How to turn your favorite meals into pocket-friendly nosh for ski days, according to culinary experts
Lily and Max Ritter.
Crested Butte Mountain’s sharp silhouette stopped them in their tracks. Lily and Max Ritter had been biking down the switchbacks for a scant five minutes when they scooted over on the famed, wildflower-dense 401 Trail. Lily pulled out Two homemade Double-Shot Mocha Energy Balls, packed with dates, rolled oats, maple syrup, walnuts, and almond butter. The two chefs enjoy the bites wherever they may be adventuring, whether pedaling dirt or skiing powder. Dozens more of the treats awaited In their car at the trailhead. Taking in the views, Lily said, “I can’t wait for us to come back here to ski.”
As University of Colorado Boulder alumni, the couple first bonded while flipping buttermilk pancakes in a yurt for 25 fellow students on a backcountry ski trip. The college club outing to the Never Summer Nordic Yurts near Cameron Pass was their first meeting nearly a decade ago. Max had recently returned to the States after a season abroad working as a chef for Austria’s Karl Ludwig Haus in the eastern Alps.
Back then, “The Haus owner was the president of BioAustria, the Austrian Organic Food Association. He’d turned this mountain hut into a delicious kitchen. We used super fresh, good ingredients that were pretty tough to transport there — the hut was on an 8,000-foot mountaintop — so I learned a lot about food handling and prep,” said Max, whose German family immigrated to New York City after he was born, but brought their family back to Germany in the summers to enjoy the country and the Alps. He was raised by two passionate cooks, as was Lily, who grew up sourcing local produce from a farm in the Snoqualmie Valley, Washington.
A year after their inaugural yurt trip, the now-married Ritters moved north to the Tetons for their ski bum phase, becoming well-known hosts of post-ski dinners at their tiny studio apartment.
“A lot of folks were like, ‘How did you make this? I didn’t realize you could make this at home.’ The meals were simple, easy, wallet-friendly; we weren’t doing anything spectacular,” said Lily. The couple decided to compile their favorite at-home recipes for their first cookbook, Beyond Skid, in 2020.
Outside of the kitchen, both are professional wordsmiths, creating content for a sweep of media outlets, from Ski Journal to Powder Magazine. Drawing on their work and passions as chefs, writing and publishing a cookbook was a natural evolution. Feedback was positive, but readers were curious how they could bring those meals to the backcountry or ski resort.
“Skiers and mountain people are on the go and need to eat when they’re out there,” said Max. The question sparked their next cookbook project, and the couple spent the next two years writing Ski Snacks: Easy, Tasty Recipes for Powder Days and Mountain Adventures, which offers portable, satiating fare for the skin track or ski lift. Many of the recipes featured are inspired by the Ritters’ extreme adventures, including their visits to Crested Butte steeps and trails.
The 224-page book features 64 original recipes, including the Pocket Quiche — Lily’s favorite quick nibble for alpine start sunrises — and other hits like the Powder Day Turkey Club, featured in Max’s Summit Sandwiches chapter.
After his many years of practice, making a pre-ski sandwich has become a 10-minute ritual that Max looks forward to. Lily enjoys pre-baking, cutting, and freezing batches of snacks, including Trail Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies, Butter Mochi Cake (which thrives in hot or cold weather), Ants on a Date, Fudgy Espresso Brownies (a riff on the first-ever recipe Lily baked as a kid), and Energy Balls, their longest-standing, most popular, bring-everywhere goodie.
“We walk by the freezer, put them right in a backpack on the way out the door, and they quickly thaw,” said Lily, who, with Max, likes to snarf the treats while skiing different locations around the West.
The book’s pages are garnished with creative, insightful tips like how to package your snack — while factoring in smoosh-ability — how to avoid bonking, using healthier sweeteners, as well as entertaining bonus essays from ski partners and input from experts like holistic nutrition counselor Kaylee Pickett, who contributed a section on how to interpret appetite as an athlete.
“I don’t know the calorie, protein, or fat content of these recipes. To me, that’s not as important as knowing the ingredients are good and where they came from,” said Max, who also doesn’t shy away from packing a Snickers or Gummy Bears for extra calories on big ski days. “We don’t preach against packaged goods, but having one comforting, delicious, homemade biteable makes you feel at home wherever you are,” said Lily, adding, “Bring enough to share — food is such a powerful tool to bring people together.”
Fuel your next local adventure by picking up a copy of Ski Snacks at Townie Books, REI Grand Junction, or Barnes & Noble locations.