#(L)earnYourTurns: Intro to Backcountry Skiing

Leaders
Alexia Lochmann (B S), Blox Bloxie Bloxham (A coC S I), Taryn Johnson (B coC coS)
Program
Winter School
Type
Backcountry skiing
Terrain level
A
Trip date
Saturday, January 25th, 2025
Difficulty rating
Moderate
Prerequisites
Downhill ski experience + some hiking experience and endurance

Come join us for a day of uphill touring and downhill skiing at Black Mountain in Jackson, NH (https://www.blackmt.com). If you are curious about backcountry skiing and riding, this is the trip for you! We will practice using the gear, transitioning between uphill and downhill modes, and get several laps of fun skiing and riding along the way. We will meet for a mandatory pre-trip meeting and gear checkout in the MITOC office on Thursday before the lecture.

Please note that we will learn how to use backcountry ski gear, and learn uphill techniques, but we will NOT teach how to downhill ski on this trip.

Prerequisites: No backcountry ski experience is required for this trip. You should already know how to downhill ski or snowboard and have resort skiing experience. If you are comfortable skiing or riding blues at a resort (USA blues, Europe reds), this is the trip for you! We will not be teaching participants to ski or snowboard on this trip.

Some hiking experience and/or good cardio + stoke for walking uphill is necessary for this trip. Be prepared to walk uphill for an hour with a backpack and heavy boots and skis on your feet for each ski run we take.

Gear: MITOC has a great rental fleet of Splitboards and AT (alpine touring) boots and skis. We’ll use skis with pin bindings and frame bindings and teach you how to adjust them to your boot size. We’ll also teach best practices for applying, removing, and storing skins.

Trip Cost: There is a flat fee of $30 for all Winter School Ski Trips. In addition, all participants must purchase a $20 uphill day pass at the resort. If you are not driving, be prepared to reimburse your driver for gas and wear & tear.


Signup

Algorithm
first-come, first-serve
Maximum participants
9
Signups opened at
Jan. 22, 2025, noon
Signups closed at
Jan. 23, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
Notes
  1. What is your downhill ski or snowboarding experience?
  2. What is your hiking (or other cardio) experience?
  3. What are you most excited about in backcountry skiing?
  4. Are you able to drive participants to/from NH on Saturday?
Signups for this trip are closed.