SKIING THE BACKCOUNTRY SPECIAL EQUIPMENT, SKILL AND SMARTS NEEDED BEFORE HEADING OUT OF BOUNDS.

Byline: Story and photos by Bill Becher Correspondent

JUNE MOUNTAIN - The rope is looped to a red sign that warns, ``Ski area boundary, no lift access, not patrolled beyond this point.''

We lift the rope that marks the limits of resort skiing and pass under it to the land of virgin snow, stunning mountain views ... and smothering avalanches.

Gliding along a ridge top between white-flocked firs, we see animal tracks in the fresh powder. A recent storm has dropped a foot and half of new snow. The air is crisp and silent, except for an occasional whump. That's the sound of snow collapsing in a small avalanche.

Backcountry skiers are lured by fresh snow, but that's the stuff that's most likely to slide. For most skiers, avalanche danger is a good reason never to leave the ski area. For others, it's the dash of adrenalin that spices an off-piste adventure.

Off piste is the term used to describe skiing away from resort slopes. It's popular in Europe but less known in the United States, where skiing out of bounds is considered foolhardy by many. At some U.S. ski areas it's prohibited.

Mammoth and June mountains have an open-boundary policy, meaning skiers can ski beyond the patrolled slopes, but they're completely on their own when they do. Hundreds of square miles of backcountry Sierra Nevada skiing can also be accessed simply by driving to the end of a plowed road.

Proper gear and training are essential if you don't want to disappear until the spring thaw.

Backcountry ski guide Tim Villanueva and I carried avalanche radio beacons, probes and shovels on our outing.

Earlier, I had taken a backcountry ski clinic with Villanueva. We practiced searching for a buried avalanche victim, first using the electronic beacons, then with long collapsible poles and finally by digging with a shovel. Our ``victim'' was a day pack with a beacon inside.

Learning to locate a buried avalanche victim quickly is important - half don't survive if they're not found in 30 minutes or less.

At the clinic, we tried out climbing ``skins'' - velour-like fabric strips with a one-way nap that attached temporarily to the bottom of our skis to provide grip for getting uphill. I was using Alpine Touring or AT skis and bindings. They're also called randonee skis after the French word for touring.

AT skis are metal-edged and similar to downhill skis, but the bindings can be released in the back so your feet can pivot when climbing, as with cross-country skis. Of course, when it's really steep you can take your skis off and ``boot'' up the hill.

The AT bindings lock down for descents. This allows downhillers to convert to off-piste using the parallel skiing skills learned on the groomed slopes.

The other ski used in the backcountry is the telemark ski, where the heel is always free to lift up, as with cross-country skis. You genuflect on one bent knee to turn when going downhill - a graceful way to ski, but difficult to learn for some.

Hard-core tele skiers say randonee is French for ``can't telemark,'' but AT is the easiest transition to backcountry skiing for most people.

Locked down, my AT skis float through the fresh powder - until a buried tree branch trips me up.

Villanueva stops and digs a snow pit to check on avalanche conditions for the report he posts on the Internet.

Snow flies as he excavates a hole, then slices blocks with a saw. You can see the striation left by hoarfrost 2 feet down. The hoarfrost layer, caused by repeated melting and freezing, is like a sheet of ball bearings that will allow the slab of snow on top to move.

Villanueva tamps on the snow block with his shovel, and it slides. We're OK because we're in an area with trees and gentle terrain, but the danger is greater out in the open, where the slopes are 30 degrees and steeper.

We ski down the ridge admiring the views of Mount Wood to the north.

Soon it's time to put on our climbing skins and make our way back to civilization. Slogging uphill is what backcountry skiers call ``earning your turns,'' and now it's payback time.

IF YOU GO

GEAR: Mammoth Mountaineering Supply Co. in Mammoth Lakes sells and rents backcountry ski equipment, including AT and telemark. The store sponsors backcountry ski and avalanche awareness clinics.

GUIDES: Tim Villanueva, [phone], and the Bardini Foundation, www.bardini.org, offer guided backcountry ski trips and avalanche training. Also offering backcountry trips and clinics are Sierra Mountain Center, [phone], www.sierramountaincenter.com, and Nidever Mountain Guides, [phone], www.themountainguide.com.

AVALANCHE ALERT: For Eastern Sierra avalanche reports, visit www.csac.org/Bulletins/Calif/e-sierra.html.

INFORMATION: For general backcountry ski information, visit www.sierrabackcountry.org.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 3) Ski guide Tim Villanueva, top, leads tours beyond the boundaries of the Mammoth and June mountain resorts, but not before instructing skiers in avalanche rescue, right, and equipping them with transmitters, above.

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IF YOU GO (see text)