Define Deep. 

Classic case. You woke up to 30 inches of fresh. Out the door before dawn, skis skinned and already in the car. Trailhead by five, summit by seven, and you drop … 

It’s not the first turn. Nor the second. But the third, that’s the one. You arc and enter the white room. Clapton’s guitar riff blares in your head to the rhythm of Ginger Baker’s apocalyptic drums. In your mind’s eye, you’re starring in your own iconic Lee Cohen photograph, disappearing behind a wave of powder with just the tip of your ski pole escaping the void. 

Hell, yeah. That’s deep. 

But what if it’s only boot deep. Yet you’ve just spent a week aboard a 118-foot Dutch schooner to reach that snow. And while touring through the Arctic glaciers spilling to the sea—as BD Employee Ryan Z writes in his essay on skiing in Svalbard—your guide, BD Athlete Angela Hawse, hits the skin track with a high-powered rifle slung over a shoulder. Just in case of polar bears. 

OK, pretty darn deep. 

Or maybe it’s shin deep. You’re in the “backyard” zone close to home. A mere 700 ft of elevation gain and you’re dropping in. But for your four-legged companion, whose snout and pointy ears snorkel just past the surface, it’s heaven. And those turns together are what you’ll look back on year after year, even after they’re gone, and think … damn, what we had was so deep. 

The truth is that we’re here for all of it. And the gear in this catalog is just a veritable vehicle for whatever experience you’re looking for. From bottomless powder, far-flung adventures, or backyard missions, we’ve got the gear to take you there. 

Because when it comes to designing outdoor equipment, at Black Diamond, the stoke runs deep.