As a navigation tool, CalTopo offers a complex feature set that sometimes takes time to hone. With a little savvy, CalTopo offers some hidden gems to make backcountry skiing/riding trip planning more useful. Here are three specific features to dial in your ski and winter climbing plans.

A 2020 Q&A with Hilaree Neslon, North Face team leader and 8000 meter peak skier on lessons learned over decades of ski mountaineering, favorite expedition gear and tips for aspiring ski mountaineers.

Aaron Rose, a Colorado splitboarder, brings a grounded perspective to interpreting the dynamic backcountry realm. “The observed and felt clues yield the most evidence to consider terrain management and avalanche avoidance. Snow sense is fundamentally built on a visual-tactile experience. Auditory stimulus is secondary, at least for me.”

Ortovox and Arc’teryx have co-designed the new LiTRIC electric airbag system. It’s a solid fusion of elegance and function. The system is user friendly, relatively minimalist, and provides multiple deployments off a single charge. Here’s WildSnow’s review.

SoothSki, a site presenting troves of backcountry ski data, evolves the process Lou Dawson helped launch. It, too, might catch your attention if you are in the market for backcountry skis.

The island of Crete offers a cultural legacy and some high terrain. It’s a solid stop for backcountry go-getters looking for Mediterranean turns. It was a long dark COVID winter. After years of skiing every winter day on hot pow…