Skiing / Riding Ability
Skiing Level 1: Can ski/ride well on groomed slopes, have little or no skiing/riding experience in backcountry snow conditions or in deep powder snow.
Skiing level 2: Can ski/ride most backcountry snow conditions and most slopes with 5 kg backpack.
Skiing level 3: Can ski/ride all snow conditions and on all angles with a 10 kg backpack including deep powder and hard ice.
Skiing level 4: Can ski/ride all snow conditions, including breakable crust, and angles > 40° with a 15 kg backpack.
Backcountry Experience & Fitness
Level 1: Very little or no experience of using skins, ski crampons/split boards. Relatively fit and active, can hike uphill for a few hours with a 5 kg backpack.
Level 2: Have used skins/split boards before. Can comfortably do 300m (1000 ft) vertical height per hour for 3-4 hours with a 10 kg pack.
Level 3: Are comfortable using skins/split boards including ski crampons. Can do take turns on steep slopes. Can do 300m per hour with 15 kg pack for four hours or more.
Level 4: Very comfortable using touring equipment and have boot packed up slopes and ski/snowboard boots with crampons and ice axe. Can easily do 400m per hour or more, over multiple days with 15kg+ backpack.