Book Review: Crystal Mtn's South Backcountry

Hello All,

I am Sam Landsman, one of the creators of this book.  First of all, Erik and I completed this project so we could graduate from high school.  It was a great way to get excused absences for ski days!  We also were very torn on whether or not to sell it.  We realized that it potentially meant more people would be on our favorite runs, but we also realized that just because there is a book that tells someone how to get somewhere doesn't mean that many people will make the effort to get out there.  In my experience there are a lot of people who look and point at a line that requires a little bit of hiking to get to, but once they here that it takes 30 minutes (gasp!) to walk out there, they are no longer interested.  There is also the CMAC map mentioned above which shows aerial photos of the mountain with labels.

And the reality is that all of the areas in the book already get skied a lot.  The majority is really controlled sidecountry that is part of the Crystal Mountain Permit Area.  Even the runs beyond Three Way can be accessed without touring equipment, although caution must be exercised to avoid injury and avalanches (true everywhere).

We were definitely concerned about increased traffic, but I'd be willing to bet that this book causes no material increase in skier traffic.  Some people are just too lazy to regularly hike out there and the ones that aren't have probably skied almost all of the lines in the book.  Remember that there is still a ton more terrain accessible from Crystal.  You can ski Crystal Lakes, Norse Peak, and lots beyond the (former) North Back boundary.

When we were making the book we talked to John Kircher, several of the high level ski patrollers, the CM Founders Club, and many other groups and people.  Everyone supported us in the creation and were pleased with the final product.  Are there ways to improve it?  Absolutely, but we accept where it is now and needed to finish up in order to graduate.

Regarding the marketing of the book...it hasn't been a huge priority.  We made the book as a high school project and the goal was never to make money, but the publishing companies website made it super easy to sell.  Erik and I are both freshman in college in Colorado now, so we can't visit stores to try and sell them and we don't have a ton of time to make calls and send emails.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and thanks so much if you bought a copy,
Sam

SamL - Thanks for posting.   You got it done!   You will be fortunate if you can match this effort again.  I hope that you will continue to write. 

The debate on disclosing backcountry goods is just that - a debate.  There are several sides of the story.   Certainly with the plethora wide skis and now, rockered skis.... well more of us are going to be out there.  We might as well promote safety while we are at it.   

Must be pretty hard to be skier in Colorado - not!

Remember - any publicity is good publicity!   So they say.

I just ski and party and talk about skiing.

Sam,

Thanks for your posting.  I think the background information was insightful.  Now that you are located in CO should we anticipate a new publication for a CO ski area that is sidecountry friendly ?  This could be the start of a whole series of publications covering various sidecountry friendly ski areas in various states. 

Nice job on the Crystal book.

The Best,

Zap

Zap,

Haha, don't expect a Colorado book anytime soon.  Maybe I can do that for my thesis...