At Swarm we spend a lot of time talking about sidecountry skiing. We've developed the perfect tool to facilitate it- The Goat. We all love to do it. In the mountains of Utah, where we're based, it seems to be exploding. Resorts are providing access to new terrain all the time to attract sidecountry skiers. But what is sidecountry skiing? Let me tell you. Sidecountry skiing is awesome. You know when you get off the lift at the very top of the resort? Usually you can look even higher and see big beautiful bowls with just a few tracks. You might wonder, "how did people get up there? Is that accessed from another lift? Another resort?" The answer is none of the above. Those tracks were made by sidecountry skiers. These are the people who value pristine terrain so much that they are willing to hike to get to it. They climb up ridges with their skis on their shoulders (or better, use The Goat) just to get a few turns in the untouched powder. They are willing to search the boundaries of the resort to find the perfect cliff drop, or hidden glade. Sidecountry skiing is all about getting off the beaten path. There are no groomers where we go.

I was doing a bit of searching around to check out this trend, when I came across a great blog post over on Wild Snow. Lou Dawson wrote an excellent post on the explosion of sidecountry skiing in North America. He talks about why he thinks that sidecountry skiing is taking off, and makes some very good points. Head over there, and check it out.

http://www.wildsnow.com/2166/sidecountry-skiing-influences/

Of course you're going to need The Goat to help you schlep your skis up the ridge...