“I look for gear that is light enough to not compromise how it handles the terrain and conditions, which is the sole purpose for skiing.”

Chris Prior, the longtime splitboard innovator and owner of the eponymous, Whistler, B.C.-based ski and snowboard brand, passed away suddenly on Sunday, October 15. According to a statement released by Prior Ski & Snowboard Manufactory that confirmed Prior’s passing, a memorial for their friend, mentor and colleague will take place at the Prior factory in the upcoming days.

I’d been intrigued by the 10,499-foot Paso de los Liberatadores—a mountain pass linking Chile and Argentina—ever since two friends sent photos from their cross-continental South American bike tour three years ago. The dizzying zigzag road on the Chilean side is the type of engineering marvel I’d expect to feature in a Discovery Channel special.

Bozeman resident Inge Perkins, 23, was killed in an avalanche on Imp Peak in Montana’s southern Madison Range on October 7. Alpinist Hayden Kennedy, 27, Perkins’s ski partner and girlfriend, later took his own life on Sunday, October 8.

Freeskier Nat Segal of Melbourne, Australia is no stranger to the inconsistent winters that her home island and its southern neighbor, New Zealand experience. But her passion for adventure is constant motivation for her exploration of the southern Pacific’s wild mountains. In search of that perfect weather window when new snow and cool temps line up for a perfect powder day, she set out in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter 2016—flying from Melbourne to Christchurch—to see what the south island had in store. Here, she writes about her journey.