Night skiing in the backcountry

ChasingFlakes

ChasingFlakes

Member
Who's done it?

How did it go?

How much light did you need?

Conditions at the time?

Basically im going to miss this storm thats putting down all the cm's tmrw cause i am home with the kiddo and were going to give it a go tmrw night. Just wanted to know if anyways else has done it and if they had any tips.
 
I haven't night skied in the BC but I did a ton of night skiing in Japan last season and we skied areas that weren't lit up by the resort lights at all. I Used a black diamond headlamp that put out a wide swath of light instead of a focused beam, can't remember the exact model but it's meant for night trail running I guess. It worked really good.

It went pretty well, I got wacked in the mouth by branches a couple times because I couldn't see them but other than that it was a really cool experience.
 
I unintentionally night skied after a failed attempt to summit a peak a couple of days ago. I was coming back down around 6 AM with a 8 AM sunrise if that still counts as night.

The contrast of the white snow to the darkness made it so I honestly did not need a headlamp. My eyes adjusted pretty well. I was alone so it was kinda an eerie experience.
 
Gone a few times during full moons. Half the time we will gain ridge and the clouds come in making things not so ideal. The other half is so sweet. No headlamps needed, and the feeling of tranquillity you get in the backcountry goes way up when you're doing laps at night with only the light of the moon to guide you.

Besides that, there's always those missions that require a pre dawn start. I hate em, but that's just how she goes sometimes.
 
I love night touring! When I was in uni we used to stop at The Gorge on the way to Revy on friday nights, and get a few laps in. Good headlight is key. We have ones that mount to GoPro mounts.

Also when the conditions are super safe and you are on a hut trip it is pretty much mandatory to get wasted and walk around in the woods an push your friends off of pillows with headlamps on and just dick around haha. Plus you can get some cool shots.

(Disclaimer: If you are dumb and get in an avalanche or fall off of somethings gnarly drinking and night touring it is your own stupidity to blame.)

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Done it under a full moon which is awesome. Didn't need any sort of light source. Basically just skimmed up the resort though so we skied blower inbounds pow by moonlight. Great move
 
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