The 4th Annual Afghan Ski Challenge in Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan represents an audacious bid to build a vibrant ski tourism industry in central Afghanistan. The region is, quite literally, in the eye of a storm and much of the country is still a designated war zone. In fact, on the day I confirmed my trip […]

We’re skinning through a boneyard. Only a few steps into a tour of Utah’s Old Blue Mountain ski area, and I’m already unnerved. The tiny ski area once catered to Canyon Country locals from Monticello, Blanding and Bluff, but was abandoned in the ’80s due to lack of consistent snowfall and declining skier numbers. Now, snowmobilers and the occasional wanderer in search of elusive desert snow are the only visitors of its abandoned infrastructure.

In a sport where big impacts and injuries are common, snowboarders have to be fit—bulletproof even. So when the International Olympic Committee announced the addition of Snowboard Slopestyle to the Winter Olympics program last year, snowboarder Kimmy Fasani began intensive training. Then an injury destroyed her chances of competing.

Some uphill-downhill ski races require more vertical. Some require longer distances. Some have faster and steeper downhills. But few combine gut-punching vertical climbs with steep and gnarly descents like the San Juan Huts’ Sneffels Traverse Ski Race.