Boston to Geneva (to San Francisco): Off "piste" skiing

Soon after the ski season kicked off last winter we kept hearing all of our friends use the term "off piste" when they referred to skiing. After working up the courage (and feeling a bit idiotic) to ask what this word was that everyone seemed to be using, our friends explained to us that "piste" is the means "ski trail/slope"; therefore, "off piste" means skiing off of the trail, typically in powder. Given we grew up on the icy ski slopes of the Northeast United States, I suppose it was not overly surprising that the term (and concept) of off piste skiing was new to us.

Fast forward a year and many ski trips later and while we frequently venture onto non-groomed slopes, we had yet to tackle a true off piste skiing experience (i.e., no trails, just powder and the woods). That changed last weekend when we hired a ski guide with a few friends in Chamonix who led us through THICK woods into 6+ foot snow drifts to learn how to truly ski off piste....

I was the least experienced skiier in our group of 5 people so I was certain that I was going to be out of my element. In fact, I started envisioning my imminent helicopter rescue from the mountain after a probable collision with a tree (hmmm.... I've always wanted to take a helicopter ride over the alps, maybe this won't be so bad?!).

Spoiler alert -- I lived through the experience and can actually say that my first true off piste experience was one of the most fun (yet challenging) ski experiences I have had to date. I felt like a ski champion dodging in and out of trees but also fell no less than 10+ times and let me tell you, falling in 6+ feet of powder is no joke - powder is like quicksand and it is not easy to get up and out of it. Regardless, it was incredibly fun to be blazing our own trail through the woods and the powder was a blast to play around in. We will definitely do another off piste session sometime soon!