Professional Skier Details His Entire Backcountry Setup

Buying everything you need to ski, from boots to skis and bindings, is a royal pain in the butt.

Planning for a backcountry excursion on skis only complicates the search for gear, requiring an additional handful of backcountry-specific equipment.

If you're interested in backcountry skiing and are at a total loss as to where to start, you've come to the right place.

Last season, professional skier Nikolai Schirmer released a video that details his entire backcountry setup. While his gear might not meet your specific needs, it's a great place to start the arduous backcountry gear-buying journey.

Note: Schirmer is sponsored by every gear company featured in this video. There are, of course, different options out there that suit a wide range of budgets and use cases.

For instance, the layering can absolutely be paired back a bit. I have one pair of shell pants and one shell jacket -- if I could afford to have a rotating cast of outerwear for different circumstances like Schirmer, I would, but, realistically, most of us don't have several grand to drop on a breathable Gore-Tex closet. Thankfully, in the absence of multiple outerwear kits, I do just fine in the backcountry.

As already alluded to, cost is the elephant in the room here. If you were to purchase everything shown in this video at sticker price, you'd be looking at a (roughly) $10,000 investment. Backcountry gear isn't cheap.

Although you only really need a handful of items to begin checking out the backcountry: beacon, probe, shovel, touring boots, and touring bindings -- provided you have all the other bases covered with your alpine setup. Sales are your friend in getting over the initial gear hump.

There's one final mandatory piece of gear: your brain. Educate it. You shouldn't enter the backcountry without participating in at least an Avy 1 course. Augment the knowledge you learn from your first Avy 1 course with the excellent Staying Alive In Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper.

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