"Backcountry Skiing" by Volken, Schell and Wheeler

I was at the Mountaineers bookstore yesterday and got a chance to thumb through the new book by Martin Volken, Scott Schell, and Margaret Wheeler.  The title is Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering .  I've been aware that this book is coming out because Martin asked me to write a short sidebar for it last fall.  Although I haven't read it thoroughly, the book looks very good and I snapped up a copy using my club member discount.

Chapters include:

1. Gear and Equipment
2. Decision-Making in Avalanche Terrain
3. Navigation
4. Uphill Movement
5. Transitions
6. Ski Mountaineering Techniques
7. Downhill Skiing Techniques
8. Taking Care of Yourself and the Mountains
9. The Mountain Environment
10. Rescue Techniques and Emergency Preparedness

The content appears to be complete, modern and well written.  Lots of clear photographs too.  The last generally available handbook about ski mountaineering that I'm aware of was Peter Cliff's Ski Mountaineering, published in 1987.  There have been more recent handbooks about backcountry skiing, like Allen and Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book, and Backcountry Skier by Jean Vives, but they stopped short of covering true ski mountaineering.  The Mountaineers Books have been working with various authors for over ten years to produce an up-to-date handbook on this subject.  I'm glad to see that the project is finally done.  Congratulations to the authors!

By the way, Martin Volken, Scott Schell, and Margaret Wheeler will be presenting their book during Central Washington University's Backcountry Awareness Month on January 14, 7pm, at the CWU New Student Union Building. See this thread .

Lou Dawson at Wildsnow.com was effusive in his praise of the book. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

Unfortunately KCLS has but one copy as of now with 9 holds. Perhaps more holds will yield additional copies in circulation.

Seems like they have been working on that book forever. Glad to see its finally out.

Now that the book is out, I feel okay putting the essay that I wrote for Martin on my website. Writing it helped clarify some ideas that had been swimming around in my head for a long time. The web page below combines the essay with a few of my brother's pictures. Enjoy:

"Tools or Playthings?"

Hey Lowell, over the last couple days I keep finding myself following links from TAY and reading some of your fine writing on the alpenglow site. I can't help but notice the quality of the formatting and layout and am wondering if you will ever be putting this stuff on paper or will it always be an online resource?

Thanks so much for sharing with us all!!!!


Roger