Birthdays feel special to me. So often we celebrate the milestones - 16, 21, 30, 40, 50 and so on but kind of let the rest of the birthdays go on as ordinary days. I choose to savor and celebrate all the birthdays in between. Throughout my 20s and into my 30s, I embraced my love of winter and snowy birthday month, usually celebrating in the snow. I spent many birthdays on a ski slope, my 30th birthday dog sledding in Canada, 31st birthday snowmobiling in the Adirondacks, so on, and so forth. My birthday ski celebrations were put on pause for a few years thanks to my winter pregnancies, but 2025 and my 37th birthday was the time I crossed something big off my bucket list, while using my birthday to coerce Adam into joining me. Instead of just heading west or north for a ski trip, we were headed to the backcountry to hike up a portion of Mount Washington and ski down the back country on New England's famous Sherburne Ski Trail.
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| Intro to Backcountry group, Inclusive Ski Touring |
Backcountry skiing isn't for everyone, but the more time I spent skiing, the more the idea rolled around in my head. As our ski resorts get busier and wildly expensive, I've been exploring different ways to enjoy the winter months and time on skiis. To avoid the crowds, I try to head to the mountains mid week, and even bought a pair of cross country skis to get off the mountain and into the woods.
Backcountry skiing felt like the natural progression into Type II fun on skis. The west usually steals the show for back country ski touring, but I quickly discovered there were a lot of opportunities in Vermont and New Hampshire, and better yet, backcountry skiing out of avalanche terrain. I saw a company called Inclusive Ski Touring on instagram and saw they had different ski tours nearly every weekend in the winter. At first, I planned on joining one of the uphill tours at a ski resort, seeing Whaleback and Cranmore as options. Then, I saw the option for backcountry ski touring up a section of Mount Washington and skiing down the Sherburne Trail - no resort, all backcountry out of avalanche terrain. I was willing to go solo, but hesitantly asked Adam if he was interested in joining me, with the added pressure of "this is what I want for my birthday". He agreed and I signed up with IST for a trip the week of my birthday.
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| Preparing for the ski down at the Hermit Lake Shelter |
Inclusive Ski Touring
Inclusive Ski Touring is a 501C3 nonprofit with the mission to "provide financially accessible group programs in order to develop an inclusive uphill community and offer opportunities for individuals of all backgrounds to try ski touring and/or split boarding." They offer a variety of programs from on resort uphill programs to backcountry programs, from intro to advanced. They also have programs that are women only, BIPOC, and queer ski touring groups. The guides are wildly knowledgable and friendly, and like their name, inclusive to all skills and abilities. The goal is to take something intimidating (and expensive, and gear heavy) like backcountry skiing. and present it in a way that is accessible and affordable to all.
As someone who always wanted to try backcountry skiing but didn't really know where to start, this was the perfect way to jump right in. The IST program offered experienced guides, a pre planned adventure, and the ability to show up and try something new in a safe and fun environment.
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| Pre tour meeting with Inclusive Ski Touring |
About the IST Intro to Back Country Program
Cost: According to their website, the typical cost of a comparable Intro to Backcountry Program in the United States ranges from $200 to $350 - IST offers the program at $150. If that price point isn't within your budget, IST offers eight scholarship opportunities for this program you can apply online and if selected, the entire cost of the program is covered.
Gear: Uphill backcountry ski touring requires a different set of gear than your typical resort setup. You use a lighter ski, a different boot with a different binding (typically a pin binding) that allows you to release your heel on the uphill to trek, and then lock your heel on the downhill to ski down. You also need a set of skins and collapsible ski poles. White Mountain Ski Co. in Jackson, was about 15 minutes from our meeting point and offered backcountry ski rental gear. We stopped the morning of and were quickly matched with the right gear by their knowledgable and friendly staff. We loved the low key laid back vibe and the passion behind the staff. We each rented skis, boots, poles for $70 a person/set up.
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| Tuckerman Ravine Trail (February 2025) |
Route: The program starts at the Pinkham Notch Visitor's Center (2,032’). The center is the popular starting point for a hike up Mountain Washington. The program follows the Tuckerman Ravine Trail 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers) with a vertical gain of approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters), leading to the Hermit Lake Caretaker Shelter (3,950’).
From there, skiers descend via the John Sherburne Ski Trail back to the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center parking area. The trail is rated as an intermediate resort trail but this route is ungroomed with varied obstacles, moguled snow, and changing conditions. All uphill travel follows the Tuckerman Ravine trail which while challenging in the summer as your skip over boulders and roots, is much friendlier in the winter. This trail is heavily packed as it is used by uphill skiers, snow showers, hikers, and White Mountain ranger snowmobiles. Even with heavy snow, this popular trail is packed down from the snowmobiles and skiers. The snow acts like the perfect ramp, leading the way to the shelter. If you only have time for a shorter run, or need to cut it early for any reason, there are several cut throughs from the Tuckerman Ravine to the Sherburne trail along the way up. The Sherb was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and has been a popular ski trail ever since. The trail is busy and you can expect to be joined by several skiers on your way up and down on this New England right of passage. There are a lot of other great trails in the area if you quickly find yourself loving the experience.
Schedule with IST
We met up around 9:45 to check in before getting together as a group at 10:30. We went through introductions and overview of the day and started the trek up. You are only as fast as your slowest person and with the premise of the organization, we go at a relaxed pace with lots of breaks to grab a snack, ask questions, or fix gear.
Sometime between 12:30 and 2 (depending on the pace of your group), you arrive at the Hermit Lake Caretaker Shelter. It's a 30 minute break to transition gear to downhill, grab a snack, and go over the descent details. There are also several stops on the descent to regroup.
The run down is about 15 minutes and it was just an amazing as we expected. You only get one run, but its probably the best run you'll do all winter if you are used to skied off icy resort terrain. Expect to arrive back at the parking lot between 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM - our group arrived back around 3 and we stayed for another ten minutes for a group debrief.
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| Hermit Lake Shelter (turn around point) |
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| Tuckerman Ravine Trial to the Hermit Lake Shelter (turn around point) |
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| Uphill touring on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail (February 2025) |
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| Uphill touring on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail (February 2025) |
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| Uphill touring on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail (February 2025) |
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| Uphill touring on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail (February 2025) |
Visitor's Center and Lodging: The Pinkham Notch Visitor's Center (where you start your trek) is an amazing resource, and thankfully is open year round. If you are starting your ski day, there is a large room where you can use the bathroom and get ready for the day. There is a visitor's center and store upstairs, equipped with last minute gear or snack additions and knowledgable guides to help plan your day. You can also grab a meal here and if you plan enough in advance, spend the night right at the AMC lodge. We spent a Girl's Weekend last year at the other AMC lodge at Crawford Notch and had an amazing time. This was booked out for our weekend but would highly recommend booking the lodge for an easy and awesome way to start your trip.
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| Pinkham Notch Visitor's Center |
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| Pinkham Notch Visitor's Center |
Our day with IST on the Sherb was a long one but a great one. It feels amazing to go out on an epic adventure without kids, to tape into a version of my childless self. As much as I love to ski, i truly hate the crowds and this felt like such a pure way to enjoy skiing in the beautiful White Mountains, far away from the crowds. We hooted and hollered as we made our way down the trail, snow falling around us, soaking in a beautiful adventure for my 37th birthday.
Adam wasn't sure what to expect from the experience and while he was willing to join me on the adventure, I don't think it was something he would do on his own. His apprehension was quickly replaced with appreciation and we both had a truly great time on our first backcountry ski tour.
If you look at this like a day of skiing, you are looking at it through the wrong lens. It is not the most efficient way to ski by any means. You are putting in a lot of work for one run (one really great run). You have to approach it as an epic one way hike with an amazing and fun way to get down (on skis). You have to approach it like an awesome day in the woods, a great workout in with friends. You have to approach this sport with the mentality of enjoying the whole process start to finish, to truly earning your turns. With the right mindset, right gear, and right leadership, this was such an amazing way to celebrate my birthday and nurture our relationship doing something we love. We both had an amazing day with IST in the beautiful White Mountains and I quickly became a fan of the sport, looking at ways to upgrade my gear and continue this new-to-me hobby next winter.
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