Backcountry trails still a hit with Goodman

“As I got underway, I found that virtually everything had changed,’’ said Goodman, 50.

Some trails have simply faded away while others have been renamed, rerouted, and lost to development. But others have emerged.

“The big picture is very much what it has always been,’’ he said. “The Northeast is home to some of the best backcountry terrain and ski history anywhere in the country.’’

The new guide book continues to express Goodman’s love of New England ski history and his detailed descriptions of each outing. Gone from those in the original tome are tours like Woodstock, Vermont’s Skyline Trail (“casualty of modern development’’), New Hampshire’s Carter Dome (“fun for snowshoes, but more survival for skiers’’) and a tour in Nancy and Norcross Ponds (“I suffered so you don’t have to’’).

Maine had been a problematic state for Goodman in the past as many of the wild lands are owned by paper companies so trails would come and go with logging. But with the growth of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 100-Mile Wilderness lodge-to-lodge trails and the Maine Huts and Trails system, “Maine suddenly is emerging as the hut-to-hut ski capital of the East,’’ he said.

Goodman believes in a backcountry skiing resurgence because of better equipment, more detailed maps and guide books, and the homogenization of the ski industry. “I think a wilderness experience feeds your soul,’’ he said.

Canyons connections It’s no secret eastern skiers and snowboarders migrate to western resorts for work, play, and competition. At the Canyons in Park City, Utah, there’s Bay State connections.

Once part of the American Skiing Company empire that included New England areas such as Sunday River, Attitash, and Killington, four of 20 skiers and snowboarders on the resort’s Freeride Team have Massachusetts roots.