I get a lot of people asking about how to get into ski mountaineering. But first, what is ski mountaineering, truly? Well… its mountaineering with skis… obviously. Let’s break that down though.
One way we could look at it is: skiing in terrain where exposure to falling hazards necessitate technical skills similar to mountaineering. This can include rope systems like belaying or rappelling, anchor building, as well as ice climbing and crampon use. In ski mountaineering we find the culmination of mountain travel skillsets. Snow and ice climbing, rock climbing, managing exposure with technical and non technical solutions. And then throw in the freedom of skiing.
Most skiers focus on the skiing thing thing and the mountaineering thing is more of a secondary concern. It’s easy to see it this way; in many cases we spend all day ski touring and only a handful of minutes using any technical solutions. At casual glance it doesn’t seem very complicated. And for some of the people on the team it isn’t very complicated. Just as it’s much less daunting to follow a multi pitch route climbing, it’s much less daunting to “follow’ a technical ski. This key differentiation between leader and follower is not as obvious in skiing as climbing though.
At causal glance, watching a skilled operator take the lead implementing some technical solutions might not look very complicated, but the depth of experience in traditional climbing needed to quickly and efficiently identify and manage exposure with belays and anchors shouldn’t be understated. While for someone “following” the same objective it’s easy to jump right in with a pretty introductory knowledge of climbing systems.
I often have experienced skiers wanting to short cut into the ski mountaineering. This is fine as long as your realistic about your goals, its very possible to jump into the deep end with a skilled leader or guide, but to be able to take the reigns your self requires a much deeper depth of experience.
If you want to take the lead on ski mountaineering objectives you need to be a well rounded mountain traveler–this means both as a skier and climber. A relatively deep understanding of traditional rock climbing is essential and in some cases you might need to add in proficiency with ice and glaciers as well. You need to learn about and practice technical solutions in the less time pressured context of traditional rock climbing to be able to execute effectively in a ski context.
If you want to become the well rounded mountain traveler start adding in climbing skills early on, they take time to become fluent. At first focus on the skills necessary to be a follower on a descent. Create a good foundation, build from sport climbing inside, to outside, to traditional climbing and multi-pitch climbing. Ultimately though, its multi pitch traditional climbing that will give you the skillset you need. If ski mountaineering is where you’re ultimately heading it’s worth learning traditional climbing from someone who skis as well as climbs.