Hi MissySki. I was in your position about 5 years ago but now have spent many days in the backcountry. Here are my thoughts as you start looking at BC gear:
Beacons -- I used a BCA Tracker for years and recently upgraded to a Mammut Pulse. Debated between the Mammut Pulse, Mammut Element, Ortovox 3+ and Pieps DSP. I don't think you can go wrong with any of those. After lots of discussions with devoted backcountry skiers and trying out a few friends' beacons, we settled on the Mammut Pulse. Our decision was influenced by skiing in Japan with the guy who writes the Mammut (Barryvox) software and he explained how the Pulse software was much more sophisticated (bottom line: faster) than the Element so we decided the extra cost was worth it.
Shovel -- As mentioned above, definitely go with metal. Indeed, as the joke goes, if your backcountry partner has a plastic shovel then switch shovels since you want them digging you out with metal! Also consider blade size and handle style. On size, be honest about your strength and thus your ability to repeatedly lift a shovel with heavy snow chunks on the blade. After trying out a few shovels, I realized that I was faster at digging with a slightly smaller blade because I could more quickly lift and repeat. You will exhaust yourself very quickly if the blade is too large and thus lifts too much snow for your strength. As for handle, there are D-handles and T-handles. I have somewhat large hands and found the D-handles didn't fit me well. So I went for a telescoping T-handle. This is my shovel:
BCA B1 shovel.
Probes -- I have the
Black Diamond QuickDraw Guide Probe 300cm. You may not need such long or sturdy probes -- it really depends on the maximum depth of the snowpack where you expect to backcountry ski and how much you will use the probes (for purposes other than probing after an avalanche). With a little practice, the BD probes are quick to deploy. Luckily, I've never had to actually use them to find a buried person but I have used them frequently for practice and when digging pits to analyze snow. Having measurements on the probes is crucial so you can analyze the depth of weak layers, etc. I frequently use my probe and my husband's probe to mark the back corners and then use rope strung behind the probes to cut a block for testing. These probes are sturdy enough to hold up against such rope-sawing.
Skins -- The trade off here is between sticking to the snow on the uphill and the amount of forward glide you get from each step. I prefer
Black Diamond's Ascension Nylon STS skins because they stick on the uphill really well, plus stay on your skis with the tail clips, and I am fine working a tiny bit harder with less risk of slipping backwards. Some people prefer skins (mohair, usually) that glide really well. As a novice in the backcountry, I'd suggest you go for stickiness over gliding because you'll feel more confident as you learn uphill technique and sliding backwards in the skin track sucks.
Skis/Setup -- I agree with the prior comments that the ski/binding/boots combination you choose depends largely on factors such as the amount of time you expect to be going uphill, whether you want to use your current alpine boots, and the snow conditions/terrain you'll be skiing. Through trial and error, I have found that I VERY much prefer a slightly heavier, damper BC ski than some people might recommend because a heavier, damper ski can handle variable BC conditions better. I am fairly lightweight for my height and I get bounced around a lot when skiing really light skis in crud or chop (I'm sure my technique could use some improvement too!). To be clear, I'm not talking about a really heavy inbounds ski, but just a ski heavier then some BC skiers would choose. For this reason, I just bought
Blizzard Samba 172s and will ski them in New Zealand this season (starting in July). I will report back on them. I have been mostly BC skiing on K2 GotBacks and carbon pure DPS Yvettes and both are a bit too light/rebound too much in variable conditions. Where I save on weight for the uphill is in my bindings and boots. I love my Dynafit TLT5 boots. I had tons of boot problems (lost toenails, blisters, etc.) until a boot fitter in SLC put me in the Dynafits. I will never go back to alpine boots. With the carbon fiber cuff, I find the dynafit boots are stiff enough to ski hard but still super lightweight. I also love my dynafit TLT radical bindings. I sometimes ski fairly technical, steep terrain (but rarely catch air) and they have performed well.
Backpack -- I highly recommend an airbag for any backcountry skiing, but they are expensive. I have a heavy
Mystery Ranch BlackJack airbag pack that I have used in the US and Canada for longer tours. The pack has held up incredibly well and is amazingly comfortable, but it is very heavy duty. Too heavy and big to wear on lifts/sidecountry skiing, although I've done it where I didn't plan to ride many lifts. I demo'd a
Mammut RAS Ride Short pack in Japan and loved it (the "short" is a female specific design and fits my shorter torso better - I am 5'8" but still fits better). I will probably buy one this year. When I don't ski with an airbag but want my avy gear with me, I use either this
Osprey 22L pack or this
MHM 32L pack. Both have dedicated pockets for avy gear (a must, in my opinion) and carry skis well for hiking, which I tend to do when skiing inbounds.
Hope this helps as you start on your backcountry gear collection! I also took the Avy 1 class before I ever really ventured into the backcountry. Definitely a good way to start.
I started looking at beacons, functions, etc., and thought, well we could use a second in the household, and the Tracker 3 is on sale at backcountry.com for $250, then if you go in through activejunky it's 17% back, which makes it barely over $200....
