Pilot of the Impossible

In 2024, the Antarctic Peninsula looks much the same as it did 100 years ago: There’s no permanent population, and pack ice still forms in the freezing waters. But there are cruise ships, and one of them, the Ocean Albatross, carries 100 skiers and 40 guides, all of whom are following Doug Stoup, the owner of Ice Axe Expeditions and possibly the greatest Antarctic explorer of our time.

What’s Your Carbon Ski-print: Nomadic Skier Creates Carbon Calculator for Earth Day

Have you ever wondered the CO2 impact of a ski trip? Now there’s a way to find out.

The Sacred Place Where Life Begins

With the threat of drilling on the jagged horizon of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a skier and conservationist looks to the local Indigenous community for answers.

Mountain Skills: Crevasse Rescue

It’s hard to know where to start with a complex skill like crevasse rescue. Rope handling?
Reading a glacier? Mechanical advantage? Guide Niels Meyer highlights what’s critical.

Passports: Five Springtime, Roadside Attractions

Break out the warm-weather wax and buy another propane tank for your portable grill—it’s corn, couloir and road-lap season. East to west, snow-removal crews are hard at work clearing high-mountain routes that have been impassable during the winter months. And soon, they’ll be ready to ski, offering high-elevation, late-season turns, hot laps and roadside grilling well into early summer. Here are five mountain routes to get you there.

Mountain Skills: Anticipating Point Release Avalanches

As the spring approaches, many of us turn our attention to steeper, more technical lines higher in the mountains. The layers of snow that formed throughout the winter begin to gain strength and the avalanche problem is less complicated—it’s ski mountaineering season! But as the temperatures climb, wet avalanches become a more regular, primary concern.

Editor’s Note: For Kathy

At the bottom of the world, Adam Howard finds fellow Vermonter and Swiss Guide Hans Solmssen

Into “The Darkest White”: Eric Blehm Discusses His Latest Work, a Deep Dive on Craig Kelly

From slalom racing to splitboard guiding Craig Kelly shaped the sport of snowboarding. Now, roughly two decades since his death, Eric Blehm traces Kelly’s life from his first snowboard to the fatal avalanche that killed him.

Pachinko Slots: Gambling in the Japanese Alps

While skiers and riders flock to Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island, Betsy Manero takes a chance in the Japanese Alps.

Teleskier, Humanitarian Kasha Rigby Leaves a Legacy of Uplifting Others

On Tuesday, Feb. 13, the world lost beloved, legendary ski mountaineer Kasha Rigby. But her impact extended far beyond the mountains.

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