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Old March 1st 06, 01:46 PM
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On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 11:09:23 +0100, Martin Thornquist
wrote:

[ ]

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 19:54:51 +0000 (UTC), Booker C. Bense
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Feb.23.06@telemark. slac.stanford.edu
wrote:
If you're using your own effort to get up the hills and you're
not skiing on a prepared track, that's backcountry skiing.


I have to use my own effort? Really? Can't I use a helicopter?
Please?


As much as I disagree with heliskiing I have to agree that how to
define an area cannot depend on how some people get there. It can also
be backcountry if you hike from the top of a lift and thus only use
your own effort for part of the way. Or even ski straight from the
lift, as with La Grave or Aiguille du Midi (just gondolas to the tops
of the mountains, no grooming or other maintenance).


I pretty much agree - I've done some "backcountry" which consists of
little more than taking a different route from the top of a lift (e.g.
Pas de Chevre in Chamonix, which drops you down onto the bottom of the
Vallee Blanche). And I've done stuff which requires a 4 hour hike.
And stuff in Russia where a heli really is the only realistic way of
accessing the terrain.
--
Champ
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