For most winter sports enthusiasts, the payoff comes in flying down the slopes. However, Andrea Pleimling Smith, 35, and her husband, Christopher Smith, 38, find their joy in taking the long way up.

The Fort Myers couple enjoys backcountry skiing outside mountain resorts in Utah, Colorado, California, Oregon and even Japan, as a way to clear their minds from busy lives as attorneys and partners at Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz.

Andrea grew up skiing in Wisconsin. Christopher, from Ohio, didn’t try it until they met. “Now, it’s our passion. We built a house in Utah near the mountain.”

To get traction for walking up the mountain, Andrea attaches mohair skins to her skis. Christopher prefers a snowboard that splits into two. “You can move up the mountain the same way as a skier,” he says.

What takes less than 10 minutes to travel up 1,500 vertical feet on a ski lift takes them an hour on foot. “You’re totally at peace in the middle of nowhere,” Andrea says. “It’s just you and getting yourself up the mountain. It’s the best workout you could ever have.”

Christopher notes that they must train even harder to compensate for the elevation difference between Florida and the mountains. “We both do intense cardio workouts and weights.”

On their treks, they each carry about 30 pounds of gear. “Last year, we had to MacGyver with a twig we found,” Andrea says about fixing a riser in the heel of Christopher’s boot. “Things like that make it exciting,” he says, adding their focus is on safety. They keep an eye out for moose (known to chase people) and wear beacons to transmit their location if ever buried by snow.

“The idea is not to get in an avalanche.”