Backcountry snowboarding isn’t for everybody.
There are those who prefer to stick to the safety of the marked runs, in the knowledge, there are other people around and a comfortable chair lift to carry them back up the slopes at the end.
Or there are those who don’t like the mountains all that much at all and prefer to spend their time honing their skills in the park.
For the true explorers, however, backcountry snowboarding is heaven. So just what exactly is it?
Backcountry snowboarding involves exploring the unexplored, touching the untouched. It involves the pursuit of powder, and the chase of the most off-the-beaten-track, uninhabited regions of a mountain.
It provides a feeling unattainable in other forms of snowboarding.
It allows the rider to feel freedom at its most significant, to abandon the constraints, however minimal, which are present in regular, groomed, man-made runs.
The rider is able to find true solitude and to be, as cheesy as it sounds, truly at one with nature.
Many choose to go backcountry snowboarding with other people, and there is certainly some logic in this.
There are a number of inevitable risks which accompany going off-piste, and these are negated, at least to a small extent, by riding with at least one partner.
To start with, there are simply more dangers present with backcountry snowboarding.
Groomed runs are scoured each morning, and any potential dangers are quickly spotted and eliminated by the early risers.
On top of this, they are deliberately placed where riders are not likely to run themselves face first into a tree, or go flying off an obscured ledge and break their neck.
This doesn’t mean that if you go backcountry snowboarding, any of this will happen to you.
People go backcountry snowboarding all the time, and they happily arrive back to their families at night having enjoyed a day of extreme pleasure.
There are, however, a number of precautions which these adventurers need to take to keep themselves safe.
They need to understand the area. They need to stay within sight, or at least shouting distance, of their partners.
They need to keep their eyes peeled for danger. All of these kinds of things.
All of these kinds of things which you don’t really need to consider when skiing on marked runs or trails, but which are entirely necessary for the art of backcountry snowboarding.
Of course, there is also the added danger that if something does go wrong, help is not immediately on hand.
If you take a tumble on a marked trail and break your ankle, plenty of people will come past and help will quickly be on its way.
The same situation deep in the backcountry, however, can have significantly worse consequences.
It is for this reason that staying within shouting distance of your partner is important, but even when you are with someone, if you’re far enough from civilisation it can take a long time for them to reach help.
And if you’re in a hostile environment, as is often the case when snow is present (i.e., it’s cold), you can’t afford to be lying around on your injured ass for too long.
All of this sounds very serious and makes backcountry snowboarding sound like not a whole lot of fun. This is untrue.
All of these very stern sounding precautions are necessary, but they shouldn’t take away from the fact that backcountry snowboarding can be one of the most rewarding pastimes you’ll ever find.
It allows you to reach a place of solitude extremely difficult to find in any other situation, and on top of that, it can be a terrific challenge for your board riding skills.
There may be some added risks, but often that’s what makes something so much fun, and so rewarding.
If you want to try out backcountry snowboarding, it’s important to make sure you know what you’re doing and have the level to do it. If you pass these two tests though, you’ll be well rewarded.
Have you ever gone backcountry snowboarding? If so give us some tips and we might feature your answers in our posts.
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