Gotta have snow? Snow in the backcountry? Check out this great collection of three books from Mountaineers:

Backcountry Skiing By Martin Volken

* For intermediate-to-advanced backcountry skiers
* Includes trip planning, navigation, fitness, and avalanche safety information, 
in addition to techniques
*Provides advice on how to make well-informed backcountry decisions

Martin Volken and his co-authors provide skiers with all the tools and knowledge they need to safely and successfully travel in the mountain backcountry. The guide features intermediate-to-advanced techniques for ski touring and ski mountaineering, from planning backcountry trips to perfecting turns in rolling terrain and mastering uphill climbing. For those skiers ready for a more technical, high alpine environment, they draw on traditional mountaineering skills, including roped climbing, setting protection anchors, using ice axes, climbing on bare rock, and more. 

In addition to mastering techniques, Backcountry Skiing also features information on recent evolutions in ski equipment; avalanche safety tips; a primer on mountain weather and glaciers, trip planning tools, a discussion of emergency situations, nutrition and fitness advice, and winter camping basics.

Throughout this guide, a special emphasis is put on being well-informed and making good decisions -- whenever you strap on your skis and skins and head out into the backcountry.

Staying Alive In Avalanche Terrain, 2^nd Ed.By Bruce Tremper

* Provides easy-to-follow instructions on crucial avalanche safety skills
* Completely revised with all of the most recent data and techniques
* Ideal for snowmobilers, snowboarders, snowshoers, skiers, climbers, hunters, hikers

"No one who plays in mountain snow should leave home without having studied this book." -Rocky Mountain News 

Winter recreation in the backcountry has increased steadily over the years and so has the number of deaths and injuries caused by avalanches. As search and rescue teams are increasingly strapped for funding, self-education has become a larger necessity for snow-sport enthusiasts. The new edition of Bruce Tremper's seminal book is organized according to the structure of American Avalanche Association classes and all chapters have been updated and reviewed by peer experts.

Avalanche Essentials By Bruce Tremper

* Easy-to-understand safety tips and checklists to help anyone stay safer in avalanche terrain
* Small, take-along resource to reference in the field and assist decision making
* Companion to Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, the bestselling avalanche text in the U.S.

Winter athletes don’t necessarily want to be snow scientists, but playing in avalanche country does require basic knowledge of the risks in order to stay safe. This new guide by renowned avalanche expert Bruce Tremper is simple, accessible, and offers just the basics — an Everyman’s guide to avalanche safety that won’t overtax your average ski bums, but will keep them safe when they’re going for 12 consecutive months of powder. Avalanche Essentials is for everyone who wants to learn the fundamentals of avalanche awareness, focusing on systems and checklists, step-by-step procedures, decision-making aids, visual terrain and weather cues, rescue techniques, gear, and more.

Avalanche Essentials is intended for broader use by skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, hikers, climbers, and snowshoers. Because it steers clear of more complex topics (e.g., snow metamorphism), it’s perfect for generalists as well as anyone who has studied avalanche safety and likes to keep a pocket reference while in potentially dangerous terrain.