We run two kinds of day and they are not much alike, so this page covers both, each from the parking lot to the parking lot. An on-resort day is a half day at a partner mountain for $20, led by trained volunteers, and it is where nearly everybody starts. A backcountry day is a fully guided day on Mt. Washington for $150, with professional guides and a real descent. Read the one you have booked.

An on-resort day, $20

A half day of uphill touring at one of our partner mountains, on a route the mountain keeps open for people climbing under their own power. Our volunteers run it, the group stays together, and you ski down a trail everybody in the group can handle. The one thing we ask is that you can get yourself down a blue square trail. No uphill experience at all is needed. Most people who come have never toured before.

The week before

You will get an email from us confirming the date and the meeting point. If you need to rent gear, that is the week to book it, because rental shops run out on good weekends. See rentals and sizing. If you want help arranging a rental, reply to the email and say so.

The night before

Weather calls go out the evening before, so check your email. If we cancel, you are refunded in full. Lay your layers out and fill a water bottle. Read the layering guide once if you have not, because being dressed wrong is the most common way a first day goes badly and it is completely avoidable.

Arriving

Park in the main lot and come into the lodge. You do not need to find us in the parking lot, and you do not need to have your gear on. If you are renting from the mountain, rental pickup usually opens at 8:00am, so come for that first and then find us.

Buy your uphill ticket at the window if the mountain charges for one, or carry your Uphill New England season pass if you have one. A ticket is $15 at Mt.Abram and $19 at Cranmore, and there is nothing to buy at Dartmouth Skiway because Dartmouth gives our participants free uphill access. See uphill policies.

Check-in, 8:15am to 8:45am

We will have a table or a flag and somebody whose job is to say hello to you. You will give us your name, we will check you off, and somebody will help you get your skins on if you have never done it. There are cubbies at most of our mountains for your things.

This is the part people worry about most, so here is the truth of it: a lot of people arrive alone, most people have never done this, and the volunteers are there specifically to talk to you.

Getting on snow, 9:00am

We go outside and stand in a circle, and everybody says their name, their pronouns if they want to, what brought them, where they usually ski, and whether they have toured before. It takes five minutes and it is the moment the day stops feeling like an event and starts feeling like a group of people.

This is also why we tell you to dress to be comfortable rather than slightly cold: you are standing still outside for those five minutes before you generate any heat.

Going up

We set off about fifteen minutes after we get outside. The pace is set by the slowest person in the group, deliberately and without comment. We regroup where the trail flattens. Volunteers are spread through the group, not just at the front, and they will show you kick turns and fix your skins and tell you to use your risers.

We stop in the first five to ten minutes so everybody can take a layer off. That stop is planned, because you will be too warm by then and because we would rather you started the day comfortable than started it cold. Everybody uses it and nobody minds waiting. See the layering guide, which is written around this.

The top

Somewhere between about 10:15am and 11:00am depending on the mountain and the group. Put your insulating layer on before you cool down, then skins off, heels down, boots into ski mode. Allow about fifteen minutes. Somebody will talk you through it and somebody will check your bindings. There is usually a view and there is always a photo.

Going down

We ski down together as a group, on a trail everybody can handle. This is the part you already know how to do. You need to be able to get yourself down a blue square trail, which is the one thing we ask, because we are not downhill instructors and the descent is yours.

Afterwards

We finish at the bottom around noon, and there is time for questions and for swapping names with people. Plenty of people go and get lunch. Plenty of people who came alone leave with somebody to tour with, which is, honestly, the main thing this organization does.

A backcountry day on Mt. Washington, $150

A full day beyond the resort, on Mt. Washington, led by professional guides rather than by volunteers. There is no lift, no groomed trail and no lodge to come back into at the halfway point. It is longer, colder and steeper than an on-resort day, and it is the reason the requirement below is the one thing we are strict about.

The week before

Your confirmation email names Pinkham Notch and the check-in time. If you need gear, book it that week: a backcountry setup is not something a resort rental counter always has, so tell us when you book and we will point you at the right shop. See rentals and sizing. Read the packing guide and the layering guide, both of which are written for this day specifically.

The night before

Mt. Washington makes its own weather and it decides this day, not us. Weather calls go out the evening before, so check your email. If we cancel, for weather or for any other reason, you are refunded in full. Pack a 20 to 30 liter pack with a waist strap, weather-appropriate layers, a helmet, water and food for the day, and more insulation than you think you need, because it is colder and windier up there than it is in the valley.

Arriving, and where

We meet at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, 361 New Hampshire Route 16, Gorham, New Hampshire 03581. There is parking, a building to stand inside and bathrooms. Give yourself more driving time than the map says in winter. If you want to stay nearby the night before, see lodging and accommodations.

Check-in, 9:45am

Your guides check you in, look over your pack and your layers, and answer the questions you have been saving up. Introductions happen here rather than on snow, because from the trailhead onwards we are walking. Nobody is graded on their gear at this table; if something is missing, the guides sort it out with you.

Going up, from the trailhead

We climb the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, about 2.4 miles with roughly 2,000 feet of gain, as far as the Hermit Lake shelters. Instruction starts at the trailhead and continues the whole way: skin technique, kick turns, pacing, layering, and reading the terrain you are walking through. The group moves at the pace of the group, the same rule as on resort. This is a longer climb than an on-resort route and the whole day is built around it.

Avalanche terrain, and what you do not need

This route deliberately stays out of avalanche terrain, and an Intro to Backcountry day is not an avalanche course. So on the day described above you are not required to own or carry a beacon, shovel and probe. That is on purpose: it lets you find out whether you love this before you spend a thousand dollars on safety equipment. If it is the education itself you want, that is avalanche education and AIARE, and we run an AIARE Level 1 course at a reduced rate.

Going down

We descend the John Sherburne Ski Trail. It is a real descent in variable snow, which is why the requirement above exists, and your guides will pick the line and the spacing. Most groups are back between 1:00pm and 3:00pm in the afternoon, depending on pace and conditions.

What is included, and what is not

Included: professional guides, instruction from the trailhead up, and a group that moves at the pace of the group. Not included: rental gear if you need it, food, and getting yourself to Pinkham Notch. Our $150 fee is waived on request the same way our $20 fee is, and there are ten scholarships each season across all four Intro to Backcountry programs. How that works.

The things people are actually worried about

These come up on both kinds of day. Where the answer is different, both answers are here.

Before your day