Backcountry skiing is a great way to get out into the heart of nature and enjoy its immense beauty. Enjoy immaculate views of mountains, glaciers and untouched winter landscapes. The kind of things you only see in expensively-shot nature documentaries could be the backdrop for your next selfie!

Escape the crowds

Who wants to spend their holiday waiting in line for a resort chair lift? With backcountry skiing there are no lines and, many times, no people at all. Heading out into the wilderness is a great way to reconnect with nature and get a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. You spend your life waiting for people. Don’t spend your holidays like that too.

Choose-your-own-adventure

Forget Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch and get out into the real world to choose your own adventure. Backcountry skiing is the perfect way to do so. There are no trails, no lines and, as long as you’ve got the skills, nearly endless opportunities. Head out over remote mountain passes, summit a lofty, glaciated peak or rush down sloping hills and finish off a magnificent run by the sea. Do as you please on your backcountry skis.

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Regardless of where in the world you go, if there’s snow then there’s also backcountry skiing. With plenty of options available on six of the seven continents, you surely will not suffer from a lack of options.

With no exact definition – backcountry skiing can comprise elements of ski touring, freeride skiing and off-piste skiing – there is no limit to what you can do on one of these trips. The only prerequisites are a sense of adventure and strong off-piste skiing skills. Hiring a certified guide is the best way to get the most out of your trip. These guides generally know the local terrain better than anywhere else and get you to the best spots.

With ample options ranging from Antarctica to the North Pole, backcountry skiing can be a year-round pursuit. From May to October, check out some of the top spots in the Southern Hemisphere, including Chile, Argentina and New Zealand. From November until April, plenty of Northern Hemisphere options await from Colorado to Kyrgyzstan.

What People Say

356 reviews

Bonjour Pauline et Fred, Je suis très heureux de prendre un moment aujourd’hui pour vous écrire. Le séjour au Finnmark été

exceptionnel. Clément est un excellent guide. Très dévoué, soucieux de rendre l’expérience agréable, Clément est vraiment très talentueux et dévoué. Sa personnalité est agréable, il est à l’écoute de nos besoins et démontre, malgré son jeune âge, un haut niveau de compétences et de savoir-faire. Son enseignement sur recherche de victimes suite à une avalanche est de loin, la meilleure formation que j’ai reçue à ce jour. Les paysages du Finnmark sont exceptionnels, nous avons été particulièrement chanceux pour les conditions météorologiques. Nous avons vraiment eu le loisir d’admirer ces magnifiques paysages de montagnes entre ciel et mer. L’expérience de groupe a aussi été excellente, la chimie entre les participants-es a été fort agréable. Nous avons vraiment passé de bons moments ensemble. Je vais très certainement voyager avec vous dans le futur, l’expérience a été extrêmement positive. Au plaisir de nouvelles aventures !!! Serge

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Serge Dumont for 6-day ski tour in Finnmark, Norway

Toshi and his crew gave us a truly remarkable experience! From the food to the accommodations to the epic

skiing: this trip was out of this world!

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for Backcountry skiing in Rishiri

La beauté des paysages est exceptionnelle. Up Ski & Mountain Guides offre un service et un encadrement remarquables. Les compétences

et la qualité de travail du guide contribuent à rendre cette expérience inoubliable. Bravo à l’équipe !!!

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Serge Dumont for 6-day ski tour in Finnmark, Norway

Whow! Amazing trip in Finnmark, our guide Sylvain made the trip perfect, looking every day for the best snow conditions

and beautiful itineraries! Arriving on ski after a crazy descent in powder to the water in lonesome fjords and getting home by boat as well as kayaking to the start of itinerary on a perfect sunny day are unbeatable! Sauna after a powder day, dog sledging and watching northern lights in the night make the trip even more unforgettable!

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Valentine Mercier for 6-day ski tour in Finnmark, Norway

A day before arrival Ilia appeared to be unavailable. He arranged national certified guide Tato Nadiradze for us. Ilia did

not manage to arrange the trip well and much was not clear, also due to change of plans because of the weather after a few days. We were very lucky with Tato who arranged everything well and got the very best out of it for us. We used his Landcruiser to drive where ever we went. Tato is a bery good mountainguide with lots of experience, especially in the Gudauri and Kasbegi area. He is also a good and enthousiastic free-rider. Gudairi hut is a fine hotel.

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Okke IJlstra for Gudauri freeride and ski touring with a guide

We had a great week in Gudauri. Illia and David are great guides and organized a perfekt week for us.

We can really recommend this trip and also the guides.

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Andreas Karg for Gudauri 7-day guided freeride skiing and ski touring

We had a amazing days in Gudauri. Ilia and David are great guides and made this trip unforgetable.

Andreas Karg for Gudauri 7-day guided freeride skiing and ski touring

Manuel Sosna for Gudauri freeride and ski touring with a guide

Very poor english is reason to poor guide rating. Not showing up at meeting location in the morning is reason to

poor guide rating. ( lost 2h of guiding, with still full price charged) 2 start for trip rating also connected with poor english and late arrival. 2 start for trip rating also connected to additional cost for taxi when being brought back to resort. That was expected to be included. In general very slow responses from the guide during booking procedure, and also when being on the resort. All in all; did not meet our expectations. You can’t sell guide services with guides not being even a little bit fluent in English, Best regards OIa

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Ola Henriksson for Gudauri freeride and ski touring with a guide

Amazing experience. Took 5hrs to summit. Cloudy and little wind made it easier. Skies opened up 100M from the top.

We summited and then we skied fresh powder into the crater. Well worth it.

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Barry Mckillop for Ski touring on Mount Yotei in Hokkaido

This is our second time with Nikolay and it did not disappoint. I would highly recommend!!

Red Hodgkinson for Bansko guided freeride ski and snowboard tour

Nikolay Pavlov is an experienced guide with intimate knowledge of the terrain and conditions in Bansko. A great half day

trip with two summits on a very short notice. Additionally good company to ride with.

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Perttu Prusi for Bansko guided freeride ski and snowboard tour

We had a great trip to Rishiri! The snow gods were not on our side but Rishiri is a mountain

of many slopes and aspects and thanks to a great guiding team we always managed to find good snow! Toshi ran a great operation with 3 other guides which meant we were split into two groups with a max of 9 per group and two guides. This allowed the group to be split even further on the day… Special thanks to Shohei and Kosukei – very professional guides!! Arigatou-gozaimashita!!

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Paul Johnston for Backcountry skiing in Rishiri

We loved the great professional work of our guide Tato, his smile, his big cooperation with the Italian guide and

the group. Bravo!

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Raffaella Giordano for Gudauri freeride and ski touring with a guide

We loved the great professional work of our guide Tato, his smile, his big cooperation with the Italian guide and

the group. Bravo!

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Raffaella Giordano for Gudauri freeride and ski touring with a guide

Nikolay is an awesome guide who is clearly very experienced. We planned to climb+ride Todorka in late January but due

to snow storms and high winds we had to postpone the trip. However as soon as the conditions had improved and the avalanche risk was manageable Nikolay called me to say its game on for tomorrow if that works for me. We had an awesome day riding and I learnt so much from Nikolay about Avalanches, exposure and climbing. Would definitely recommend! Cheers!

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Jake English for Bansko guided freeride ski and snowboard tour

I can not rate Toshiya because he was not our guide. Our experience was marred by a void of

communication prior to the trip. We never recieved email or other communication prior to our trip, despite frequent requests. Simple questions like, “Do we need crampons?” were unanswered. The day before our arrival, we called Toshiya (whos phone number was being withheld). He was unaware of what day we were visiting, he did not know how many days or how many people in our group.

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Craig for Backcountry skiing in Rishiri

Truly excellent guide, with unique knowledge of backcountry spots for freeride and touring. Extremely nice guy too.

Anton Arriola for Hokkaido backcountry and off piste skiing

Great for experienced backcountry ski/board tourers. Daisuke looked after us very well. We experienced some of the local culture

going to onsens and restaurants after a hard day on the snow. The yakitori stand at the end of the first day was a real treat.

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Anna O'Sullivan for Hokkaido backcountry and off piste skiing

Mathis was great. He is very knowledgeable about the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc area. Our trip down Vallee Blanche was amazing and we

felt comfortable knowing Mathis was our guide

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Luke for Chamonix Vallée Blanche guided off-piste skiing