Off-piste is a wonderful expression and a wonderful feeling. European skiers call their ski runs "pistes" and use this expression to describe skiing away from prepared runs. This doesn’t refer to just powder skiing but skiing in a mixed bag of variable, natural snow conditions. Skiing off-piste demands an adaptable and secure technique to cope with anything from wind-ruffled powder to breakable crust. The high, treeless basins at Loveland, exposed to sun and wind, are perfect places to experience the delights and frustrations of ungroomed, variable snow. Here are a few general tips and strategies to use whenever you ski in tricky, variable snow conditions.
Security first. Maybe the surface will support you, maybe it won’t; if you have doubts, ski it slowly--high-speed tumbles are much riskier. Ski it on two feet with both skis equally weighted. This is the opposite of normal packed-slope technique, where you want to be exclusively balanced over your outside ski. But in unknown snow conditions, equal weighting gives you several advantages. If the snow surface has a light, unstable crust, you’re less likely to break through with only half the weight on each ski, and if one ski does break through to become trapped inside or under the crust, then you’ve still got your other ski for support and turning while you try to get it--or them--back together.
For similar reasons, I suggest medium-radius turns in variable and tricky snow conditions.
If the snow seems extremely variable and catchy, you’ll probably want to use a smooth, powerful up motion to start your turns. Add that snappy lifting of your outside hand and arm that I mentioned in connection with powder to punctuate this up movement. But don’t simply jump in the air and turn your skis and come down hard; a hard landing can trap your skis again in deep, crusty snow. Instead, try to follow your smooth upward extension with an equally smooth progressive sinking to absorb some of the extra pressure of this landing.
In difficult variable snow I make an effort to lean or bank into my turns. This tilts my skis up in the snow and reduces the likelihood of catching an outside edge in the crust. This is not something I’d ever recommend on a packed slope, but it’s helpful in heavy, difficult snow.