57hours Magazine

Lake Tahoe is home to arguably the best skiing on the West Coast thanks to its deep, stable maritime snowpack. Throw in easy access to airports, amenities, and vast backcountry terrain and you have a recipe for success.

When roughing it doesn’t cut it, head to the alpine huts of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains for full-service, Alps-like, backcountry skiing. They’ll have the fire lit, and cocktails mixed.

It’s rare to be alone on the skintrack in Jackson Hole these days. Before you head out—along with many others—here are a few etiquette tips to keep in mind so that everyone can have fun and be safe in the backcountry.

Are you looking to expand the boundaries of your skiing? Heading into the backcountry for the first time can be both humbling and intimidating, but this new territory also unlocks unlimited possibilities.

Spurred on by the thunderous cheers of spectators below, skiers hurl themselves over the ravine headwall at lightning speeds. Awaiting them at the bottom is either eternal glory or a stretcher to an ambulance. In Tuckerman Ravine, this is a Tuesday.

Climbers have Yosemite, backcountry skiers have Jackson Hole. It’s that simple.

Above the Arctic Circle in Norway is a chain of untouched ski lines known as the Lyngen Alps. The best way to explore? By backcountry ski touring and boat.

Deep within the heart of the Canadian Rockies lies the Wapta Icefield. This snowy wilderness is home to not one, but two of the country’s most popular hut-to-hut skiing tours—the Wapta and Bow-Yoho—just yearning for your turns.

More skiers in the backcountry means increased risk: of avalanches, land access issues, and butting heads with others. A frank discussion on etiquette sets us all up for a better season.

There’s skiing, and then there’s ski touring in Iceland. Nowhere else can you travel through lava fields and icy fjords, earn your turns on glaciers and volcanoes, then ride down all the way to the ocean.

Despite its name, skiing la Grave is more than intimidating terrain and technical couloirs. You can be an intermediate freeride skier and still have a lot of fun—the sheer diversity of off-piste skiing la guarantees it!

Can you green your ski vacation? Guide and environmentalist, Greg Hill, explores the potential of sustainably-minded trips to offset the impact of adventure.

Accessible year-round skiing in the heart of the Cascades is why I high-trailed my way west of the Mississippi to Mount Hood. You Ore-gonna love it here!

Washington simply radiates adventure. If you were to open a map of the North Cascades, close your eyes and point, you'll find the backcountry location of your dreams.

Even before Lake Tahoe had a ski resort, this region gained admirers for its stunning backcountry access. Grab your shades, come for the snowpack, and stay for the wide-open terrain.

With the best skiing B.C. has to offer, backcountry lodges are your perfect unplugged getaways hidden deep in Western Canada’s jaw-dropping alpine paradise.

Aspen backcountry is no laughing matter, but even beginners can gain bragging rights for bagging peaks on Colorado’s notorious Elk Mountain Range.

If you’re looking for stoke, you’ll find it in Revy.

No one knows where to find the best powder better than ACMG Ski Guide and 57hours Ambassador Greg Hill. Find out what he considers to be the ten best places for backcountry skiing in the world.

Known as the Golden State, California fulfills its promise for sun and surf, but it also has some of the best laid-back powder stashes in the country. “Eureka!” indeed.

There are once-in-a-lifetime adventures. Then, there’s an arctic skiing and sailing expedition that lets you call a yacht home.

Consider this Backcountry Skiing 101 — a crash course in backcountry basics to help you carve your first lines on deep, untracked powder.

You’ve seen photos of #japow flood your social feeds, but is Japan powder skiing all it’s made out to be? Ski Guide Greg Hill thinks so. Here’s his story of chasing deep snow on Hokkaido.

Synonymous with deep powder and long descents, Rogers Pass is classic Western Canada backcountry skiing at its best.

Find out the best places to backcountry ski in Canada from the man who famously skied 2 million vertical feet in one year.

Chamonix backcountry skiing is as good as it gets, and a tour through Vallee Blanche, Col du Passon and Col de Beugeant will have you yearning to get to this incredible off-piste area.

Three days in Aspen’s backcountry, skiing hut-to-hut before making one final epic descent. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Rogers Pass has everything I’ve ever wanted as a backcountry skier — big vertical, deep powder and endless opportunity.

When you combine the epic Wasatch terrain with 500” of annual snowfall and easy backcountry access, you get the best off-piste ski locations in not just Utah, but the whole country.