The road to Erzurum. Photo courtesy of Nadezhda Chipeff.

Each year is a tossup come the time to decide just how much time to dedicate to winter ski holidays.

Heading to the Alps, Canada, or the United States, may seem like an extended holiday, but then again, after a while, it may also start feeling like you’re eating the same bowl of soup every day. Continue reading ‘Skiing in Turkey: Erzurum is far away from Courchevel’

The second Afghan Ski Challenge last week.

In a country where circumstances of war have been the source of great disruption, an unusual mountain event has taken place and is largely responsible for generating a new breed of skiers in the mountains surrounding the Bamiyan valley of Afghanistan.

Continue reading ‘Ski challenge creates hope and enthusiasm among Afghans’

Mark Woods makes it to the South Pole last January 17th.

A polar explorer who is seeking to highlight the issue of climate change reached the first of the two poles he intends to ski to, on his own last January 17^th. Continue reading ‘After south Pole, explorer targets North Pole next’

This is probably one of the maneuvres you'll be familiar with when skiing the steep runs

An amazing story and photos by Aaron Teasdate is published in this month’s issue of Sierra Mag. Here’s a quick excerpt. Nothing about a winter spent at the local ski hill has prepared me for the gut-twisting prospect of launching into thin air off a ridge in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. “Ridge” doesn’t even do it justice—it’s more like the cutting edge of a granite ax. Continue reading ‘Sierra Mag Special: Learning how to survive steep stuff in the Sawtooths’

Fredrik with Talung in background

Swedish ski mountaineer Fredrik Ericsson has announced plans to complete ski descent of K2 again this summer, a year after his first attempt was curtailed by the death of his expedition partner, Italian Michele Fait, who fell to his death while skiing down from K2′s C2 on the SSE spur.

Continue reading ‘Extreme skier Fredrik Ericsson attempts to ski K2 again’

Crud2Mud is the meeting point between winter and summer sports.

Whistler Blackcomb’s Crud 2 Mud race is back this year to celebrate the “transition season” mixing the end of the ski and snowboard season with the start of the bike season.

The event will be staged this Saturday May 22nd, four years after the last Crud 2 Mud race was staged at the resort.

In teams or individually, Crud 2 Mud competitors ski or snowboard from the top of Whistler Mountain to the bottom of the snow line, where bikes and equipment lie waiting. Ski and snowboard boots ditched, competitors clip into bike pedals and race through the Whistler Mountain Bike Park (on a yet to be determined trail).

Continue reading ‘Whistler’s Crud2Mud returns this weekend’

It was ‘local lunatics and gregarious guests’ who crossed the vast and chilly waters of Lake Cushing at Squaw Valley at the 20th Annual Cushing Crossing earlier this month.

The Cushing Crossing is North America’s original pond crossing, and it was held on Sunday May 9th, Squaw’s final day of operation for 2009-10.

The entertaining competition challenged ’local lunatics and gregarious guests’ to cross the lake on skis, a snowboard or any ‘ski or snowboard-based vessel.’ The event is notorious for its colossal crashes, hilarious costumes, and ultra-creative pond skimming contraptions.

Continue reading ’20th Lake Cushing Classic closed season in style at Squaw’