Mind the Gap

Riding through trees? I never used to get it. I skied with people from Vermont who said, "Follow me!" before disappearing into a thicket. They should have said, "Go roughly in the same direction as me, but parallel to my tracks!", but it's not as snappy.
Anyhow, I followed, and found myself rapidly accelerating along their tracks, with no fresh snow to slow my rate of progress. Round about tree three I'd be travelling at speeds that would invalidate the warranty on most of my ski equipment, and the immediate future would not be looking too rosy. Somehow I always survived but I could never claim to have enjoyed the experience except afterwards in the 'glad to be alive' sense.
But the penny finally dropped: avoiding people's tracks and turning through untouched snow - the deeper the better - keeps things nicely in control. Everything suddenly became as easy as falling off a log, rather than skiing into one. I can't claim to be much good in trees yet, certainly not when the steepness and timber density crosses a critical threshold, but I know how good this not-obviously-fun branch of skiing can be. And let's leave off the puns.
So, tree skiing tips from www.ultimate-ski.com:

• If you look for the gaps and not at the trees, you'll miss the woodwork; but if your tree skiing threatens to become a full-contact sport you're doing it wrong and should stop. Right away. Now!
• Wear a helmet. Although a good smack into a tree trunk will break your neck with or without a brain-bucket attached, you're aiming to avoid this kind of thing (see above). Smaller branches and sharp twigs to the scalp are the real concern, particularly in glades where trees have been trimmed to the trunk up to head height for short people (and you're tall).
• Wear goggles, for related reasons.
• Don't use your pole straps - if a pole catches catches fast in undergrowth, the strap should fail before your arm rips off at the shoulder, but this is not something you want to test in practice.
• Finally, NARSIDs (and to you too). No, not a term of abuse, but Non Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Deaths. More succinctly, falling into and then suffocating in tree-wells (snow-free hollows, down to the roots, which can form around tree trunks) after the kind of snow storm that makes trees so appealing to ride through. In British Columbia the snow depth and consistency means this happens enough to make buddy-riding essential. Once you're down one of these holes you can neither climb out, be seen or be heard shouting for help and you rapidly succumb to hypothermia even if you're otherwise uninjured.

So, what are you waiting for? Well, if you know what's good for you, wide-spaced trees and gentle slopes, in the early stages at least. Have at it!