Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Trips
Our Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Trips
Join our backcountry ski/snowboard and AIARE avalanche classes in Truckee and Lassen National park, with the professional guides of the OAC.
Professional guides. Great education. A great adventure.
Are you looking to get in to the backcountry this season? Do you want to learn to backcountry ski or snowboard from professional guides and avalanche educators? Sign up for a weekend of backcountry skiing and snowboarding with the Outdoor Adventure Club, or an AIARE avalanche class and that’s exactly what you’ll get.
Your Outdoor Adventure Club guide will put you and the group on the best snow possible each day. If there’s powder out there, your guide will know where to find it…even when other groups don’t!
If you sign up for an intro to backcountry ski/snowboard weekend you’ll get an introduction to backcountry gear, and instructions on what and how to pack for the day. In the field you’ll be taught the basics and the finer points of backcountry skiing and snowboarding. You’ll learn how to use the gear, proper skinning technique so you can “ski” uphill, proper technique for traversing, and several techniques for making uphill turns. You’ll also have an avalanche awareness presentation, and companion rescue practice each day we’re in the field.
If you sign up for an experienced backcountry ski/snowboard weekend, you’ll get more skiing and snowboarding in. Our expectation on these days is you know how to skin, how to traverse, and how to make uphill kick turns. With an experienced group we have the option of traveling a little further into the backcountry to find the best snow each day. Our experienced backcountry ski/snowboard trips also include companion rescue training and practice, too.
A typical backcountry day includes several runs, and several thousand feet of skiing and boarding. Your day starts with your guide taking several observations, and checking the avalanche advisories to confirm the plan for the day. You’re welcome to participate in the process, increasing your avalanche and snow conditions awareness. In the field we have an amazing choice of terrain available to us, from gentle slopes to some fairly steep terrain. There’s truly something for all skill levels. Where we ski or snowboard each day will depend on a number of factors. Some slopes are a quick 20 minute approach from the trailhead, others require more approach time.
OAC guides are also AIARE avalanche educators, and all our backcountry trips include some avalanche awareness training, and companion rescue practice. If you’ve been through an AIARE avalanche class, you’re welcome to participate in the trip planning each night, and to ask as many questions to your guide about the avalanche conditions as you’d like.
When you come on an Outdoor Adventure Club backcountry ski/snowboard weekend you get all this, plus a fun social weekend with OAC friends.Our program is in both Truckee/Tahoe and in Lassen National Park. On Lassen trips, you have the option of staying in the OAC house in the town of Mineral, just outside of Lassen National Park.