It’s 6:30 p.m. at a train station several hours east of Geneva. Barreling up the ramp, we only have a few moments before the doors close as we frantically look for a spot to jigsaw our ski bags. The train, loaded with folks going home from a long day of work, begins to fill with the pungent smell […]
The air is dense with steam as I take a step down the concrete staircase. An overweight Bulgarian man with a thick mustache gives me a quick half-glance before ignoring me completely. The heat shoots up my leg and over my naked nether region as I submerge myself into the hot water. Across the bath are […]
It was the middle of August and we were in full ski gear standing in a pasture surrounded by cattle. Gauchos on horseback roamed the periphery. Myself, photographer Adam Clark and fellow skier Connery Lundin felt like astronauts next to their dusty Western attire. Soon, a helicopter landed and Patagonia Heliski co-owner Justin Lozier stepped out. […]
Blacktail Mountain A day ticket is $42 and it is on a wicket. I buy two, one for me and one for Sam Watson, my copilot. We grab our skis off the rack—featuring a museum of ski design ranging from neon-colored K2 straight skis to Salomon X-Screams, and not a single pair that looks to […]
I kicked with the toe of my crampon, swinging my ice axe into the hard-packed snow. It brought me one step closer to the summit of Halgurd Mountain, which, at 11,834 feet, is the second-tallest peak in Iraq. Above me, Stacy Bare moved his 6-foot, 7-inch frame a few feet higher; below followed the third […]
She is holding a microphone, big eyes staring straight into mine. “Would you like to sing with me?” she asks. I can’t say no, and as she leads me to a screen across the on-hill café I awkwardly try to retrieve my hand from hers to grasp the microphone. The music starts, and as the words […]
Flush toilets are coming to Mount Cain. While this is something most resorts wouldn’t even bother mentioning, it’s a big deal at the little ski hill on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. Most resorts wouldn’t list running water as an amenity either. That arrived at Cain in the early 1990s. Internet showed up in 2006. Driving along […]
When visiting somewhere exotic, it’s not always the bizarre that has the most impact. It’s finding the ordinary among the outlandish. In some ways a place can seem vastly unfamiliar, and each person’s experiences will paint their own unique picture. But some things are universal, be it in the Midwest or the Middle East. Snow […]
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