WildSnow

Nothing makes big skis less fun than lightweight boots incapable of piloting them. Add some coral reef snow or breakable crust into the equation and it can turn into a downright ankle-snapping bad day scenario. But like with skis, boots are one of the heaviest elements in the backcountry ski kit. There’s some meat on the bone that boot tinkerers are still working to trim without sacrificing too much skiing performance.

Powder skiing the La Sportiva Tempos. Photo: Roo Smith “As much fun as you can have on skis” is a note I scribbled in my pocket notebook the first time I took a pair of 4FRNT Hojis into deep, steep powder. Big skis in stacked powder, there’s just nothing else like it. If that’s not what backcountry skiers are chasing, I don’t know what is. Then last season I dropped into a deep, steep powder run in Chamonix basking in a late afternoon glow. I slashed into huge, deep turns at full speed.

Cam Smith in the ISMF Mixed Relay After exploding in popularity in the US over the last few years (decades behind Europe), Skimo makes its Olympic debut at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games. If you or someone you know has raced the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, Cam Smith probably set the course record that year. After not just securing an Olympic spot, but also winning the Skimo World Cup in Utah, Smith and trail runner and Nordic phenom Anna Gibson are in Italy prepping for the start line.

I’ll never forget staring down the barrel of Colorado’s Cross Couloir with skis on my back. The wind was hammering on a frigid April dawn as I slowly lost feeling in my fingers. A deep shiver set in. I stood on top hunkered behind a rock waiting for my partners scrambling through the rimed scree below me. Was it the cold or the anxiety causing me to second guess this whole day?

I was deep into a rotating cycle of Gu’s, Honey Stinger Waffles, and a Costco-sized box of Clif Bars when I met Lily and Max Ritter. We stood atop the Aiguille du Midi as I bit into a stale, scientifically-contrived calorie bar that only dulled the sensations inspired by one of skiing’s greatest panoramas. Meanwhile Lily and Max traded actual food back and forth out of their ski packs. An assortment of baked-that-morning croissants, fluffy pastries, and foil-wrapped pizza.

The middle width skis strike a suspiciously good balance of float, stability, power, and lack of weight I couldn’t help but regret my ski choice for a hot second when I showed up to a fresh foot of snow blanketing the glaciers around Chamonix. I had agonized over which skis to bring on the trip for weeks. One ski to do it all in a mecca of big skiing on vast, glaciated, and challenging terrain? It’s a tall order. Fischer’s Transalp 98 CTI’s got the nod.

The weight of these 103mm waisted freeride powder blasters will surprise you I wasn’t wearing a skimo speed suit the first time I clicked into a pair of La Sportiva’s skis. It was a media trip in Marble two years ago. Conditions were unbelievably deep. Like snorkel deep. It was tough to go wrong with any of La Sportiva’s freeride-oriented boards on offer when the snow was that good. I spent most of my laps on the mid-width 103mm underfoot Tempo’s.

Waterproof and breathable, mega chest pockets, and a clean aesthetic are the ingredients for a solid backcountry skiing hardshell It’s easy to write about outerwear with the newest tech, cutting edge membrane, or really innovative features. That’s half the reason those features exist – to stand out in marketing copy. But is that what backcountry skiers really need? My taste in jackets is almost boring: give me chest pockets, a trim fit, good arm articulation, solid breathability, and a clean look.

I searched “huts” in the Wildsnow search bar and it didn’t take much scrolling or convincing for me to fill a morning with hut reports and tales of shacks and shelters. From Noah Howell’s jungle dancing French Ridge Hut story to Louie Dawson’s South American Hut-to-hut to Lou Dawson’s hut diversity ponderings featured in Couloir Magazine back in the 1980s. My latest hut trip over the first week of February wasn’t like those at all.

Backpacks and the backcountry go hand in hand. Or, strap in strap, or whatever analogy you’d like to make to emphasize how naked you’ll feel in the backcountry without a pack to carry the necessary tools to rescue your friends should things go south.