Etiquette in the Backcountry…or Slackcountry

Heading into the backcountry is similar to going surfing.  I remember, years ago, dropping into a wave I had absolutely no business dropping into and having a fairly serious run-in with some locals. The mistakes I made that day were many. First, I didn’t really know how to surf, to dropping in was more like crashing in and second, I was surrounded by competent, local surfers in waves that were way bigger than what I was capable of even surviving, let alone surfing. While I don’t tend to shy away from conflict, on that day, I took my licks and moved on because I was the one in the wrong.

In the mountains, I don’t see that type of localism very often, but I do certainly see the ignorant behaviour that could lead to it. I have lost count of the times people have followed me or a group I am in, out of the ski area boundary, with absolutely no sense of where they are going or what they are doing. They just motor off, day ticket flappin’ in the wind, and figure…what, exactly? I have no idea. That all roads lead back to the village or the ski hill’s chairlifts? They seem to have very little understanding about backcountry, or slackcountry, etiquette. Surfing, for instance, is all about rules. Fair enough. The ocean is a big place and takes respect and understanding to be able to play in it. The mountains are the same. There are rules, my friends. But even if you ignore lots of the rules, there are still a few things in the etiquette department that will make everybody’s day a little better.

Skin tracks. Yep, this is probably the big one. If you see a crew putting in an uptrack, by all means, follow along. Enjoy the fact someone else is breaking trail. But if you find yourself catching up, offer to share the burden. By the same token, if you’re in the lead and another group is faster, let them pass. Everyone climbs at their own pace. The key is to be friendly about it all. If someone is faster than me, sure they might get to the line I want to ski first, but if they are breaking trail, they are doing me the favour. If you’re on snowshoes or boot packing, make your own up track. There is never, ever, an instance where boot packing on a skin track is acceptable. It ruins the track. Same for snowshoes. This is something I see all the time, especially right at the ski area boundary. A few minutes into a climb I look back and see several people, skiers, snowboarders, it doesn’t matter which, stomping through our skin track to get uphill.

Topping out is another place for conflict. There ain’t that much room when you’re on a ridge or summit and you’re taking your skins off. When buddy arrives with his posse and starts to crowd folks in, weird things can happen. I’ve seen someone accidentally pushed off a ridgeline into a rocky, south facing slope and sustain an injury cause some bozo wasn’t paying attention when he was taking his gear off and switching over. Be aware of your surroundings.

I think what I have the greatest problem with, however, is when people follow you out of bounds and expect to tag along. I remember being with a few friends on top of one of our local backcountry ski lines just outside the resort. As we were preparing to drop in, a solo skier with no skins, beacon, shovel or probe, and who had been following us, decided he would come and ski with us. This is where the greatest danger lies. First off, this guy didn’t really know where he was. Second, he had unwittingly hired us as his guides. There’s a problem there and we were faced with a dilemma. Do we tell buddy to go back the way he came and explain the fact that should something happen out here, he is putting us into a bad spot? By tagging along in utter ignorance, he’s putting us at risk because we now have someone in our group who a) can’t self rescue and b) might do something stupid or need to be rescued. I delicately explained to him our predicament and his response was, well, aggressive. ‘What gives you the right…blah blah blah’. Indeed, what does give me the right?

What gives us all the right is this: Was that guy prepared? Was he equipped for self rescue? Was he planning on ski cutting near the top of the slope to test things? Had he looked at the snow? Dug a pit? Did he have a partner? No. He had done none of those things. We had, and were prepared. So what did he do? He put his skis on and dropped in (before us) and yep, he cut out a nice little size one soft slab and went for a ride. When we got down to him, and no he wasn’t buried, was he sorry? Nope. He was thrilled at how hard core he was. Brutal. Had something happened to him, we would have had to effect a rescue and that puts us at risk.

Etiquette is easy. Most of it is common sense. Respect the skin tracks. Respect the mountains, ski with a partner and understand that when you leave the ski area boundary, you are on your own. No ski patrol, no avalanche control and certainly no sympathy. With increasing numbers in the slackcountry off resorts and in the out and out backcountry, it’s becoming increasingly clear that we need to help each other a little. So educate yourself and try, if you can, to bring a little common sense with you. We all want to ski fresh pow, but putting others at risk because of your own ignorance, is criminal.

Be safe, ski hard.