Key takeaways
- Ski touring (AT) is self-powered ski travel: skin uphill with a free heel, then lock the heel to ski down.
- Gear: AT/tech bindings (free or locked heel), climbing skins, and lighter touring boots and skis.
- It ranges from uphill laps at a resort to remote backcountry tours.
- Backcountry touring is avalanche terrain — training and rescue gear are essential.
This is general educational information, not avalanche training. Backcountry touring is avalanche terrain — take a certified course.
How ski touring works
Ski touring — alpine touring (AT) — is traveling over snow on skis under your own power. To climb, you release the binding’s heel and stick climbing skins to the bases for grip, striding uphill. At the top, you strip the skins and lock the heel down to ski the descent like alpine skiing.
The gear
- AT / tech bindings — heel frees to climb, locks to descend.
- Climbing skins — grippy strips for uphill traction.
- Touring boots with a walk mode, and typically lighter skis.
A tourer skins up a backcountry slope in the morning, transitions at the top — stripping skins and locking heels — and skis untracked snow back down, having checked the avalanche forecast and confirmed the group’s beacons, shovels, and probes first.
Touring and the backcountry
Ski touring ranges from uphill laps at a resort to remote tours. Once you’re touring uncontrolled terrain it’s backcountry skiing — avalanche terrain requiring training and rescue gear. Adding technical climbing to reach ski objectives is ski mountaineering.
The bottom line
Ski touring is how skiers earn their turns — skinning uphill on free-heel touring gear, then locking down to ski. It opens terrain from resort uphill laps to remote backcountry, with AT/tech bindings and climbing skins making it possible. Once you're touring uncontrolled backcountry, it becomes avalanche terrain, so training and rescue gear are non-negotiable.
Frequently asked questions
What is ski touring?
Ski touring, or alpine touring (AT), is skiing under your own power: you climb uphill with the binding's heel released and climbing skins on your skis for grip, then lock the heel down to ski back down. It lets you access terrain without lifts, from uphill laps at a resort to full backcountry tours.
What gear do you need for ski touring?
Alpine touring or tech bindings (whose heel frees for climbing and locks for descending), climbing skins for traction uphill, touring boots with a walk mode, and typically lighter skis. For backcountry touring you also need avalanche safety gear — a beacon, shovel, and probe — and the training to use it.
What's the difference between ski touring and backcountry skiing?
The terms overlap heavily. 'Ski touring' emphasizes the self-powered travel (the up and the down), and can include uphill laps within resort boundaries; 'backcountry skiing' emphasizes skiing uncontrolled terrain outside resort boundaries. Backcountry skiing is essentially ski touring done in avalanche terrain, with all the safety that demands.
Sources
- Ski touring & backcountry travel — The Mountaineers
- Avalanche education — American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education