Exploring great backcountry terrain often goes hand in hand with the threat of avalanches, but with careful route planning and rational terrain management, dangerous slides can largely be avoided. Before you head into the backcountry, brush up on how to use the best maps to identify avalanche terrain and plan the safest routes.
Backcountry Skiing
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No more trial-and-error in driving up to the trailhead to find the deepest and lightest powder. The new Snow Stations (Daily) map gives you up-to-date, 24-hour reports on snow conditions in remote areas around the western US and British Columbia. Check out the new map to get a look at real-time conditions on peaks and passes in your favorite backcountry zones.
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The upcoming backcountry ski season might not be pretty. That’s what Search and Rescue mission coordinator Charles Pitman warns on this episode of the Out and Back Podcast. Since the pandemic hit, search and rescue calls have been higher than ever in Pitman’s jurisdiction of Summit County, CO. And he’s expecting those numbers to climb even higher as soon as the snow flies. Learn what you can do to stay safer in the wilderness this winter.
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Gaia GPS is proud to partner with the experts at Avalanche.org to bring you the new Avalanche Forecast layer. Now, you can get official, up-to-date avalanche forecasts for mountain zones…
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Winter hiking offers the ability to test out new skills, push your physical limits, and experience a landscape transformed by either snow or an open tree canopy. Plus, in many…
Knowing how to read a topographic map is the foundation to any backcountry adventure. Through the use of contour lines, topo maps bring a 3-dimensional element to a 2-dimensional paper map, allowing you to visualize the rise and fall of the land and “see” the depths of canyons, the location of boggy meadows, and the height and shape of mountain