Off-piste skiing and boarding – staying safe

Many skiers and boarders spend their time dreaming of heading off-piste into the backcountry. It is hard to beat the feeling of swooping down an open slope of deep, light powder snow or charging through the trees with cold, fresh snow exploding around you on every turn.

As fun as it might be, riding away from patrolled and secured areas is not without risk so here we look at a few things to bear in mind when heading into the backcountry. Remember that some people spend a lifetime learning how to stay safe in the mountains and there is no substitute for experience and going with a qualified instructor or mountain guide.

How far off-piste do I need to be for it to be dangerous?

In Europe, the safest assumption is that unless it is a run marked as open, it has not been secured. This means you can potentially put yourself in harm's way as soon as you step off the piste or onto a closed run.

Why do avalanches happen?

Although other hazards exist, avalanches are the biggest single danger off-piste and as soon as you leave the marked runs there is a potential risk. The science behind understanding and predicting avalanches is constantly evolving but a basic awareness of what leads to avalanches is important if you are considering heading off-piste.

• As snow falls through the season, it builds up in layers to form the snowpack. Avalanches occur when a weak layer in the snowpack fails. Imagine two planks of wood with ball bearings between them – the ball bearings are the weak layer and the top layer of wood is the avalanche.
• Wind is very likely to lead to these weak layers being created in the form of wind slabs, layers of snow that are poorly bonded with the snow directly under them in the snowpack. Unstable wind slabs tend to form on lee slopes (slopes that are sheltered from the wind). If you know the wind has been blowing from the north, south facing slopes are likely to be more dangerous. Remember wind slabs can be buried by fresh snow, making them harder to spot.
• Low temperatures may lead to poor bonding of snow layers. Under cold conditions, especially when they are accompanied by a thin snowpack, snow crystals on the ground transform into depth hoar. Depth hoar is easy to recognise as it looks and feels like sugar and cannot be made into a snowball. The result can be a dangerously weak layer buried beneath the surface.
• High temperatures can also lead to unstable snow through melting but these wet snow avalanches are generally easier to predict. The hotter it gets the more likely it is to slide. Melted snow that has frozen again is stable.
• Remember, 90% of avalanche incidents are caused by the victim or one of the group.

What to look out for on the mountain

• How steep is the slope? Bear in mind that avalanches can happen on fairly gentle slopes and there may be a steeper area above you.
• Cornices – unstable wind slabs are often found down slope from cornices.
• What has the weather been doing recently? Has it been windy? Has it snowed heavily? Has there been a sharp rise in temperature? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, take care.
• What is the terrain like? If you were caught by an avalanche where would it take you? Are there cliffs you might be taken over, trees you might hit or ravines you might be pushed into?
• Convex slopes (which get steeper on the way down) are more likely to be unstable than concave slopes (which get less steep on the way down).
• Are there signs of previous avalanches? If all the slopes facing one way are covered in slides, this should tell you something.
• Noises – if a slope starts to make “whumphing” noises, clear out of there as it is giving you a clear warning it wants to slide. The same goes for any visual cracks that start to appear on the snow.

Good practice off-piste

• Never ride alone and choose your off-piste partner(s) wisely. Try and ride with a friend or friends whom you feel you can trust to make the right decisions and who will be able to get you out of trouble in the event of an avalanche or other incident.
• Just because a lift is open, don't assume everything you can get to from the top is secure. An avalanche can happen 10 metres from a lift as easily as it can 10 kilometres from the nearest lift.
• When traversing a slope, cross one at a time – if the whole group is caught who will save you?
• If you are in any doubt, go down a slope one at a time and use big rocks to shelter behind before the next person sets off. Stopping in the middle of an exposed slope to take pictures of your friends is a great way of asking for trouble.
• Don’t just follow tracks in the snow if you don't know where they lead. Tracks don't necessarily mean a slope is secure and besides, what if the person who made them didn't know the way either and ended up at the bottom of a cliff?
• If you are unsure about a slope just say no. It can be so difficult to do this but however good it might look, it probably isn't worth dying for.

After all that doom and gloom, you would be forgiven for never setting foot on a mountain again, and though this article offers some guidelines, there is never a guarantee of safety when off-piste. However, there is little to beat the feeling of off-piste skiing and snowboarding, and an awareness of the potential risks involved can help you get the most out of what the mountains have to offer and keep you coming back year after year.

© Text by Ben Birt

Ben Birt is a ski instructor who works both on and off-piste with Snow Connections Ski and Snowboard School in Serre Chevalier, France.
He holds the highest BASI Instructor qualification, the International Ski Teacher Diploma. He also has a Masters Degree in Environmental Science and works as a freelance writer.