Frequently asked questions

Climbing a mountain on skis or a splitboard and then descending it. Your bindings release at the heel so you can walk, and grippy strips called skins stick to the bases of your skis so they slide forward and not backward. At the top you take the skins off, lock the heel down, and it is just skiing. Splitboarding is the same idea with a board that splits into two skis for the climb. There is a longer explanation in how touring works.

If you can get yourself down a blue square trail and you are curious, yes. That is the whole entry requirement for our on-resort days. You do not need to be fit, fast, experienced or young, and you do not need to know anybody.

For our on-resort days: comfortable getting yourself down a blue square trail. For our backcountry programs on Mt. Washington: comfortable and confident on black diamond terrain, because the descent is real, in variable snow. We teach everything about going up. We do not teach skiing downhill.

An on-resort day is about an hour of climbing at a conversational pace, with regroups. If you can walk uphill for an hour with breaks, you can do it. The pace is set by the slowest person in the group, which is not a slogan, it is the rule.

Most people arrive alone. Every day starts with introductions in a circle for exactly this reason, and the volunteers know who came on their own. What a day actually looks like.

On-resort days are $20. Backcountry programs are $150, or $100 for our BIPOC and Queer Intro to Backcountry days. Ski and Snowboard Mountaineering is $175, or $225 with all the technical rental gear. Everything side by side.

Our fee stops being a reason. For on-resort days, use the code inclusive at checkout and our fee is waived in full, no explanation needed and anyone can use it. For backcountry programs we hold ten full scholarships each season and a scholarship covers our whole fee. Uphill access and rental gear are priced by the resort and the shop rather than by us, and both numbers are on every program page. How it works.

No, because that money goes to the mountain rather than to us. A ticket is $15 at Mt. Abram, $19 at Cranmore and $20 at Bromley, and there is nothing to buy at Dartmouth Skiway, because Dartmouth gives our participants free uphill access. An Uphill New England season pass covers the access at all four instead of buying a ticket each time. More on uphill access.

No. Membership is a way of supporting us and it is sold in the store. It is not required for any program, and it does not get you priority.

We have a shop or rental partner at every location we run, with a discounted rate we negotiated for our participants. Say so when you register rather than on the morning. Rentals and sizing.

Layers you can take off, because you will get much hotter than you expect. The one rule: if you are comfortable standing in the parking lot, you are overdressed. The layering guide is four minutes and it is the difference between a good first day and a miserable one.

Layers, a helmet, water, a snack, and a pack to carry them. The packing guide has the full list, and for a resort day it is nine items.

Not for resort uphill days and not for our Intro to Backcountry programs, because those deliberately stay out of avalanche terrain. Yes for our Ski and Snowboard Mountaineering course, and the $225 option includes them. Please do not buy avalanche gear before you need it. Why, and what to do instead.

On-resort days: check-in 8:15 to 8:45, on snow by 9:00, finished around noon. Cranmore is thirty minutes later, 8:45 to 9:15 and on snow by 9:30. Backcountry days: check-in 9:45 at Pinkham Notch, back between 1:00 and 3:00. The full timeline.

Nothing happens, because that is what the group pace is for. If you need to turn around, a volunteer comes down with you. Nobody skis down alone and nobody has to explain themselves.

We ski in most weather. If it is genuinely unsafe we cancel the evening before and refund you in full. If nobody has registered by the Thursday before, we cancel the day to respect our volunteers' time.

Tell us as early as you can and we will refund you. Programs fill, so an early cancellation means somebody else gets the place.

No. Dogs are not permitted on our programs, and at most resorts they are not permitted on the uphill route either.

Participants must be 12 or over, and anybody under 18 has to be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the whole program rather than dropped off. That adult signs the waiver for both of you, in advance. Email us before you book so we can confirm the specific program suits them. Waivers.

Yes, a liability waiver, and doing it at home takes two minutes and makes check-in instant. Sign in advance.

Tell us what you need and we will tell you honestly what we can do. We are not an adaptive program and we do not have adaptive equipment, so we will not pretend otherwise, but a lot of what people ask about is arrangements rather than equipment, and those are usually possible. Email info@inclusiveskitouring.org.

Yes, and that is the point of them. Our Open to All days are open to everybody, every day, at four mountains, and they welcome every age and every background.

Not organized transport, no. Say in your registration notes that you are looking to share a car and we will connect you, because somebody in the group is very often driving past you.