CHARLEMONT — The fast-growing sport of backcountry skiing is hitting the country by storm and Franklin County is a driver in this wave.

On Thursday, the Western Massachusetts Backcountry Alliance held its inaugural party at Berkshire East Mountain Resort after its first year in operation. With about 100 people in attendance, members of this association of do-it-yourself skiing enthusiasts are excited to keep expanding and hit the slopes in style.

Backcountry skiing is a type of alpine or downhill skiing, but it requires more manpower initially. Instead of taking a lift up a mountain to do the downward run, backcountry skiers attach “skins” (a synthetic material that allows skis to stick to snow while climbing up) and climb up the mountain they wish to ride down. After they get to the top and take off the skins, they ride down the mountain, enjoying the thrill of a vertical drop and the satisfaction of getting to the top using their own strength.

“In the industry, they say self-powered skiing and snowboarding is the fastest-growing part of the sport,” said Andy Mathey, one of the alliance founders.

This sport is done with alpine touring skis, telemark skis and split boards — snowboards that split in half for the ascent.

Mathey said that because lift tickets are so expensive, skiers found other ways to get the thrill. He said large ski mountains often charge about $200 for a day pass for their lifts, costing a family about $1,000 for a day’s trip.

“The antidote to that is pay for the gear once and go up and down with your own power,” Mathey said.

He explained that backcountry skiers can get about two to three runs in, exercise, have fun with their friends and grab their drink of choice at the end of the day.

“It is kind of a little bit more like pure skiing,” Mathey said. “It’s more natural. You are skiing through the trees on your own accord.”

He noted that people had been quietly maintaining ski trails, often at abandoned or “lost” ski mountains, without landowner permission for decades. Volunteers would clear brush and cut saplings.

“For the most part it has been respectful,” Mathey said, adding that the rise of Dutch elm disease and other blights have caused new issues.

Mathey said the alliance also works with landowners to get permission to manage ski zones for users. Currently, they have two zones open for use on land owned by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and they plan to work with private landowners in the near future.

The group maintains Beartown in Lee and Berkshire Snow Basin in Cummington and will have more areas to come. Beartown was a functioning ski resort from the 1930s to the 1960s. It consists of historic trails that were first made by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a New Deal project. The project in Cummington first closed in 1989. Before the association began working on the trails it had not been touched for 30 years, according to Mathey.

“People are coming out on trail maintenance days and are really excited about it,” Mathey said.

The alliance is part of a larger Vermont-based organization called the Catamount Trail Association. This organization maintains the longest backcountry ski trail in North America, which spans more than 300 miles and was conceived in the 1980s. The association has six other chapters, and the Western Massachusetts Backcountry Alliance is the first outside of Vermont.

The association is a nonprofit and completely volunteer-run. Its mission is to increase access and promote backcountry skiing by maintaining trails, build a community of enthusiasts by organizing outings — including trips to the White Mountains and visits to Berkshire East every Friday morning — and increase safety by providing workshops and training to association members.

“There is this great outdoor recreation movement happening here in western Mass. and the Berkshires,” Mathey said. “It is specifically in West County. I live in Colrain. Berkshire East is the nucleus. We have great trails, we have mountain biking, we have Bousquet in Pittsfield. We are part of that development. We are a niche but it gives people one more thing to do.”

Reach Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.