How to start freeride. 10 tips for the beginner freerider

Among the products are: freeride school, ketskiing (freeride safari on snowmobiles), guided ski touring and backcountry skiing. Over the years, hundreds of riders have become our clients: from beginners to experienced skiers. 

This article will contain the most important stuff, gathered personally by the Golden Ride team, as well as fellow freeriders and resources from around the world. 

1. Ride with the right company!

Definitely took out this point #1. After all, it is on "these" people that your safety will depend. The mountains dictate their conditions, and in winter they must be followed especially carefully. Do not ride alone - it is really dangerous. World experience, confirmed by practice, recommends the ideal group size for freeride up to 8 people. These are international guide standards, where the group is one unit! The individual qualities of each participant, as well as the level of organization of interaction with each other will determine:  

- the mobility of the group, 

- safety of the group, 

- the ability to cope with problematic situations.

In other words: the level of the group is determined by the weakest participant

But even if you ski only with guides, without a basic understanding of the things discussed below, you will blindly trust your safety and life to another person, whose qualifications you can't assess yourself.

2. Be realistic about your skills

Choose a slope that you can handle. There is no point in going out on a 35-degree slope in freeride if you are not quite confident even on blue slopes.
It is important to understand that before the first time you go out of the resort you need to do some skiing on the slopes. Thus the more various your piste experience is, the easier it will be to pass to off-piste skiing. Freeride is not only "Japanese freshly fallen snow" - it is mixed relief, hills and often absolutely different snow cover (crust, concrete, snowstones etc) during one descent.  By the way, all the serious schools, instructors and guides will first of all check your technique on the trail. Thus, it is possible to correctly assess the level of the group and lead it along the route, which will be safe and rideable for the weakest participant (and therefore for the whole group).

3. Constantly work on your technique

It's simple: learn, roll, work on technique, progress! Work on your mistakes in technique. By rolling up the right technique, you develop control. The more control you have, the higher your speed can be. But mistakes or lack of control and technique at high speed can lead to falls with consequences. So the recipe for success is both simple and complicated at the same time: the more you roll with the right technique, the more progress, the higher the high and the faster the off-piste speed. Your experience and knowledge determine your own level of safety.

Learn avalanche literacy

Freeride is skiing on potentially dangerous avalanche-prone slopes. "There are no avalanches here and it's completely safe," either a fool or a charlatan can say. That's why it's important for a freerider to study this topic: attend lectures, watch webinars, etc. But theory alone is not enough, it's important to learn how to use avalanche equipment, to understand how the snow cover is formed and how avalanches appear. This way you will be able to be effective in rescue operations, and even better - to avoid these rescue operations due to correct forecasting.

5. Clearly plan your freeride

Freeride is the ultimate ski math. In freeride your event has to be clearly planned: the situation and the forecast, the terrain assessment and the areas, the experience of the participants and the right equipment must match each other. The line of descent, every turn must be calculated in advance. Trajectory clearly thought out beforehand, which takes into account safety, relief, weather and snow condition - that's freeride tactics. The implementation of tactics is technique. Add to that the speed... you get a hot mix, where every nuance is important!

6. Avoid unnecessary risks and dangers

In the mountains, safety is paramount! Even the most beautiful and desirable descent is not worth to be the last. So in a controversial situation, choose the safest possible option. It is important to be able to decide not to go down in case of avalanche danger, turn around and go down a safe line without unnecessary risk. Likewise, it is worth refusing to descend a slope that does not meet your expectations or the skiing level of one of your team. The consequences can be unfortunate, and conducting a rescue in a remote area in case of injury is quite a complex and time-consuming undertaking. Personal ambition and adrenaline cravings should be put aside. Make decisions without emotion and in your right mind.

7. Assemble a "freerider's backpack

Be as careful as possible when selecting equipment and filling your backpack before you leave. In the middle of the season it is more difficult to catch the necessary items, so take care to be ready for the trip in advance. 

Here we'll write about the basic contents of a freerider backpack, and read more detailed instructions in a separate "freerider backpack" article:

• An avalanche kit: a dipstick, a shovel and an avalanche sensor (beeper). The beeper, aka avalanche probe, is like a lifejacket in freeride, you can't go without it! And we assure you that there is no such a thing as "it's only the Carpathians", "it won't happen to me" or "I will only pass under the elevator" - avalanches can occur even within the resorts, and often at the most unexpected moment!
• Phone with a full charge + preferably paverbank
• Walkie-talkies. It is desirable to have at least two radios per group - the one who starts and the one who finishes, but if everybody has one, it will be more comfortable for you and safe. Keep in mind that in the mountains sometimes there are gaps in cellular communication, so a walkie-talkie with a frequency tuned to your group is an excellent communication tool.
• Spare mask (in case of falling, icing, or loss is a must!)
• Spare gloves, warm tops (as a rule it's your extremities that get frozen first, and one more insulating/windproof layer can save your hands from frostbite!)
• One more layer of insulation (light down, fleece)
• A small personal first aid kit (taking into account that the main first aid kit is taken with the guide), sunscreen, lipstick
• Thermos flask with hot tea/coffee.
• Energy bars, small snack.
• Small folding knife and reinforced tape can be very useful in emergencies

Contents of the backpack can increase depending on the complexity of your hike up to the appearance of a full alp. kit, if you are going to climb ski mountaineering in the Tien Shan mountains.

8. Choose the right equipment

The following is both about the ski/snowboard gear itself (we've compiled tips on selecting freeride kits in a separate article from our guides) and about what to wear on your day of skiing. 

Helmet is a must! And it does not matter where and when you ski, what is the level of difficulty of the slope and how many years of experience you have - helmet is a must.

• Regarding clothing, take as a rule the principle of a sandwich or "three layers": 
• Thermal underwear (we recommend synthetic, compression - it best wicks moisture away from the body). The main task of this layer to remove moisture from the surface of the body and not let you get wet from the inside.
• Insulation (fleece, thin down, primaloft). The task of layer №2 to warm and remove moisture, with which the layer number 1 worked on, to layer №3.
  Membrane. The main function of layer №3: to bring the moisture from layer №2 outside, while keeping the rain/snow/wind inside 
  Remember, we always recommend to have an extra layer №2 - it will keep you warm during standing and snacking, or in case of worsening weather conditions (optimally it is a thin compact down jacket or primaloft)

9. Be prepared for a variety of situations

• Contact locals: experienced riders, guides and rescuers to get a more detailed picture of the region and understand where you can go, and where it is better to postpone the trip.
• You must to know phone numbers of rescue services in the region where you will ride and be able to quickly send your coordinates via SMS or any other messenger. 
• Each exit of the group in the backcountry must be registered with the appropriate rescue service! In doing so, the rescuers will receive information about your route string, the number of people, the duration of the trip - the more data, the easier and faster it will be possible to act in case of an emergency.
• Monitor the weather forecast for the past few days and on the day of departure. This way, you can get a general picture of snow accumulation in advance and estimate the condition of the snow cover. 

10. Insurance

Skiing and snowboarding are always associated with increased risk. Piste, freeride, kicker, bigair... Please don't be lazy to take out insurance for the whole period of skiing. It is important to know that the regular tourist insurance is only valid on the territory of the resort! If you decide to master off-piste skiing, take this into account when choosing an insurance policy. Yes, there is indeed a special insurance, which is called "freeride insurance", which policy will also work off-piste.

Let's summarize. We can reduce all recommendations to a few simple rules:

• Find good partners or a competent guide.
• Practice your riding technique.
• Take avalanche training, train regularly in using avalanche equipment
• Find the right equipment for your event.
• Collect information: study the forecast and avalanche conditions, communicate with local lodgers and guides, dig pits and study the snow conditions in the region.
• Leave information about yourself to other people: friends, relatives, rescuers.
• Avoid dangers. If there are doubts, it is better to refuse to descend or at least change the route.