good guide books?

You got me there! (And I am looking forward to seeing that non-guide non-book.)

We could start a whole 'nuther discussion about the love-hate relationship mountaineers have with guidebooks.

I once read some comments of a French author on this subject. He said that when writing a guidebook (and I paraphrase) "the author must regard the mountain as a lover."

The question, he said, is whether in writing about your mountain you praise her virtues or peddle her merchandise.

Leave it to a Frenchman to frame the issue in such seductive terms!   

Yes, I admit, it is true [hangs his head in shame]. The project is a skiing (and snowboarding) non-guide non-book, with lots of photos (contributions from 48 photographers) but no route maps, no GPS coordinates, no elevation profiles, and no systematic route descriptions. No pushing-the-envelope skiing, either, just varieties of plain old backcountry skiing. DIY. A celebration.

Sorry about the thread hijack, but back on topic, I came across a used copy of Snow Trails, by Gene Prater and published in 1975, before I started skiing and that book got me really interested in exploring the mountains in snow. The book is not really about the kind of backcountry skiing we usually do now, and instead of the detailed route description format, the book is more like an overview, with lots of hand drawn relief maps. I like the book because it encourages one to imagine and look into the many possibilities rather than giving the impression that there is the "one way", only.

In light of some earlier comments, I think some parts of the forward of Snow Trails are interesting:
"As snowshoeing and cross-country skiing grew to be recognized as a sport of more than a few eccentrics, a need arose for information to spread these people out so that they would not trip over each others' skis and snowshoes...the idea behind this book was not to tell someone how to start at point A and proceed to point B, but rather to indicate general areas and let the snow traveler go out and explore for himself."

The backcountry was crowded in 1975, just as it is now! If there are now more people heading into the backcountry, are they heading to more places, leaving the perception of crowding the same? Actually, the backcountry typically doesn't seem very crowded on weekdays, for those lucky enough to be able to get away then.

There can be some benefits to having more non-motorized users in the backcountry. In places like the Cle Elum River and North Fork Teanaway River valleys, use by bc skiers and snowboarders (and XC skiers and snowshoers, too) can be very helpful in keeping the non-motorized protections as strong as they are, in the face of what seems like continuing pressure from motorized users to maximize the terrain available to them as the machines get more and more powerful. Use it or lose it. Non-motorized use of Wilderness Areas during machine season can also help in documenting wilderness violations and spurring enforcement action.

Like others on this thread, I don't like to give away some of my "secret" places (even though no place is unknown)......one book I do like though is called "Oregon Ski Tours," written by Doug Newman in 1967.  It's old, but that's what's neat about it.  It's geared for cross country skiing, and covers the Mt Hood area and Central Oregon Cascades, plus more. The old pictures and history are very informative and interesting.  It definitely takes one back a step in time.