Backcountry Turns All Year: Skiing and Riding
Year-round skiing and riding for intrepid Northwesterners!
By Diane Rudholm
Photo at right: Kevin Huang—pictured here on Mount Rainier—makes his way on skin tracks to get his year-round backcountry turns. Photo by Pavel Dolezel
Some Northwesterners spend summer and autumn waiting in eager anticipation for snow resorts to open. Others just skip the pining and head to the backcountry to get their off-season turns.
More determined skiers and riders skip the lifts altogether and make a point to go on at least one backcountry trip a month for a whole year — whatever the weather. This feat is called a Turns All Year (TAY), and it requires a special combination of obsession, fitness and planning.
Turns All Year Community
Turns-All-Year.com (a resource dedicated to safe backcountry skiing) includes forums where these bold year-round adventurers can connect with one another and share snow conditions through trip reports.
Dozens of people on the forums have logged TAY streaks that last for well over a year and, in some cases, a decade or more. According to the Turns-All-Year website, Oregon skier Gordon Garlock — a man who has a ski lift named after him at Timberline Ski Area — has locked down more than three decades of consecutive monthly backcountry turns. And, Washington skier Silas Wild has a TAY streak of more than two decades attached to his name.
Garlock and Wild, and others like them, act as mentors in the backcountry community.
Jessica Levine, a Washington Telemark skier who began her year-and-a-half TAY streak almost by chance, says that she continued every month with encouraging friends and ski partners, like Chris Cass and Lara Pazemenas Bickel, who have both chronicled more than a decade of monthly backcountry trips.
Why TAY?
During months when new snowfall is unlikely, it can be challenging to continue a TAY streak.
“September and October were always pretty harsh months to head up into the mountains (if we hadn’t received an early-season storm) with dismal patches of firm sun-cupped snow,” says professional splitboarder and mountaineer Kyle Miller, whose TAY streak lasted 12 years.
What compels people to trek up mountains with gear piled on their backs to carve in less than ideal snow conditions?
“You have to really enjoy it,” says Kevin Huang, an alpine skier and a Microsoft finance manager who has a three-year (and counting) TAY streak. “I like nature and big mountains — and that feeling you get that humans are really small. Your mentality is relaxed, and you forget your daily worries.”
Awareness Required
After creating fresh snowboard tracks with his travel companions the day before, Kyle Miller wakes up to sunshine in Mount Rainier National Park. Photo by Ben Starkey
Backcountry skiing and riding offer access to year-round snow and stunning natural beauty (which might account for the extensive photo libraries of many backcountry snow-lovers). Even so, the sport can be unsafe.
“We are fortunate to have a maritime snowpack but that doesn’t mean it is a ‘Get out of Avalanche Free’ card,” says Miller.
Because of the inherent dangers in traveling in the backcountry through snow, it is vital to have the skills, awareness and equipment — not to mention the fitness and experience — to properly plan trips and make decisions when your body and mind are tired.
“Mountains humble us, not make us rock stars,” says Levine. “Take a class. Take a refresher. Practice. Know your comfort level and the terrain you are in. I check the weather, the past telemetry and the upcoming forecast more than a few times daily before a trip.”
Miller concurs.
“Always look at the avalanche forecast on www.nwac.us (Northwest Avalanche Center) and pay attention to your surrounding environment,” adds Miller. “Look for natural and human-triggered slides and dig hand-pits or consistently feel the snow while climbing a route that is safe from any hazards.”
Safety disclaimers aside, setting a goal for your first TAY is likely to make you fall in love with the outdoors all over again. Take it from Huang who says, “I’ll keep going every month for as long as I can — either until I can’t find the snow, or until my body condition makes it so I can’t go. I would like to do as much as I can.”
To learn more about Turns All Year, go to: www.turns-all-year.com
Backcountry Resources
American Avalanche Association: www.americanavalancheassociation.org
American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE): www.avtraining.org
Avalanche.org: www.avalanche.org
Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC): www.nwac.us
Avalanche.ca (Parks Canada): www.avalanche.ca
Tree Well Info: www.deepsnowsafety.org
Turns-All-Year Access Links: www.turns-all-year.com/skilinksfr.html
Turns-All-Year Weather Links: www.turns-all-year.com/wealinksfr.html
Yuki Award Info: www.turns-all-year.com/yukiaward.html
TAY Profiles
Read stories and profiles about Northwest Turns All Year backcountry enthusiasts at: www.turns-all-year.com/indexyrs.html
Diane Rudholm is the managing editor and social media manager of OutdoorsNW. She received her AIARE I avalanche training through the Everett Mountaineers with the help of a Yuki Award from the Monika Johnson Avalanche Education Scholarship. Send comments here or @OutdoorsNWmag
Editor’s Note: Want more backcountry and snow-sport stories? Read more at www.OutdoorsNW.com and keep your eyes open for our annual SNOW Guide!
