There is nothing purer than skiing down untouched slopes covered with fresh powder snow when it comes to skiing. Off-piste adventures such as freeriding skiing have seen a significant increase in popularity over the past several years. Today, more and more skiers are drawn to their favorite ski resort’s untouched powder snow slopes, which are becoming more popular.
Have you ever thought about giving freeriding skiing a chance? In this article, we will provide you with tips for preparing for skiing freeride in the mountains.
What is freeride skiing? Freeriding is one of the disciplines of freestyle snowboarding. It consists of generally big mountain riding, with natural obstacles to avoid instead of rails and jumps. It requires a high technical ability to ride through rough terrain while controlling direction, balance, speed, and various other factors.
There are many styles within freeriding which include but are not limited to: free carving, boarder cross, halfpipe freestyle, and big mountain free skiing. These styles vary massively depending on the terrain, snow conditions, and personal preference.
It is the combination of freeriding and skis touring that creates avalanche danger in spring snow. During freeriding, you often ride to high elevation slopes where the snow has been wind loaded during winter storms. When riding high elevation slopes, you are more likely to be above or near the weak layer because the soft layer forms lower down on the slope and weak layers like faceted snow tend to be near the ground.
The availability of several off-piste slopes accessible by ski lifts nowadays, however, is one of the many factors contributing to the steady increase in the number of skiing freeride aficionados.
Learning how to ski on powder snow is necessary while skiing or snowboarding in skiing freeride zone, and acquiring the proper technique is crucial. It is considerably different from skiing on groomed slopes in that the motions necessary while skiing on powder snow are very different. Therefore, skiers who are new to freeriding should accompany an experienced guide when they first try it out. Guides not only know their resorts like the back of their hands, but they’re also capable of instructing newcomers on the proper technique for skiing in deep snowfall.
Skiers with more experience may, nevertheless, benefit from the expertise of the professionals. Besides skimming through thick powder snow, freeriding skiing includes steep, backcountry descents and jumps over natural obstacles, which combine to make the sport what it is at its core: an adrenaline-inducing experience in the middle of stunning mountain landscapes.
How do I prepare for my first ski trip?
A powder snow avalanche warning sign.
Freeride skiers should always pay attention to warning signs and information boards for their own safety, and they should always obey the recommendations on such boards.
Ski routes
Ski routes, sometimes called Ski-Ways, Ski Runs, or Ski Lifts. They help people get up and down hills on skiing slopes quickly and easily. Nowadays, guarded ski routes may be found in many ski resorts; they are denoted by dashed yellow or red lines to indicate their location on resort maps.
Avalanche awareness
When it comes to freeriding, safety is the number one priority since disobeying alpine safety guidelines may have life-threatening implications. Novices should continually educate themselves on the dangers and potential natural hazards associated with a skiing freeride trip before embarking on one. That’s why taking an avalanche preparatory course is a must. This type, of course, teaches you freeride skiers all they need to know about safety, including how to ski safely in freeride zones, what the various types of snow conditions and descents involve, how weather conditions affect freeriding, how to prepare for an off-piste tour, and how to operate all of their protective gear and equipment properly.
Avalanche danger levels
The European Avalanche Warning Services (EAWS) developed an avalanche danger scale with five levels to evaluate the risk and hazard of avalanches in the European Union (EU). Each of the five categories corresponds to a distinct degree of avalanche danger. According to the EAWS scale, the avalanche course covers all of the risk conditions that might arise. The five degrees of risk are as follows: 1 (low), 2 (moderate), 3 (substantial), 4 (high), and 5 (extreme). Tourists and ski resort owners use the scale and government agencies to determine the degree of hazard in a certain area. Therefore, freeride skiers should constantly be aware of the present hazard level and adhere to the directions of local instructors and/or staff members.
Tips for Preparing for a freeriding skiing
Learn the basics
Without a good foundation in the fundamentals of skiing, you will suffer when the going gets tough on the mountain. Although you may get away with poor technique in excellent conditions and deep powder, you will be penalized in lousy weather.
This is regularly observed on the Freeride World Tour, where Swedish riders excel under challenging circumstances. The Swedish cyclists are superior in lousy snow. This is because most days in Sweden, the snow is significantly wind impacted, resulting in frozen cauliflower forms on the top mountain, and backslapping the landing results in a broken back. Skiing successfully in these circumstances requires good balance, trusting your legs to absorb noise, and your technique to keep the edges gripped.
Take ski boots, beacon, shovel, and other useful stuff
Alpine skiing legend Marcel Hirscher carries 27 pairs of ski boots on his world cup tour. Yes, 27 pairs! Not everyone has the stamina to carry many pairs of boots, but it shows how vital it is to get the proper footwear.
What constitutes a good ski boot is subjective, yet when it comes to performance under duress. Many of the finest riders still compete with alpine racing boots. Not because they are comfortable to walk in, or because the rigid plastic soles are excellent for climbing to the very top of the line, or because they are lightweight to travel with, but for other reasons. Instead, they are chosen for their ability to provide the most exemplary input from the snow, their significant suspension/rebound, and the fact that they will last you for many, many years.
But alpine racing boots aren’t for everyone, and there are numerous ways to upgrade your present boots. Substitute a thicker, more durable liner for days when you need the most out of your boot. Most ski shops provide a foam-injected liner for this purpose. A Booster strap may be substituted for your Velcro strap if you want to boost the reaction of your boot.
You can also take Beacon and shovel in case of an avalanche. As well, it is recommended to install applications that will help you contact rescuers if you want hassle-free and safe connections in your freeriding so that you can try the VeePN VPN app for Android. You can download VPN for Android from VeePN’s android download page, which will surely help you improve your freeriding experience. So don’t be late and get your free trial and VeePN’s official website.
Air awareness
The more advanced your freeriding skiing abilities get, the greater the need for air awareness becomes since the route you pick will undoubtedly push you to put your wings to the test. While the sensation of freedom that a successful huck offers you mid-run is impossible to surpass if you are comfortable being in the air, if you aren’t, well, let’s just say you’re missing out!
There are a variety of approaches that you may use to improve your air awareness. Take a tip from Sweden’s finest resort skier, Mr. Afterski himself, Carl Regner Eriksson, when the only thing available at your resort is a few lonely pistes with no cliffs or park jumps insight early in the season. He’ll teach you how to ski like Mr. Afterski. When you watch him racing around the resort, throwing nose butter 5’s over little knuckles, and taking advantage of every minor feature to have the most fun possible, you can’t help but smile! If you have a few spare minutes on a down day or during the off-season, visiting your local trampoline park is a terrific opportunity to put your new feats into practice.
Whenever the snow is good and you’re ready to take on the challenge of shucking cliffs in the backcountry, which is pretty likely one of the most freeing things you can do on a pair of skis, we spoke with the Mayor himself about his favorite tactics for learning to stomp in the backcountry.
We genuinely hope that these few pointers and hints may be of use to you on your ski or snowboarding adventures.
