Allen and Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book

My mom got this book for me when I was in middle school and I devoured it to say the least. Allen O' Bannon brings an informative yet light-hearted take on winter-time backcountry skiing and traveling techniques which are beautifully accompanied by Mike Clelland's detailed and humorous illustrations.

I read this book as I was getting into bc skiing. It is a simple, fun, and not intimidating first book for the newbie. Allen and Mike are a great team, the goofy illustrations help break up the content and make you smile. Lots of good tips, tricks, and knowledge.

This book has excellent illustrations, some great advice, some maybe marginal advice, and then some outdated parts. I still would recommend it because there is some good knowledge in there and Mike's writing style is very approachable, much less technical than many of the other guides out there. Get inspired and go!

Great book for beginner backcountry enthusiasts. I picked up a copy of this for my in-laws who are getting back into touring after a 30 yr hiatus. They had the tele book by the same author and have really enjoyed having this in their collection as well!

I dutifully read the 1996 original edition of this book when I was first getting started with backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering around then.
Searching around now online, I see that this version for sale here was "Revised" in 2007. Reading some online excerpts, the "Even Better" claim is true in the sense only that it is no longer quite as outdated and inadequate as the original version.
I've given it three stars only because some of the tips on cold-weather winter camping can be useful to newcomers.
But the equipment focus is still biased toward the low-performance end of the spectrum.
(I'm almost surprised its presence in the Skimo Co warehouse doesn't cause some sort of matter<>anti-matter cosmic explosion.)
And the avalanche section is a poor substitute for reading one of the Tremper books, or even just the chapter in the Volken et al. book.
Speaking of which, before buying any instructional book for backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering, first read the Volken book. If after reading Volken, you still want some additional reading in more specialized subjects, then expand your library for books on crevasse rescue, technical climbing, etc. This book might fit that need for winter camping, but not for the strictly ski touring daytrip aspects of the sport.