Solo BC Skiers

In my experience, I often see more groups of people or duos than I see those going at it solo. I see nothing wrong with people touring solo. Some people may prefer to go at it solo while others may have issues that make it difficult for these individuals to make friends and and or maintain relationships with people. Personally, I would rather have the chance to be able to do both solo and tours with others, but unfortunately my social skills are rather weak to say the least plus I realize now in my 40s that I may be paying the consequences for my actions during my 20s. Since I do tour solo quite a bit, I find it interesting that some of my best tours where I ski the hardest are when there are no other people present as has been the case on Heliotrope Ridge on a few occasions. Often times, my most intense feelings of loneliness are when I'm touring and I encounter many groups of people and even remember passing this one group where this man was touring with eight other women on the Muir snowfield. One reason I ski at Stevens and not at Baker is I'm opposed to their mandatory buddy system to ski the BC. Skiing solo in the BC and taking extra risks for training purposes while going at it solo may not be the smartest thing to do, but it's better than turning into a basement dweller which is often the case for those in similar situations I find myself in.

I've noticed more skiers in general, so yeah, there are also more solo skiers. I have no idea if the percentage has changed.

Aside from "training laps" at Hyak on clearly low hazard days, I'll do some very familiar meadow-skipping style tours on days that may not be great powder opportunities, but where I know travel will be good and relatively safe on the routes I'll choose. E.g. last Thursday, when most of what I skied was either low angle or had relatively little new snow atop the rain crust, and what was on top was not slabby. On such days, I ski fairly defensively. I see it as sort of "hiking on skis" which is almost always more fun for me than hiking on dirt in wintertime (though I'll choose the latter when I don't want to drive to the snow). The biggest difference from hiking being that if I do become incapacitated or worse, it will be much harder for anyone to find me than it would be on a trail. So yeah, higher consequence, but I don't think much higher risk of accident than a lot of the solo hiking I've done.

Well put by the previous OP - solo skiing has higher consequence, but the same or lower risk.

What particularly struck me about the Jan. 4th burial in Silver Basin at Crystal Mt. was the fact that if this solo skier had been with a companion, rescue would have been straightforward not even requiring avy gear.  Her burial was so shallow.  She was visible right at the surface.

One other thing. As one gets older and/or more infirm - and can no longer keep up with the "big boys" - previous partners fall away. As it becomes harder to find ski companions, the choice more frequently becomes ski solo or not at all.

I don't think it's any mystery what I think about solo skiing if you take a look at my
TRs.  I have very intense experiences when solo in the bc- is it like rock climbing where the risks make you feel more "alive?"  Don't know, but I love skiing solo.

But your question on more solos?  Not really by proportion of new skiers, I wouldn't think.  A lot more folks, but mostly new skiers in groups, which is cool.  Solo skiing, especially in the bc, I think people realize is not the recommended way if there is an alternative.  But let's not confuse preference for necessity.

I ski solo a lot because I can't sit at home or would go BONKERS, and life has too many obstacles for me to find partners on 75% of my outings - who wants to ski at 6am so you can be home by 9am for 'responsibilities'?  Or ski in the rain at midnight because that is the one day I can?  Going skiing isn't a choice, it's a living for me.

So when I do ski alone, I do not get crazy skiing weird shit in winter, but will try new stuff when bagging 14ers in spring/summer - why?  Because winter snowpack is much more dangerous here in Colorado in winter.  Hero corn opens up opportunities I wouldn't think of skiing solo in winter.

But always in the back of my mind is the "worse case scenario"- there is no ski patrol in the bc.

On a night ski last year I hit a hidden tree stump and twisted my knee pretty bad.  Laying on the snow thinking I had broken my leg, and the long, cold hike out (well, more like a drag) that night had me thinking long and hard about that practice (night skiing solo in the winter).  But alas, I skied that same slope last month solo and at night.

Its not perfect, but it's a living.  Be careful out there and have fun.

I spend the majority (>75%) of my BC days solo, mostly out of necessity. Like MW8, I don't know many folks that want to or are able to get up before dawn for a 15 miles tour. In mid-winter I don't often see too many other solo skiers, mostly groups of 2-5. It is a little more common to run into solo skiers on the volcanoes in the Spring.

The consequences of being involved in an avalanche while out solo are serious, but if you are making conservative route choices and carefully assessing the snowpack I think the most serious and likely risks are associated with gear failures and debilitating injuries.

It is certainly not the safest choice to head out solo, but there are steps that I take that make me more comfortable with the choice, all of which revolve around being prepared to self-rescue or stay put and stay alive, including:

Carrying more gear (mostly clothing, hardware, med supplies) than what is required under ideal conditions.
Spending LOTS of time building and using shelters and fires in terrible conditions, and making sure that I always carry the gear needed to get these tasks accomplished.
Forcing myself to navigate with map and compass at all times, to ensure that it is second nature.
Carrying a ham radio pre-programmed with local LE, fire, SAR, FS frequencies. PLB w/ sat coms would be better.
I could go on and on and on...

I used to subscribe to the fast and light is right mentality, but after many SAR missions I noticed that many subjects and victims that I encountered were not carrying the necessary gear to overnight safely and most of them seemed to not have the knowledge and experience needed to improvise when things got hairy. Knowledge and experience weigh nothing.

I acknowledge that there are many scenarios where gear, experience and knowledge are no substitute for sheer manpower...

All good thoughts above. I feel that the knowledge, mindset, skills, equipment and confidence to tour ALONE are essential to your safety even if you do not. Yes! If you are not "good enough" to do it safely alone MAAAYBE you need to "up your game" so to speak even if you don't tour alone! I now carry a DeLorme and have always carried enough to spend the night out (Insulated pants, Puffy with puffy hood, Thick hat plus tall neck gaiter, firestarter etc.) I used to do evening through next day tours and would hunker in under a good canopy and sleep for hours sitting on my pack against a tree. (My best "weapon" was rear entry Salomon boots with which I could easily change socks so fast that the boot would stay warm for reentry, add heat packs at that point and your whole body will warm up.) Also, to warm up, all I had to do is get up, click in and ski away with all my clothing on.
Most days, I prefer to be with a good crew. I am "full time" at it now though and don't always seek out partners. Some days it is so nice to just go my own speed, take looong breaks that few others are equipped for, and totally enjoy JUST BEING OUT THERE!