Depending all upon your own adds considerably to the feeling of wildness. In our first night of backcountry camping, coyotes were howling. We have quit downhill skiing. Partly because it goes along with destruction of nature. Mountains are devastated for building ski lifts and ski slopes.
Downhill skiing is stress, noise, speed, business, pollution and little appreciation of nature.
On the other side, when cross-country skiing, we enjoy quietly gliding along and admiring winters beauty. In Austria we use mostly prepared tracks. A totally different experience was skiing in Yellowstone NP .