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While this is not your typical book on Avalanche safety, the stories of Jill Fredston may just be exactly what over ambitious snow sport adventurers need to read to get scared straight. Snowstruck details Jill Fredston’s experiences as a foremost authority on avalanches in Alaska. Fredston’s knowledge, experience, and expertise is in heavy demand during the North American winter which often involves death and tragedy. After reading Snowstruck, I got the feeling that is the type of Job Security most people would not want.

Jill Fredston and her husband Doug Fesler are drawn to the magical white death both by its beauty and the tragic consequences of others’ bad decisions. The book details the lives of Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler including how they met and formed an inseparable partnership around the most tragic of winter accidents that claim dozens of lives every year. Several aspects of how avalanches impact outdoor enthusiasts and communities are detailed including skiers, hikers, road slides, housing destruction, community development, snow mobilers, and snow boarders. An excellent read that will give any one entering into avalanche terrain a second thought knowing the potential devastation and human tragedy of bad decision making.

Nicolas Howe’s eminently readable Not Without Peril does not strictly deal with skiing, but is packed full of history about Mount Washington. Much of that history is vital to mountaineers and backcountry skiers that visit the rock pile for earning turns. This richly researched book details several cases of outdoor recreationalists that decided to undertake an outing on Mount Washington that turned tragic and often fatal. Each case is meticulously reconstructed from start to finish by Nicholas Howe who uses a wealth of research to walk the reader through the most likely course of events based on recorded evidence and known details.

Recreational skiing only entered the Mount Washington scene during the past one hundred years with widespread use of the ravine only developing in the later third of the time frame covered by Not Without Peril. Despite only a few brief accounts of skier mishaps, backcountry skiers will gain invaluable wisdom about not challenging Mount Washington when the weather and/or snow conditions are not favorable. Turning back should always be the first option considered when plans go bad.

While not specifically about skiing history, Forest and Crag contains a wealth of information about the people and history that formed the basis of recreational skiing in the mountains of the Northeast. This book is especially interesting for backcountry skiers that spend more time hiking than skiing. The Waterman’s are highly regarded as the foremost experts on the history of hiking and mountaineering in the Northeast. Both authors draw heavily on extensive and well documented research. First ascents and first summits are detailed in addition to the development of the various trail systems of the Northeast. People and places come alive in vivid detail due the high quality of the authors’ prose. Knowing the history of the mountains only increases one’s pleasure while recreating amongst them. Highly recommended.

Hal Clifford takes aim at corporate ski resorts and their effect on the ski industry and the environment in his hard hitting title. Clifford’s books should be read in conjunction with other titles detailing the complexity of corporations and short term interest on share holder earnings instead of long term stability, profitability, environmental soundness, and community involvement. Such titles I would recommend include The Corporation, Corporation Nation, and When Corporations Rule the World which all detail the history, issues, and problems surrounding how the United States government and judicial systems have chosen to build its economic system based on the publicly owned and traded corporate institution. Downhill Slide looks most closely at the homogenization of large scale resort companies that hurt local towns and economies while attempting to side step and challenge environmental standards. Ski Corporations focus mainly on short term profitability and stock holder satisfaction which promotes an unhealthy corporate climate less likely to care about the local towns, environment, and long term sustainability. If you appreciate the classic family own skier experience and are concerned about large mega ski resort companies and their effects on the ski industry, local ski towns, and the environment, this book is a must read.

David Goodman’s pair of Backcountry Skiing Adventures books are the essential backcountry guides for skiing in New England and New York. However, for backcountry skiing off the beaten path in the White Mountains, the AMC White Mountain Guide should not be over looked and the topo maps are indispensable. I recommend purchasing the weather proof Tyvek version of the AMC White Mountain Maps either in addition to or instead of the guide depending upon your need for information and desire to have quality maps survive in the field. There are plenty of lesser known backcountry destinations in the Whites and many require travel in the White Mountain trail network to access. The topographic maps alone should provide many sleepless nights of route planning and imagining.