Kendra is a hiking guide based in Squamish, BC and is on her way to becoming an ACMG ski guide and rock guide. She’s also the newest addition to the OnwardUP family and works as a field service rep.

Back in the day, when people went ski touring, the women wore skirts, and the men wore shorts with wool socks above their knees, and skis 200cm long. Transceivers were analog only, and in search mode, you wore a pair of headphones to hear the beeps from the transmitting signal on a buried victim.

Nowadays, our gear and our ski packs are filled with the latest lightweight ropes, packable down jackets, spiffy crevasse rescue gear, and high-tech boots that feel like slippers on the up, and perform like a high performance downhill boot on the down.

Boy are things easier for us now. These days we have the freedom to design our ski kits perfectly to fit our skiing goals. Whether you’re going for a first descent down a couloir in a remote part of British Columbia’s coast mountains, or poking around your favorite resort, or on a long traverse in the spring in the Rockies…

Although it would have been cool to live in the era of clunky leather boots, wool sweaters, and heavy nylon ropes tied around our waists, I think it’s safe to say that we’d all prefer the technology we have today. Oh the places we can go!

Kendra’s favourite gear for ski touring:

1. Descensionist Pack by Patagonia

Features: The game-changing side zip. When you’re touring, you want to be able to access everything in your pack at all times; whether it’s your goggles for a quick descent, or your harness for a short section of glacier travel, or a big puffy for a frigid walk along a ridge. Instead of having to rummage through your bag or strategically plan out what to put at the bottom or the top of the bag, you can access everything right away. Also what’s great about the Descensionist pack is having a front pocket dedicated for your rescue gear. If s*** hits the fan, you know exactly where your rescue gear is and it takes a matter of seconds to retrieve it from your pack when the clock is ticking. 

2. Capilene Air by Patagonia

Features: The most comfortable, breathable, stylish and warm base-layer you could ever own. The capilene air is a 49%/51% merino-polyester blend that combines the benefits of both material into the perfect top or long underwear. Frozen sweat? No longer. Itchy wool? Nope. It’s the perfect all-in-one piece. 

3. Bindi Headlamp by Petzl

Features: It’s always best to save weight where you can, and every ounce counts! Especially if you are on a long, high-output mission. The bindi is 200 lumens and ultra-compact weighing only 35 grams. Throw this one in your pack and you won’t even feel it’s there. 

4. Powslayer Bibs by Patagonia

Features: Gore-tex pro. Light, packable: the perfect pant for any backcountry ski touring mission. The nylon face fabric performs as a highly durable waterproof, windproof, but totally breathable material. Favorite part? Being able to unzip the back for a quick pee. Having the comfort of a bib pant, but the freedom with the back door zipper is essential.  

5. Rad Line by Petzl

Features: Comes with Rad line rope, micro traxion, tibloc ascender, 120mm sling, and 3 screw lock carabiners. This is the fastest and lightest rope kit around. You’re no longer playing rock-paper-scissors and deciding which one of your team members is going to carry the rope. You can build a 3:1 haul system with this kit so quickly and efficiently, it’s ridiculous.

Grab your favourite pieces of gear and get out there. Because whether you’re a skier from the 1950’s or a skier now, it’s still the same concept: feeling freedom on skis, searching for pow, and having a good time in the mountains with your friends!