Think of the snowcat like the tram in Jackson Hole where you want to access the side-country. Although you can ski off the tram, the best runs require a little bit of hiking to get to.
What does ‘Snowcat Assisted Backcountry Skiing’ even mean? Basically, we use a snowcat to eliminate a long flat approach into the Virginia Lakes region, then we use the snowcat to go uphill, and when conditions allow we have ‘cat laps’ that involve no skinning whatsoever (this can happen quite a lot with the right conditions!). For some runs, we use a snowcat to go uphill to a drop-off then continue on skins for a long run that ends at a cat pick-up. Finally, we have some straightforward backcountry skiing terrain where the snowcat takes you to the base where we skin up and ski down.
Basically, we maximize your powder turns for the minimum amount of hiking!
