Freeriding: everything you need to know about this winter’s coolest sport

It used to be called off-piste skiing, but these days “freeride” is the cool new name in winter sports. What it refers to is skiing anywhere on the mountain other than the immaculately prepared pistes of ski resorts; if you can throw in the odd jump or other trick along the way, so much the better.

This means you need to be at least a half-decent skier if you have aspirations to be a “freerider”. You could find yourself taking on anything from fluffy, light-as-air powder snow to heavy, wet slush and even ice, as well as having to negotiate untracked back-country terrain.

Most freeriders use resort ski lifts but, rather than ski back down the pistes, they’ll hike or “skin” into the back country from the top of the lift to find the action. “Skinning” involves using ski bindings that allow your heels to lift so you can walk on your skis (regular downhill bindings lock your heels in place, making walking very difficult), along with “skins” which are fastened to the base of the ski and have a nap that allows the skis to move forward but prevents them from sliding back.

This way you can ascend peaks outside the ski resort boundary to experience mountains in the raw, and ski large, untracked powder fields, which is the main appeal of freeriding. Indeed, many ski resorts, such as Livigno in Italy, have set aside specific freeride areas – ungroomed terrain away from the pistes where you can experience the mountains au naturel. They also provide “avalanche parks” where you can practise avalanche rescue techniques in safe surroundings before you head off into the back country.

“If you ski seriously it’s almost impossible to ignore the temptations of off-piste or back-country skiing,” says mountain guide Nigel Shepherd, who is Alpine safety adviser to the Ski Club of Great Britain. “One tires quickly of manicured and pampered pistes; floating through untouched powder, weaving a way through snow-clad pine trees or experiencing the grandeur of high alpine glaciers is, for me and for many others, the ultimate skiing experience.”