenic ridge north until it begins to blend into the much higher alpine ridge to the north/northeast—the ridge separates all of the Vail Pass area from the North Tenmile Creek/Summit County side to the east.

When the low, flat ridge merges into the higher alpine ridge, change course and begin switchbacking up the steep west flank of the ridge. Climb first through small clearings and stands of spruce and fir trees. As you near the top, you’ll break out into the open and pass through krumholtz.

The route I generally follow gains the top of the ridge just west and slightly above the pass west of Uneva Peak. You can also blaze a more direct path up the southern slopes of the pass.

The pass itself is a great lunch spot and the place to decide whether to commit to the crossing. Assuming you do, ski down the safe, open north slopes of the pass, paying attention to potential avy hazard on the surrounding peaks. Excellent moderate powder skiing takes you down over rolling terrain. Follow a bobsled-like creek drainage north until it spits you out into the meadows around main North Tenmile Creek.

From here it’s mostly a trail slog out to the shuttle car. Upper North Tenmile sees little traffic so you should prepare to break trail and do some minor route finding. Mostly the trail stays north of the creek. I’ve easily knocked this tour out in around 3.5 hours. •

Brian Litz is the author of Colorado Hut to Hut.

Say you don’t want to slog for hours to earn your turns but you do want deep powder, solitude and other amenities those beasts with the skins enjoy. You are a perfect candiate for the slackcountry, my friend. And we know just where you can find it.

We traversed the ridge for what seemed like more than an hour, looking for the right spot to drop in. Here? No. I was following my friend–and his friends—and I had no idea where we were going. I was starting to wonder if they did. At last we stopped, had a snack and then pushed off down a shimmering slope of freshly fallen March snow. Perfect.

The Love Train: Hike up, ride down, repeat.

But instead of taking the obvious route down the fall line, my friend’s friends skied a dozen turns and then proceeded to gather up on an awkward spot on a sub-ridge. What the…? I skied over to them and peered over the edge as one put first tracks down a 45-degree couloir with about 16 inches of fresh snow. Now, this is the kind of thing I never experience in the backcountry in winter. I like to play it safe. I wait until the late spring freeze-thaw cycle does its magic and the snowpack has bonded before I’ll even ponder skiing it. So how did I get here?

Well, we weren’t in the backcountry. We were in-bounds at Loveland, in avalanche-controlled terrain. This was the slackcountry.

To the purist, backcountry is synonymous with earning turns and studying the intricacies of snow science. For everyone else, there’s loads of opportunity for a backcountry-esque experience at ski resorts. Call it what you will—“backcountry lite,” “sidecountry,” “slackcountry”—but as resorts have seen the advantage in opening the gates, it’s opened up a brave new world of freeriding that’s safer, faster and easier than true backcountry.

Sidecountry has become a part of resort skiing. At some resorts (a.k.a Jackson Hole, Alta, Silverton, Crested Butte), an earn-your-turns ethos is part of the cultural DNA. But a whole slew of other resorts are realizing just what they have on the other side of the rope. Many resorts can promote a backcountry experience for guests on snowcats or with free-heel guides while simultaneously checking out terrain for potential expansion. Monarch Mountain (see page 14) ran snowcats in Mirkwood Basin before deciding to make it patrolled hike-to terrain five years ago.

“It was sort of a surprise to us to see how great the terrain was,” says Monarch spokesman Greg Ralph. “Without the cat going back there and skiing it regularly, we never would have known just how great it was.”

Recession-proof Powder: Copper’s Tucker Mountain Snowcat is free with your lift ticket

Telluride offered guided runs out a gate in Prospect Bowl in terrain that is now in-bounds. Keystone’s Outback snowcat operation gives guests a taste of powder skiing while letting ski patrol evaluate lift-served viability. Backcountry has become a resort experience.

So where is the best slackcountry to be found? Here, we run down the best resorts wth easy acess to backcountry-style adventure even when everything else is skied out. Just remember to be safe.

JACKSON HOLE

There was a day when Jackson banned Doug Coombs for skiing out of bounds. Today the legendary hill touts not just the terrain in-area but also the even better stuff out the gates.Those feeling confident in their avalanche risk-assessment skills can ride the tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain and ski out a backcountry access gate to freshies on Four Pines (not patrolled or controlled). And when your 4,000 vertical-foot descent is over? Traverse back to the front of the mountain, ride the tram back up and repeat until your quads give out. The uninitaited can hire a guide through the resort.

jacksonhole.com

ELDORA

Eldora has carved out a local niche as a solid little area with some athletic tree skiing. It’s close enough to Boulder and Denver that skiers and boarders can pop up for a half day and get a solid fix and still have some time to get some work done or watch the kids. It also harbors some backcountry terrain out the gate above Corona Bowl that makes it more entertaining than meets the eye. Be forewarned, this is true backcountry (be up on your training and carry avy gear), and it can be difficult for those not familiar with the terrain to find the lines instead of the wind blasted rocks. But when it’s on, it serves up a tasty slice of lift-served powder turns.

eldora.com

Independence Day: The bowls in Keystone’s hike-to and cat terrain may surprise you.

KEYSTONE

Few Front Rangers equate Keystone with big powder bowls. But the resort, which prides itself on being a family destination, has recognized that some family members want adventure and fresh powder, not just crowded groomers. For those willing to pay, Keystone’s full-day snowcat skiing in Bergman, Erickson and Independence bowls delivers the deep goods. On a budget? The bowls are also open to hikers with avalanche gear and training.

Keystone Ski Patrol Director Craig Simpson says the cat skiing in those bowls, as well as the $5 cat rides to the outer reaches of the Outback terrain, are intended in part to introduce a backcountry feel to “people who wouldn’t normally have that kind of experience.” (Hell, the experienced like it, too.)

It also lets ski patrol study the wind and snow in those areas. “Is it viable for future expansion? Is it worth it?” Simpson asks. For Berman Bowl, the short answer is yes—it would be ideal for a new lift. The long answer involves a few more years of studies. We say take advantage of it now. keystoneresort.com

COPPER

Copper offers snowcat and/or hike terrain on Tucker Mountain. The really good news? Both are free with the price of a lift ticket.

“I think with the increase of folks that want to get into the backcountry, this is a great way to introduce that to them in a safer, controlled environment,” says Copper spokesman David Roth.

For the hour that you might save in hike time if you ride the cat, you will likely need to wait in a line at the bottom of the Mountain Chief lift. The cat runs from 10 a.m to 1:30 p.m., weather and conditions permitting. To help you avoid wasting time on questionable days, ski patrol flies a green flag from its four duty stations spread across the mountain to let you know when it’s a go. coppercolorado.com

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