A defining characteristic is that the skier's heels are "free" – i.e. not bound to the skis – in order to allow a natural gliding motion while traversing and ascending terrain which may range from perfectly flat to extremely steep.
[1] Touring requires independent navigation skills and may involve route-finding through potential avalanche terrain.
[2] Thompson's route of 90 miles (140 km) took three days in and 48 hours back out with a pack that eventually exceeded 100 pounds (45 kg) of mail.
Cecil Slingsby, one of the earliest European practitioners, crossed the 1,550-metre-high (5,090 ft) Keiser Pass in Norway on skis in 1880.
Other pioneers include Adolfo Kind, Arnold Lunn, Ottorino Mezzalama, Patrick Vallençant, and Kilian Jornet Burgada.
Ski touring can take place anywhere that has suitable snow and terrain as well as reasonable means of access to the trailhead, i.e. plowed roads, snowcats, or aircraft.
The trails are maintained by organizations like Skiforeningen in the Oslomarka area and the Norwegian Trekking Association nationally, including Hardangervidda, Rondane, and Jotunheimen.
Free moving heels during the ascent are a defining characteristic of ski touring. After reaching the mountain top or other destination, the heel portions of the special touring bindings are fixated such that the skis behave like normal
alpine skis
on the typically long ride downhill.
Marked ascent track of a previous ski tour to the
Wildspitze
(3.768 m) in Tyrolia in
Austria
. The route leads over the
glacier
Taschachferner, whereby the mountaineers made a detour around an area with open
crevasses
(middle).
A descent from a mountain in
Switzerland
under nearly perfect conditions, meaning
powder snow
and sun. In contradiction, depending e.g. on the local weather history, mountaineers may also have to struggle with previously melted and re-frozen deep snow, which can be very tiring especially for lesser skilled skiers.
Alpine touring ski boot, binding, and ski crampon. The red spot below the toe portion is the
pivot point
of the binding about which the rest of the boot turns during a step, resulting in a movement similar, but not identical to a normal human walking movement - the shoe tip is always at the same height, because the skis are moved to glide at the snow surface level.
