Many definitive moments stick when considering the “I know it when I see it” type of descent that we all agree is ski mountaineering. Coming to a universal agreement on ski mountaineering, actually, what it is and isn’t, seems better left to those who want demarcated rules. No matter, this weekend, I listened to the RunOut podcast. Episode #85 : WTF is “Ski Mountaineering: with Cody Townsend?, kept my attention and my mind off spiking temps while on a run. No matter if it’s backcountry skiing or ski mountaineering, the view is astounding. Atop the Wy’East face, Mt. Hood. Over the years, Townsend, lately of The Fifty Project and fatherhood (they are not mutually exclusive), is someone I’ve warmed to. This podcast episode is yet another example of why: he’s done his homework, speaks concisely about his convictions, and whether or not I side with him on a particular issue, he makes me think. Mid-summer, hot as Hades, trying to get my heart rate up, what else could I ask for? The hosts ask Townsend many questions, and since the RunOut is a climbing podcast, some relate to the well-established rules of climbing and if backcountry skiing or ski mountaineering requires a set of hardened rules too. Around 49 minutes in, Townsend speaks his mind on the “rules” of skiing 14ers. “Utter bull %$*&,” he says. To know where he stands on rules generally, let’s simply say, at least on this podcast, he sides on the fewer rules are more ethos. Rules might make it easier for those bent on comparisons. For others, it may subtract from the zen, the flow state, and the being in the moment. You are out skiing, after all, and that may be all that matters. The podcast is timely: Towsend recently posted a six-part Instagram essay (I’m calling this an essay) on, yeah, you guessed it, “What is ski mountaineering?” Townsend referred to his Instagram musings as performance art, and since I’m in the depths of reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids, maybe the backcountry ski and ski mountaineering scenes need more performance art. Six posts and a minefield of comments later, we end up with some humanism from Townsend and something trending towards empathy. He concludes, “I think it showed how rules, narrow definitions and categories can be so useless, can make people feel bad, can make people feel excluded and can make people turn away from the sport itself because it feels like there is such a narrow in-group and everyone else is out of it.” This is not the place for WildSnow to throw down on taking a stance. But Townsend did speak of a widely held sentiment when he said in the podcast, “I hate walking down mountains, it’s brutal.” Amen. Agree to disagree on what constitutes ski mountaineering. I’m confident those in favor of hardened rules for ski mountaineering and the adoption of a rating system even, can find common ground with the free-spirited tribe in this: walking down is brutal, skiing or riding down isn’t. Jason Albert comes to WildSnow from Bend, Oregon. After growing up on the East Coast, he migrated from Montana to Colorado and settled in Oregon. Simple pleasures are quiet and long days touring. His gray hair might stem from his first Grand Traverse in 2000 when rented leather boots and 210cm skis were not the speed weapons he had hoped for. Jason survived the transition from free-heel kool-aid drinker to faster and lighter (think AT), and safer, are better.
What is Ski Mountaineering?—In the News
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