Best winter sports books according to redditors

This is a fun academic question, but I think it's somewhat dangerous to think about. You get the hell out of there ASAP.

You were not prepared for the worst case scenario weather. The weather can unexpectedly turn sour in shoulder seasons despite what the weather forecast may say. This isn't summer backpacking anymore. You need to carry gear for the worst case scenario because you are almost guaranteed that it will happen at some point.

I think ultralight isn't a good paradigm for these conditions. Go read Trauma and Pepper's book about ultralight winter camping. It's a real stretch to call their gear ultralight.

What other gear are you using? Trail runners? A quilt that isn't warm enough? A sleeping pad that isn't rated for these conditions? A tiny headlamp?

Let's say you decide to hunker down and try to survive the night. Do you freeze to death due to inadequate gear? Does your tarp blow away? What is it going to look like in the morning? Do you awake to the trail completely covered in snow with no obvious tracks to get yourself back? Is the trail now an icy, dangerous mess? Are you going to be wallowing back home in trail runners and no gaiters, placing yourself at severe risk for hypothermia and frostbite? In the morning, conditions are likely to be much worse than they are now.

No, you throw on your headlamp, grab your GPS, and spend the night trying to walk out.

Ultralight Winter Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Lightweight Winter Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking

https://www.amazon.com/Ultralight-Winter-Travel-Lightweight-Backpacking/dp/1493026100

Written by the guys that thru hiked the PCT in the winter and thru skied the TRT

That FB Group is good, found a partner for a cardigan tour their with a day's notice. Also checkout the north east noobski.

David Goodman's book is a must read (https://www.amazon.com/Best-Backcountry-Skiing-Northeast-Classic-ebook/dp/B0066E8UXI).

Also, Granite Backcountry Alliance in NH and RASTA in VT are great resources.

All right. Just went through my library and the following stood out to me:


Desert Solitaire (1968) by Edward Abbey: One of the best American voices for conservation spent some seasons as a park ranger in the desert southwest. Here are some brilliant, funny, and soundly critical musings inspired by his time there.


A Continuous Harmony (1972) & The Unsettling of America (1977) by Wendell Berry: In my opinion, Wendell Berry is the best cultural critic we've ever had. He's 86 now and still a powerful voice of reason in a chaotic society. Dismissed mistakenly by fools as someone who just wants to go back to the old days, he offers much-needed critiques on our decomposing relationship to the land and what it's been doing to our culture.


Night Comes to the Cumberlands (1962) by Harry M. Caudill: This Kentucky native saw what the predatory and morally bankrupt coal industry had done to the people and land (and the relationship between the two) in Appalachia and outlined how it all happened in powerful inarguable detail. This book serves as a stern warning about what chaos and destruction industries can bring forth when profit is their only concern. Anyone wondering why Appalachia is full of depressed drug addicts can find the roots of those issues in this book, which inspired The War on Poverty.

The Big Sky (1947) by A.B. Guthrie Jr. : A classic novel about a young kid who runs away to join the fur trade in the frontier days. It tells a very believable story, rather than chasing the overblown myths of the West like most novels dealing with that subject.

Shantyboat (1977) & Payne Hollow by Harlan Hubbard: He and his wife Anna built a truly rewarding and pleasant life together almost entirely independent of modern industrial society in the 1940s and 50s, first floating down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on a shantyboat they built, living from temporary gardens and trading with people they met along the river, and then settling into Payne Hollow where they lived a realer-than-Thoreau existence together for decades. True love, and true meaningful living.

Of Wolves and Men (1978) by Barry Lopez: Rogan seems to think he's some kind of authority on wolves and I cringe every time I hear him start talking about them. It doesn't begin and end with "These are savage fucking predators that need to be controlled!" He seriously needs to read this book, which is a beautifully-written and exhaustive look at the history of the relationship between human and wolves. Like most interesting things, it is a complex issue.

My Life With The Eskimo (1909?) by Vilhjalmur Stefansson: The accounts of an ethnologist traveling through the arctic before much contact had been made between Europeans and Natives. Incredible stories of survival and the inevitable interesting situations that occur when two vastly different cultures meet.

The Marsh Arabs (1964) & Arabian Sands (1959) by Wilfred Thesiger: This dude went deep. Deep into the marshes of Southern Iraq and deep into the Empty Quarter of Arabia. Both books are amazing accounts of voyages through incredible parts of the world whose geography and people have since been changed forever.

The Mountain People (1972) by Colin M. Turnbull: This anthropologist lived with the Ik in Uganda as they went through a complete cultural disintegration brought on by starvation during a drought. Reading this, one sees how quickly complete tragic anarchy takes hold when basic resources are in desperate need. Humanity went out the window.

Let me know if you ever read any of these, and how you like them. I would bet they provide anyone with good food for thought and discussion.

Trauma and Pepper did their Winter PCT thru hike with a 4-person MLD mid with a Ti Goat WIFI wood stove that weighed a combined 3lb. About 20lb lighter than the Luxe system by the look of it. It might be worth considering their setup if you haven't already. They write about it in their Ultralight Winter Travel book.

Ti Goat isn't currently selling the WIFI stove but I recently talked with Josh and he said he'd have them back in the store in Dec. Ron at MLD made a custom fire-proof collar for the stove chimney.

I've never Winter camped with a wood stove but it sounds like a cool idea. Get to stay warm during the long nights and dry out any wet gear.

David Goodman wrote a great book you should check out.

There's actually an ENTIRE paperback out that shows pictures of them all and has some history: Powder Ghost Towns

http://www.amazon.com/Powder-Ghost-Towns-Backcountry-Colorados/dp/089997466X

Hey y'all! Some folks have posted good fb groups, but I thought I'd post a few resources for where to start, in case you've never toured the backcountry in New England. David Goodman's book, Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast might be considered our Bible. There is one major, brand-new asterisk, and that is that many of the newly gladed areas have been developed since the most recent release of the book. So as a result, places like Brandon Gap (VT), Maple Villa (NH), and Ascutney Outdoors (VT) never had a chance to be in the book.

My starter recommendation: begin by getting (or at least reading, you can probably find much of the contents online, but David Goodman seems like a good man so buy the book) the Goodman book, and deciding how much you want to get into the sport.

For example, most steep tours require (or seriously recommend) skins and a touring setup, while some can be done on classic skis with metal edges (sometimes called 'touring skis' but they are distinctly XC skis), and still others (like Tuckerman late season) can be done by bootpacking alone.

For gear: This question is frequently posed, so I'll provide a suggestion: I would not recommend relying on bootpacking for backcountry access (except for the steepest terrain, >35 degrees and narrow, like Tuckerman late season), since bootpacking is at best exhausting and extremely inefficient as a means of travel. We've all awkwardly stumbled through 16 inches of fresh in driveways or whatever to get to our cars; imagine doing that for several miles rather than a few dozen feet! At the bare minimum, snowshoes (and skis/ski boots on your back) are useful. Skins and a touring setup are ideal. If you do choose to brave the bootpack method, then congratulations on being in phenomenal shape! Please don't boot in the skin track (this is a big faux pas).

For avalanche awareness: Please do be aware that avalanches can and do occur frequently in the Northeast. The biggest defense we have is an awareness of context: for example, avalanches don't frequently sweep slopes less steep than 25 degrees, and that covers most of the backcountry glade skiing you'll do (for context, Killington's Outer Limits trail is ~32 degrees, and 25 degrees is roughly the steepness of lower East Fall, Royal Flush, or Highline, at Killington. Roughly. The point is, 25 degrees won't bore you). It's worth noting that even relatively shallow slopes can slide (including slopes as low as 15 degrees) in extreme circumstances. Furthermore, it's imperative that travel into avalanche terrain not happen at all before avalanche awareness is learned (via course, ideally), and avvy gear is acquired.

For risk: Another aspect of backcountry skiing that too frequently gets ignored (everywhere, in the west, as well) is risk awareness beyond avalanche issues, and with that, an understanding of how much risk each individual is willing to take on. Backcountry skiing, by its widest definition, is any skiing that takes place away from or outside the boundaries of a resort or ski area. It follows that, for example, if you go XC skiing on a flat farmfield by yourself in western mass, and twist your ankle, well, hopefully you can walk back to your car. Point being, injuries due to the sport itself are massively risky when you are far from help, even if those injuries are unlikely to happen. Consider who you are traveling with, where you are traveling, your means of traveling, the conditions, and whether all these factors combine to an acceptable level of risk for you. It's a good thing to keep in mind when you ski away from resorts.

I hope all this is helpful! I'll also remind y'all that backcountry skiing is, predominantly, fun and aerobically tiring. So those two factors (the fun and the aerobics) will be a huge factor as you start to abandon the chairlifts. Come join! It's great!

Anyone who's read "The Snow Walker's Companion" wouldn't be surprised to hear this....
Recommended for those who venture out when it is damn cold.

You should grab a copy of this book to get you started. Not all tours in there are great for splitters but they make mention if its good for shredders or not. Besides the obvious Tucks / sherbie, the Cog is an awesome go to. Your best bet at finding new places is head to the local watering holes (read Moat, Schilling, Woodstock, etc.) and make friends. Shred bums love to talk about their adventures gear and beta... especially when you put a few craft brews in em. Hope to see you in the North Country soon!

I'd recommend checking out Ultralight Winter Travel by Justin Lichter and Shawn Forry, who thru hiked the PCT in Winter using a modified MLD mid and wood stove.

MLD custom modified one of their DCF Supermids by adding a fire-resistant Kevlar boot (only added 3oz), and they also added a spindrift skirt around the perimeter. Total pyramid weight around 1.5lb.

Their stove was the Ti Goat WiFi stove, just over 1.5lb.

Edit: I noticed that Ruta Locura, who sell the Ti Goat WiFi stove, are no longer listing it on their product page. I've emailed Josh to see if they have plans to bring it back. It's a really awesome stove stove design so I hope they do bring it back.

I came here to recommend this too. Accompanied with a cotton over anorak and a sash. You can find plans to sew your own anorak using a cotton drop cloth in this book by the Conovers.

I made two, and that accompanied by a Wool Blanket shirt made by Empire Canvas works keeps me toasty warm here in the frigid north at -30C

I did not make mine double layered like the book because my sewing skills just aren't that great yet, and it still works pretty darn good.

Introduction to Curling Strategy:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941164021?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Max Pass is good if you live in Connecticut. Plenty of stuff on there good for day trips or weekends. This year Whiteface, Gore, Windham and Bellayre have been added, giving even more options. Then you can also do trips out west with it if you want.

There loads of backcountry, much of it focused on the White Mountains in NH. If you're into backcountry this book is a good place to start. Tucks is awesome.

Boston here too. Not sure if anyone does backcountry group trips, but let me know if you find one! There's some decent side/back country terrain at Bolton Valley and Sugarloaf should have a whole bunch of new sidecountry stuff this year. If you're looking for an easy day trip, the Thunderbolt trail can be fun. There's also a few hut to hut routes you can do in the Whites and up near Katahdin in Baxter State Park. Tons more too in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Backcountry-Skiing-Northeast-Classic/dp/1934028142

I have not done it, but I have considered it. The gate is right on Highway 40. I mapped it quickly and I think you're looking at over 8 km just to get to the base of the mountain, almost entirely uphill. The ride down would be fun though.

This is the classic book of backcountry ride in Western Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/Summits-Icefields-Canadian-Chic-Scott/dp/189476546X/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320948337&sr=1-7

I can recommend Black Prince Cirque as a beginner spot, or Bow Summit. Here's BPC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7NmA13EPRc

And here are your avy warnings: http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/partners. Reports will also give hints about where the best riding is (direction of face, treeline or above, etc.). I strongly suggest you take a two-day avy course if you haven't already.

This is great advice I don't have much to add here other than some additional reading. Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast: 50 Classic Ski Tours in New England and New York is also a great resource for information. There is an entire section devoted to Tucks that you should photocopy and stuff in your pack the first time you head up.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Backcountry-Skiing-Northeast-Classic/dp/1934028142
Get this book

Best parts:

• Skiing 560k+ vertical ft (a lot for an office worker in a city); almost 40% of those were in powder.
  
  
• Covering 11 of the 50 mountains from Fifty Places to Ski and Snowboard Before You Die
  
  
• Going to Utah from NYC with less than 30 hours notice. I told work I'd be taking significant amounts of vacation time, but I didn't know when. I booked my tickets when I saw a series of storms about to hit the Wasatch, and stayed for 10 days.
  
  Worst parts:
  
  
• Not being sufficiently prepared for my first tour by Tuckerman Ravine in December. I didn't have breakfast, and my food/water froze in the nasty -20° C (-4° F) weather. It was -35 °C (-31 °F) with wind chill, and we were out there for 8 hours. To make matters worse, I dressed too warmly during the uphill, sweat a lot, got all my clothes wet, and then got frozen when we stopped to dig snow pits. I pulled a muscle in my leg, so skiing down was difficult and incredibly painful. I honestly thought I was going to die that day.
  
  
• Booking a 6 day trip to Whistler months in advance. When we went, it hadn't snowed in over a month, and everything was bulletproof ice. On our last day, a big storm front moved in and it dumped for days.

Some resources:

https://www.mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org/ - only forecasting in the Northeast, and should really be taken into consideration for the entirety of the Whites.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Backcountry-Skiing-Northeast-Classic/dp/1934028142 - probably the 'bible' for NE backcountry.

https://www.rastavt.org/trails/brandon-gap/ - Cool spot in VT, and snow conditions would be pretty similar to Killington.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Adirondacks/ - Plenty of information here on conditions if you decide to venture into the high peaks. Couple cool ski trails and slides in the region.

https://www.powderproject.com/ - Pretty sparse listings as of now, but that might change in the future as its relatively new?

Doing squats (with weights) and wall-sits also helps, although your legs are probably strong enough from skiing. Honestly, since you're a competent skier you're probably better off spending less time in the gym and more time on the mountain.

This book helped me a lot my first year:
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Snowboarding-Kevin-Ryan/dp/1570281440/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291094123&sr=8-1

The language and illustrations are super-cheesy and your buddies are going to make fun of you when you're reading it in the lodge, but the fundamentals are described pretty well. It's also cheap: $12.

Keep yourself low (like you're pooping) and get used to having one edge at a time. You'll do great.

This would be a good resource. David is a well respected skier and writer in the Stowe/Waterbury area. The back and side country in Stowe really picks up later in the season, but keep an eye on the depth at the stake and you might get lucky. I wouldn't sleep on spruce peak either, there is a lot of really fun and accessible glades to ride off the top of the old Big Spruce lift.

My younger brother also had a lot of trouble reading growing up and it was a similar sort of "forget what the beginning of the sentence was by the time you get to the end" kind of thing. He is very smart and can remember/understand plots and stories but actually getting through a book was very difficult for him. He's doing much better now (just graduated high school and going to community college for a couple of years before transferring to a four year school) but it took a while to figure out what was going on. Part of it was that he had ADHD but what we weren't expecting was that he needed reading glasses! His sight was just bad enough that he had to really concentrate to read the words but not bad enough that he realized that that's what was making him so mentally fatigued. We got him the glasses and it really improved the situation. Its something you can check pretty easily- visit the eye doctor or just go into the store and try on a bunch of different prescriptions.

Other than that, I would say just stick with it and try going back to basics. Re-read some of the books you loved as a child- since you know/love the plots they will be easier to follow and finishing them might give you the boost of confidence to get into new books! As other people have said, talk to local librarians and see what they recommend. If you're looking for a good non-romance book, you can try Woodsong by Gary Paulsen. Its not very long and written in short and to-the-point prose; Paulsen talks about his experiences in the backwoods of the American west and his first Iditarod race. Its extremely gripping and definitely not anything like the stuff you read in high school! A lot of Paulsen's other works revolve around the man vs wild theme as well. And stay away from Twilight and the entire genre it has somehow spawned. :p

Good luck and let us know what happens!!

Do you mean the Nevis Range ski resort? This isn't actually on Ben Nevis itself, but a nearby hill.

Brave people have been known to ride the Ben itself - see the guide book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Offpiste-Skiing-Snowboarding-Nevis/dp/0992606500

Its Scotland - conditions are completely variable. Check out http://www.winterhighland.info/ for up to date conditions reports once the season starts.

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Walkers-Companion-Winter-Camping/dp/0976031337

Great book about a couple that traversed the Labrador Plateau in winter living off of their knowledge, kit and game they harvested.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Backcountry-Skiing-Northeast-Classic/dp/1934028142/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1P3O22P8S9SGH&keywords=best+backcountry+skiing+in+the+northeast&qid=1571319679&sprefix=northeast+backcountry+ski%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-1

I picked up this guide book a few years ago and there a few locations in the Adirondacks in there. I know you can ski down Wright for sure. I've never done it though. A few years ago I almost pulled the trigger on an alpine touring setup but ultimately realized that there are only a handful of days where the conditions are good enough for back-country skiing in the northeast.

Instroduction to Curling Strategy - the kindle version is just $4 and it's pretty comprehensive

I'm just exploring the North East BC myself. try: this
Also, you may want to check out guided BC stuff or reach out to the community in the Chic Chocs.

If you live in an area that works...earn your turns and hike your line dude. You get a workout, unique runs and bragging rights. There are books out there which might be able to help you find some places. Me and my buddies hike Mt. Washington closer to the spring time to earn some turns at Tuckerman's Ravine.

I know a lot of people are too cool for travel books, but as a backpacker myself, my Lonely Planet is my bible(s). I think something like this would be great for them! You can get other books like this for cheaper, just make sure it's from a reliable publisher and is current.

[Lonely Planet Antarctica (Country Travel Guide)] ( http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Antarctica-Country-Travel/dp/1741045495/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331404617&sr=1-2&tag=bookforyouru-20)

Here are a couple good books that offer some details on your topic:

DEEP The Story of Skiing and The Future of Snow

In Search of Powder: A Story of America's Disappearing Ski Bum

> 2 of htem have epic passes or whatever thats 14 days at various resorts, so going to be at Alta / Snowbird for 2 days

It sounds like they have the Mountain Collective pass. If that's true, they have access to Alta and Snowbird for both days.

Alta and Snowbird have lots of interesting advanced terrain inbounds that might be tricky to access if you don't know the way. If you don't want to hire a guide, then your best bet would be to either befriend a friendly local once you get there or study the shit out of The Powder Hound's Guide to Skiing Alta by Brad Asmus (there's one for Snowbird too).

If you are willing to shell out the dough for a guide, it looks like you can get a private lesson for $810 for three people at Alta.

However, I once attended one of their off-trail workshops ($85 per person) and once the instructors split us up into small groups of up to 5, they asked us if we wanted more of a lesson or more of a guided tour. My group chose a mix of both. You might ask to just be shown around the good stuff.

No matter what you end up doing, you're going to have a blast!

For Colorado folks -- Powder Ghost Towns is a fun little read. History and current beta on deserted ski areas open to backcountry skiing. Great material to have in the back of the ski-van to get stoked on trip planning while riding up to the hills.