Last Friday, I broke out of self-isolation to go skiing on Berthoud Pass, one of, if not the most, popular backcountry access points in Colorado. It was a weekday, and my partner and I thought we could avoid the majority of crowds and socially distance ourselves. We took all the measures we believed were necessary to keep ourselves and others safe amidst the current pandemic.

We took separate vehicles, drove cautiously, made zero pitstops, kept our distance at the trailhead and on the skin track, refrained from high fives, and stuck to open descents outside avalanche terrain. We were responsible, in our book. Unfortunately, not everyone was.

Berthoud Pass was the busiest I’ve ever seen it in a near decade of skiing in the area. Despite leaving the confines of my home to ski and seek respite from the monotony of isolation during the global pandemic, all I found was more anxiety.

Our knowledge of the area paid off in the form of a few untouched laps, which momentarily eased the mental stress, but upon returning to the trailhead, we found a group of four lingering next to our car, smoking bowls, drinking beers, and seemingly oblivious to their close proximity to us.

We were naïve to think that we could escape the crowds and avoid the actions of others. I returned home questioning not only whether I should continue to ski, but whether I even wanted to.

The traffic, both in Colorado and across the country, only increased over the weekend, as people showed up in droves on highway passes and at backcountry trailheads to escape their home offices. Videos of cars lining Loveland Pass, tracked out ski areas still open for uphillers and reports of irresponsible backcountry etiquette flooded social media.

In an Instagram story post, Utah-based professional ski photographer Jay Dash urged skiers to take the situation seriously and tone it back, and even consider not skiing at all. He received over 70 responses, many of which outlined ways individuals were taking measures to ski safely, including skiing alone or with just one other person.

Many people cited their track record of safety and years of education as factors in how they’re staying safe. However, what he’s observed in reality is a different story, he says, and Dash has chosen to stop recreating in the backcountry.

“I continue to see people skiing with a few others, and they switch it up every single day,” he says. “Other people say they’re going to go by themselves or with one person and drive separately to the trailhead, but when you do that in a city with two million people, you’re still going to have a lot of people in the mountains. It’s a simple numbers game.”

Dash added that even recreating alone increases the risk and probability for need of rescue and goes against the foundation of education every backcountry skier should have.

Backcountry zones in close proximity to major metropolitan areas, like Loveland and Berthoud Pass in Colorado or Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah, are the most prone to this increase in skier density following resort closures. As more and more skiers post powder shots and photos of burly lines on their social feeds, skiers in those cities are even more tempted to grab their gear.

Skiers who reside in small ski towns are more insulated from the traffic, yes, but they’re not immune to the idea of personal freedom, and their location makes them more susceptible to the potential consequences. Small mountain hamlets tasked with search and rescue and medical first response are stretched thin during the current pandemic.

Additionally, these communities are increasingly susceptible to outbreaks of COVD-19 caused by non-locals as a result of their already limited resources. These problems are only exacerbated when skiers without proper knowledge and experience enter the backcountry arena.

In response, some local authorities have closed access points to halt the increase in backcountry recreation. National Parks, including Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier, Grand Teton and Yellowstone, have all closed; Loveland Ski Area and Winter Park Resort, in cooperation with the United States Forest Service, have closed uphill access; San Juan County, home to Silverton Ski Area and endless backcountry ski terrain, prohibited recreation on backcountry lands in the county, “as backcountry skiers and snowmobilers unnecessarily increase the potential for emergency and medical team response.”

Summit County, Colorado, made an official statement asking skiers from the Front Range and non-residents to refrain from entering their towns under any circumstances.

Julie Sutor, Summit County director of communications, cites Governor Jared Polis’ recommendation for people to refrain from accessing the area to slow the spread of the coronavirus to a population center like the Front Range Urban Corridor, as well as having their own local social distancing efforts compromised.

Summit County is one of four Colorado counties cited as being high risk for community spread of the disease. (Summit County, Utah, includes areas like Park City and was issued a shelter-in-place order on Wednesday, March 25.)

“When we have more people here, there’s just more opportunity for spread, whether it’s from person to person within our community, or from one of our community members to another community or vice versa,” says Sutor.

These closures and recommendations, while put into place for protection, shrink the available areas to ski. American skiers, many of whom factor both skiing and the national creed of personal freedom into their identities, won’t stop simply because they’re asked to. And if legal areas to recreate continue to shrink, it will only increase skier density in open zones.

“The U.S. has this fundamental issue of a country built on freedom and everyone thinks that, ‘if you take something from me, you’re taking my freedom,’” says Dash. “Unless there’s a full ban, if there’s a choice, people will keep doing what they’re doing, and in their heads, they’ll rationalize why it’s safe. I think people can ski safely, but this specific area has so many people.”

Colorado Governor Polis issued a stay-at-home order for Colorado on Wednesday, which allows for outdoor exercise as it is still deemed an “essential activity,” and travel to engage in that recreation is also permitted. For many, backcountry skiing falls under that category.

“If you’re going to look at it as a public safety issue, you can tell people not to go all you want, but people are still going to go unless you make it illegal,” says Fritz Sperry, Summit County, Colorado, local and author of the “Making Turns” guidebook series. He says he has taken new measures to mitigate risk and sees others in his community following suit.

“Who am I skiing with? The person I’m sheltering in place with. I’m not trying to increase my circle of partners,” he says.

However, Summit County Director of Communications Sutor says she doesn’t see a feasible way for skiers to continue touring responsibly, without pushing out onto thin ice that could crack and overload the system.

“We obviously saw, this past weekend, the results when people thought they could get out into the backcountry and have a solitary experience. Trailheads all across Summit County were clogged with vehicles and there was a very inappropriate level of social interaction,” she says.

“We know that even experienced backcountry travelers can have things go wrong, and we just can’t afford to take that risk right now. We need people to stay put—we’re not playing around. In order for us to get healthy and stop the spread of the disease, people need to stop thinking that they are an acceptable exception to the rules.”

Additionally, resources to equip skiers who choose to tour are varying by region. The Northwest Avalanche Center announced this week that it has paused all forecast operations following stay at home orders in Washington and Oregon. However, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) and others are still posting daily forecasts and giving pertinent information to those that choose to continue backcountry travel.

Since Friday, March 20, they recorded 33 human-triggered avalanches in the Colorado high country, one of which caught, carried, and seriously injured a snowboarder near the town of Ophir, and required helicopter evacuation as well as search and rescue cooperation in the field.

Ethan Greene, director of the CAIC, sees the situation paralleling a considerable hazard day on a busy weekend during a normal year.

“The same issues are there now that you always have with backcountry recreation, plus the public health hazard,” says Greene. “You can still make plans that deal with all of the backcountry issues plus the public health issues and have a good and safe recreational experience, and you can still mismanage any one of those issues and get yourself into trouble. We see people doing both of those things.”

The skiing community is a microcosm of the entire world right now. Just as the general population is being told to stay inside and avoid unnecessary exposure to the rest of humanity, so too are skiers being urged to hang up their equipment for the season and look to next year.

But, diehard skiers struggle with immobilization and often believe they are immune to the realities of the rest of the world, that they are the exception to the rule. And now, as they continue to hoist backpacks on their shoulders, stick skins to skis, and walk uphill in search of fresh tracks, they’re overloading the system that’s at its breaking point.

Just as my expectations were proven wrong on Berthoud Pass, the skiing population is naïve to think they can continue to operate normally while the rest of the world is in turmoil. Yes, it is possible to backcountry ski responsibly in these times.

But, like the pandemic news updates we receive daily, the definition of responsible recreation is constantly shifting. Right now, it’s still a moral conundrum and not yet a legal one, with a blurred line between right and wrong, but just as everyone else in the world has adjusted to a new reality, so should skiers.