On this Friday morning in December, on a boulevard-style blue run at the Deux-Alpes ski area in southeastern France, several small groups are skiing uphill. Like salmon swimming upstream, they climb in single file along the edge of the run, their steps energetic and their heels free from the bindings. For these ski touring enthusiasts, who are increasingly numerous in mountain resorts, this is just another playground.

"Some people ski uphill for the pure physical exercise, the cardio aspect. Others just want to ski all over the resort and its limits, before trying out less controlled areas," explained Eric Bouchet, director of the Deux-Alpes tourist office. Gradually, the resort began to develop specific routes, particularly in the Vallée Blanche section. The almost deserted trail, winds its way between the fir trees, with a regular gradient. At the end, you clip into your rear bindings and head back down the classic ski run. "What I like about ski touring is the nature aspect, away from the crowds," said David Garcia, a ski instructor in the winter and craftsman in the summer. "Compared to downhill skiing, you take the time to observe the landscape. And you see more animal tracks than beer cans!"

For a long time, this niche sport was mainly practiced in natural areas. "It was only in the 2010s that we started to see more and more ski tourers in ski areas," said Dominique Kreziak, an academic and co-author of the book Le Ski de Randonnée Brouille les Pistes ("Ski Touring Covers its Tracks," 2022). Then came the winter of 2020-2021, when ski lifts remained closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ski touring, which can be done downhill, flat or uphill (using removable gripping skins attached to the underside of the skis), doesn't require a lift. "A whole new public discovered this sport. That year, it really exploded in the resorts," explained Laurent Reynaud, a general delegate of Domaines Skiables de France, the ski lift union.

Union Sport et Cycle, a group of equipment manufacturers, calculated that in the winter of the pandemic, sales of touring skis reached 50,000 pairs, compared with around 35,000 pairs previously. "Since then, things have slowed down again, but the practice has developed," said Brice Blancard of Union Sport et Cycle. The market represents around 8% of ski sales.

Resorts everywhere have started to create marked routes on the edges of their areas. According to Kreziak's research, in France, 70 resorts have developed routes for ski tourers, compared with 47 in 2018, and just three in 2014. As Kreziak points out, this sport, a symbol of freedom and lack of regulation, is now practiced "in places that are no longer outside the law, marketing and the tourist economy."

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