Coming from the perspective of large US resorts such as Vail, that have very large unpisted area that do have avalanche control, I'm trying to understand if such places exist around here.
(I'm a strong skier, and do have understanding of avalanche risks and have beacon/probe/shovel, but it would be nice to do some freeriding without always having to worry about it)
You should carry a transceiver, shovel & probe, ski as a group as your friends will save your life if your caught. The first 15 minutes count, after that by the time mountain rescue arrive they are just looking for bodies. Having said that, since buying an airbag I do sometimes ski alone off piste.
You should probably head for Andermatt nearest 'interesting' off piste to ZH.
In Argentiere (Chamonix) there is some protection in off piste areas, however if it's closed people just go anyway. The lifts have been closed for 4 days now, it's been risk 4/5 for over a week. The first day at level 4, 2 climbers died in an avalanche about 100m from the piste. I was sking there at the time.
At the moment, resorts have no base and no heavy frost- and lots os snow all of a sudden, so conditions are really quite dangerous off piste, as Fatmansfilm says- so don't go alone, go equipped, and talk to the locals, and listen to what they say. Stay safe.
I haven't skied at Steamboat or Winterpark, so I can't speak to those, but a classic example would be back bowls of Vail. It's a very large area with no prepared pistes, but is very much inbounds and part of the resort, and as such is avalanche controlled and patrolled. There is zero to minimal risk of avalanche for a regular skier there, and carrying avalanche equipment is not expected.
I spent a lot of time living and working in Whistler, Canada. I skied under the preception that you could ski any where at any time. When i first moved to Switzerland 10 years ago i though the same until locals would ask me what i was doing alone up there. I set of a minor slide in my first winter and it was a big learning curve for me.
No offense to Fatmanfilms as im sure he has experience both on and off the pistes. Just becasue you have all the gear it doesnt make up for having no idea. Again fatmanfilms, no offence intended.
The reason that we ski with airbags is so we have that little bit of extra security when skiing with guests. An experienced guide can find a guest but there is no chance the guest will find the guide if something goes wrong.
As for skiing low angle off-piste alone. Its simple, you are off-piste alone.
Thats my two cents.
Mountains are dangerous places approximately 150 people die each year in the mountains in Europe, half in the Chamonix Valley. Mountain Guides & Ski Instructors will also die, so having 'an idea' won't always help.
A guide should not go off piste with a group until he is satisfied they can use a transceiver, it's quite possible that the guide will get buried especially as he will go first.
Your right that the mountains are dangerous places to be sometimes.
Only qualified instructors that have done all the necessary courses for off-piste guiding and have to proper insurance are aloud away from the pistes. There are very strick guidelines on where and when instructors can go. All areas in Switzerland have been mapped out and certain routes have been made to insure safety of their guests and guides. I will have to look it up but there is also a part in the guidlines that says an instructor can only "tour" so far with guests away from the ski area.
"Horror in the French Alps as three die and up to TWENTY are missing as avalanche hits party of school children after they IGNORED warnings not to go out on closed black ski-run"
Very sad news. We were just agreeing that the mountains are dangerous places. With a ski instructor or a school teacher, it doesnt matter. The group shouldn't of been there. Closed is closed.
With regards to gear and training, I'd say that knowing how to search with a beacon and probe is pretty much the minimum and (hopefully) makes you not useless if somebody else gets into trouble. However, for a group as a whole, such gear should be absolute last line of defense and much more risk reduction comes from being avalanche aware and making good decisions. Offloading of these decisions to an experienced expert is a big part of why you'd pay a guide.
It should be protected where the marker is, however if your skiing fresh tracks 50 meters either side then your must make your own decisions. Level 3 is still considerable risk on steeper slopes
Be very carfull out there
Just don't expect powder longer than 1 hour after the lifts open after new snow.
When I was younger riding back-country in BC and Alberta, I never imagined about getting a guide, the increased risk is that in Western Canada---if you make a bad turn, you could be lost for weeks! Here in CH it's not as likely to get lost :P