Backcountry Skiing & Splitboarding

California's backcountry ski terrain runs from roadside I-80 sidecountry you can lap before work to seven-day Sierra High Route traverses and 14,179-foot volcano descents off Shasta's Hotlum-Wintun. Donner Summit and Castle Peak catch the first storms and hold the state's densest tour network; Carson Pass and Round Top are the friendliest introduction to touring; Desolation Wilderness and Mount Tallac deliver big Tahoe lines a short skin from the car. South and east, the Eastern Sierra couloirs — Bloody Couloir above Convict Lake, the Palisades, and Sonora and Tioga Pass corn in May and June — are among the longest continuous ski descents in North America, and Lassen and Shasta stretch the season into summer volcano skiing. Twenty-five zones, graded on the ATES scale and filtered by tier, guide service, and whether the terrain forgives a first tour.