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Better late than never, it looks like winter is kicking back into gear in the Northwest. Recent storm cycles have give our snowpack a badly needed boost, and backcountry ski conditions are back in top form. The above photo set is from a recent backcountry tour in Idaho.

For those of you still looking for new skis, now is the time as retailers are ready to unload there gear after a slow start to the ski season. Here is our 2011 backcountry ski review to help you hone in on the right backcountry ski for your needs. Happy reading.

Shop for backcountry ski deals

Check out the latest backcountry skis at evo.com

It's been a sensitive winter for the snowpack in many regions around western North America. Shallow snowpacks and long dry spells have added up to create some touchy conditions as the numerous Colorado, Utah and recent Washington avalanche fatalities help to illustrate. Backcountry skiing is risky business, and we are all hungry for some quality powder turns.

Times of elevated hazard make finding safe skiing more difficult, but it can still be done. Check out this article about High Hazard Touring written by Larry Goldie, IFMGA Ski Guide, that appeared in Issue 43 (December 2009).

check out backcountry safety gear at evo.com

OK freeheel freaks and anyone interested in backcountry skiing, the Mountain Shop in Portland is hosting the second Tele-Tuesday of the season up at Mt Hood Ski Bowl on February 21!

Join the Mountain Shop and many others Tuesday, Feb 21 from 5 pm - 9 pm at Ski Bowl. Proceeds from the event go to the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center. This event features a avalanche beacon demo, brought to you by Timberline Mountain Guides and Mountain Savvy. The other cool event is a XCD freeski competition. Check out the Mountain Shop Website for more info.

As if we needed more reasons to stay away from the resort . . .

Continuing with new AT boot , there are several more new boots  worthy of further research. Garmont unveiled the new Cosmos four-buckle AT boot (women's version is Celeste). Paul Parker, Garmont's boot design consultant, gave us the full tour of the new boot, and we were impressed. It proved to be the lightest four-buckle AT boot at the show.  The new Dyanfit boots are light too, but the new series are three-buckle styles. Garmont is moving back to traditional tongue construction from recent overlap designs like found the Radium. The Garmont Cosmos offers great cuff range (60 degrees), and the cuff mechanism stands out as a nice piece of engineering. It should translate to nice skinning. There are two forward lean positions (11.5 and 13). All of this comes in a boot, according to Parker, built to drive today's big skis. The boot uses Grilamid (polyamide) in the body to give it its power. Grilamid was the new catch phrase plastic in the boot world at the show - characteristics like lighter and stiffer than PU/Pbex were being thrown around. The bottom line is that the Cosmos appears to be nice bridge between lightweight racer-style boots and stouter freeride boots.

Not to be outdone, the Scarpa alpine touring boot collection includes a good looking new four-buckle boot, too - the Maestrale RS. Although not quite as light as the Cosmos, the RS is only a few ounces heavier and claims asimilar flex rating (120ish). Flex ratings seem to be all over the board, so i am not real inclined to use them to make comparisons. The Maestrale RS has 40-degree cuff range and big ski driving power.

The new Garmont and Scarpa AT boots look like great candidates for touring minded skiers who like to drive big skis. Once we can get samples in something beyond the tradeshow 27.5 testers, we'll put some time in and post more beta. It looks like we will do a full four-buckle AT boot review in the mag for 2012.

Shop for Alpine Touring boot deals

Are you a backcountry purist? The Association of Backcountry Lodges of British Columbia just launched a contest offering four weeks of guided and catered backcountry hut skiing to the backcountry skier who can best represent the backcountry purist . . . that's right FOUR weeks of hut skiing!

You can get all the details at www.backcountrypurist.com

Taking advantage of the curent high pressure system, I made it up for a climb on Mt. Hood yesterday. Moody Mt. Hood never fails to keep you guessing when it comes to snow conditions and weather. Despite the mild valley temps and a nearly cloudless sky, the summit of Mt. hood remained shrouded in cloud all morning, while sustained east winds kept us bracing.

Nonetheless, it was great to get on the upper mountain mid-winter. Blue ice and the quintessential cloud cap kept us from the summit, but we salvaged the day with a velvety ski descent from about 10,000 feet.

Here's a few shots of our morning.

One of the growing sectors of the backcountry gear market is airbag or ABS packs. There are now several players in the airbag market. Two of the big players, Backcountry Access and Mammut are definitely working to make them lighter and more appealing to human powered users.

My initial response to airbag packs has been that they are great for mechanized operations - heli and snowcat operations - but that the added weight and cost is a stretch for most backcountry skiers. The new packs are definitely begining to become more appealing, at least on the weight front.  The cost is still high at $700+.

The packs are, however, proving to save lives. Check out this video of a snowboarder caught in sizeable slide who walks away thanks to his BCA Float Airbag Pack.