AllWorldSkiing
Ski touring and ski mountaineering holidays – way off piste. If you love being in the mountains on skis, you like adventure and discovering new places then you may find something of ...
Japanese night in Hamburgbukta a tiny near-perfect horseshoe of a bay in the far north west of Spitsbergen. Akiko, Kumiko and Hiro had brought the ingredients all the way from their homeland and David, the Japanese music to accompany the meal, from Manchester. Talk ranged from the pleasure of visiting and skiing in Japan to the options for a memorable day in the mountains on skis the following day. It was a great pleasure to be back sailing on Aleiga again, this time very ably skippered ...
The twentieth century art at the New Tretyakov Gallery blew me away. It’s sensational. Socialistic realism masterpieces were the perfect end to twenty four hours of culture in the transformed city of Moscow, the heart of which is now tourist hell. Prior to my gallery visit the morning service at the reconstructed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was a magnificent performance with the three mains actors, The Church, the security services and political power working seamlessly together. ...
Snow machines, mega RVs, light aircraft and helicopters are all part of the Alaskan scene. This is not BMW country. Here is the land of the mammoth pick-up truck, guns and gas station coffee. Unsurprisingly we stood out. We ski touring Europeans travelled unarmed, by people carrier and van, stopping for ‘fancy coffee’ where we could. Snow machines have pretty much a free reign and helicopters are all over the place ferrying skiers to ‘heli bomb’ the slopes. A toxic mix but we weren’t ...
Vanja and I had been in contact for many years and so it was a pleasure finally to meet and to ski in the beautiful mountains of his home country. Like many of his countrymen he’s a tall chap so it was also fun for me to be the small guy. Montenegro, I had read, has an average altitude of 1000m and 15% of the country is over 1500m. During our short visit I saw so many ski touring objectives but access to them would be the crux. We toured to Bandijerna in the heart of the Durmitor ...
Everyone in Bosnia smokes; or that’s how it seems. Our cigarette smoking hotel owner said his mother gets through four packets a day. Walk into any public place be it a restaurant, bar, café or service station and the air will be a toxic fug of tobacco smoke. Why do Bosnians have such a universal disregard for their health? Perhaps the answer is partly due to the tragic recent past? Why too is the Bosnian countryside empty; villages and small towns devoid of inhabitants? Urban ...
Mala Mojstovka was our initial objective and it came as a bit of a shock, especially to those used to cruisy skinning in the ultra-light powder of Japan. Here it was hard, icy and steep straight from the car; some wondered what they had let themselves in for. Mala M is a magnificent ski peak with extraordinary views and great run down, albeit on character building snow. The tone was set for the rest of the visit. The ladies of the Pri Martinu looked after us handsomely and with an ever ...
Seven hours to drive 250 kilometres of potholed tarmac from Ushhorod, four hours by bus then ten by train followed by another two by bus from Cherkasy, ten hours by car from Kiev. Telemark family bonds are strong so although getting to Mykulychyn for the festival was no easy affair no complaints were heard from The Ukraine Telemark Team. Our invite came from a chance encounter with Misha, Gleb and friends on a flight to the Georgian Caucasus in 2016. Fast forward three years to Mykulychyn ...
Iran ranks near the top of any adventurous ski tourers wish list. Historically and culturally a ski trip here in on a par with Greece. What’s more, like the Greeks the Iranians one meets whilst travelling are universally friendly and most welcoming. We went to the Azeri north-western part of Iran which has a real ethnic and linguistic mix and is rarely visited by westerners. The Sahand mountains and Iran’s third highest, 4 811m Mt Sabalan are well suited to ski touring though we had ...
We entered The Wort Hotel, Jackson Hole and that classic line from the 1980 John Landis film The Blues Brothers came to mind, « Oh, We got both kinds, we got, country and western ». After the show Anto and David were talking guitars with the band. ‘Where should we go now?’…. ‘Well the Willie Waldman Project is playing at the Rose & Thorn’…… Sticky carpets, padded plastic vinyl furnishings, 8% IPA and four exceptional musicians having a blast until 3am. Wow. What a show and what a ...
Many of us firmly believe that when possible an espresso should be taken before ski touring. We were at the bar doing just that. Alessandro has superb coffee and as we delighted in the strong, silky smooth nectar he shared his thoughts on La Scienza del caffé. Firstly, the glass of water is to cleanse the palate. It should not be drunk after the coffee unless the latter is bad! One then enjoys the aftertaste for a long time. The golden rule is never, never, never should sugar be ...
This was billed as a pre-Bolivia acclimatisation trip but as Bolivia was already taking up a large chunk of valuable vacation time the group was a small, but very select one. Three days of superb spring ski touring which brought back happy memories of past visits to the high peaks of the Valais.
‘Oh, il y a de la neige Inshallah, il y a de la neige Inshallah, Inshallah’. That’s all I’ve ever had from Mohamed in the twenty years that I’ve known him. Calling Morocco for an update on conditions always gives the same response. This, my sixth trip, was no exception; however on this occasion God did not will it. He had not been generous and what snow was there was brick hard and icy; too dangerous for skinning and skiing. We had to face it – there was no skiing in Morocco. ...
Breakfast was laid out with military precision with each room allocated a table. At 7am the team entered and chaos reigned. Room 51 sat at table 43, one of whose occupants ate at the table for room 56. 53 sat with 32 at table 45. The Breakfast Dominatrix was not amused and boy did we know it. Our status sank to unimaginable depths when she caught the Senior Member making an illegal sandwich from the breakfast buffet. We were in Corvara but the snow wasn’t so we only managed one day in ...
I’ve rented vehicles in many countries over the years. Invariably there are bad surprises and in fact I can’t think of a positive. Sometimes an upgrade might happen but usually I’m dealing with bald tires, dubious excess charges or outright dishonesty. The vans Francesco and I were offered in Rome looked as if they had been used for stock car racing. ‘We’re professionals’ we said, ‘offering a professional service. We can’t carry our customers in these’. After much toing and froing we ...
I’ve a day in Sendai and I feel awful. I’ve picked up a flu bug from one of the team and the last couple of days have required ‘additional effort’. Trail breaking in deep snow with a fever really isn’t fun. Down town Sendai has nothing to offer but shops and I have a strong dislike for shopping. There’s hardly a foreigner in sight contradicting the article that I have just read on tourist numbers. Apparently the Japanese Government would like to reach 40 million foreign visitors a year ...
Nobody had booked a beach holiday so we couldn’t go to Crete. Fortunately Plan B was a good one as snow was bountiful on the Greek mainland. An hour or so on my very smart phone from Japan was pretty much all it took to make the changes – we were off on a Greek road trip. The mountains were empty and even sites of huge historical interest such as the Parthenon and Delphi were thankfully free of their high season crowds. The locals were out in force at the Parnassos ski area though ...
We had tried to ski in Corsica before but ended up in the Georgian Caucasus, not because I’m poor at geography or got lost but because there was no snow on the Île de Beauté. In 2018 there was the most snow for thirty years and just prior to our arrival 15cm fell overnight on the beach at Ajaccio. The three ski areas, Val d’Ese, Ghisoni Capanelle and Haut Asco were packed with locals at weekends. So we had plenty of snow but that gave us a higher avalanche risk to deal with, made ...
Déjà vu. Thunder, lightning and pouring rain. We were back for our second attempt at Etna having had the same terrible weather for the entire time we were here last year. At least it was obvious that skiing was not an option so we visited a near-deserted Taormina in the driving rain. At least there were no other tourists. The stalls packed with tat did not have a single customer. Day 2. Snow chains on the vans the skins on skis. Fresh snow, fresh tracks and a beckoning summit. ...
The Moors were looking for water when they came to the valleys of the Sierra Nevada. They found it in abundance and settled in Granada and in the mountain villages of this southerly massif. 1307 years after the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula a small group of ski tourers arrived in Güejar Sierra, one of those villages. They too were looking for water though not for drinking or irrigating crops for they drank beer and wine and ate in fine restaurants. They came looking for ...
Bolivia is a land of vivid colour, the variety and intensity of which is instantly remarkable upon arrival at El Alto. Whether it is deep blue sky, the snow-capped peaks or the rainbow costumes of the 26 de Mayo Fiesta del Gran Poder, all is clear and bright. Not an obvious ski destination, Bolivia did have the highest ski lift in the world at 5379m Chacaltaya. It was also the closest to the Equator. Sadly climate change has removed the glacier there and the lifts have not worked in 10 ...
What a place for a road trip. It seems like every bend, every dip on the South Island roads reveals a view to die for. Stops are frequent and nature’s beauty observed in silent reflection. It’s not surprising that Chinese tourists from the likes of Chongqing or Zhengzhou are now here in their multitudes. Quite a change from when I was last here in 2015. Popular places such as Wanaka are now transforming at breakneck speed. Development is everywhere and property prices have grown ...
There was a lot of snow in Finnmark this year which was unusual for young folk but as it used to be in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Due to the severity of the winter the reindeer were hungry and low in the valleys. We had to give them a wide berth as a mother, if disturbed, will abandon its calf never to return. Reindeer avoidance was thus the main criterion in deciding where to ski, the snow and weather being excellent. Fuelled by sandwiches made with home baked bread we enjoyed gentle days in ...
Julia, Anna and Sasha did a wonderful job of feeding us for the nine days we spent on the mountain. High Camp porridge was a particular delight and Alpine hut staff could learn a thing or two about cooking from the Elbrus ladies. World weather is becoming more unsettled and traditional patterns are no longer reliable. The mountains of the Caucasus were dry until spring when poor weather at last brought snow. Bad luck for those who went before us but we hit it lucky. It snowed continually ...
The first rumble. Difficult to know the exact cause through a wool hat, two hoods and with the wind as it was. Perhaps a plane? Minutes later came the second, closer and much louder. Thunder. We’d skinned just 400m in the pouring rain and we were now going to have to about turn and quickly. We were totally soaked and I think everyone was secretly relieved! We reached the safety of the tiny café at the base of the pistes just in time to watch an impressive electrical storm which ...
Plan A was a five day traverse from Valnontey to Pont staying at the Vittorio Sella, Chabod and Vittorio Emmanuelle huts. Highlights were to be a traverse of the Gran Serra and the 4061m Gran Paradiso. The latter is a most accommodating mountain allowing access in most snow and weather conditions. The Gran Serra is different. 80cm of recent, windblown snow lying on the old base meant that care was needed and a traverse of the Serra out of the question. We did however have the pleasure of ...
The team’s expectations were realistically low. Most were joining for the esoteric nature of the trip and the chance to visit Samarkand and Bukhara. There was talk of Azerbaijani style snow cover and Kashmiri snow stability! In retrospect the trip had it all. We visited the magnificent ancient cities under clear blue skies though with bitingly cold temperatures. The total lack of tourists was a delight and made it easy to imagine the wonder of travellers of old arriving after weeks on ...
Congenial company and a relaxed atmosphere on the Goxsheim combined with pretty good snow and weather gave this trip a holiday feel. Even I felt as if I was on holiday as once back on the Goxsheim after skiing there was nothing for me to do. This is most unusual and took me several days to get used to. Charles runs a tight ship and everything went like clockwork starting with a tasty breakfast at 8. Evenings were spent chatting, reading, playing cards and listening in awe to Anto and ...
This trip was a disappointment. Everything was disappointing. There wasn’t much snow and that what was there often unskiable. Disappointing. The permanent daylight made for disturbed body clocks and sleep. Disappointing. We were continuously warned of the polar bear threat yet only saw one in the arrivals hall at Longyearbyen and one in the museum. Disappointing. The potato salad for the barbeque had far too much mayonnaise. Yet more disappointment. And I could go on, and on. Rare has so ...
It was not a good night’s sleep. The loose-fitting metal windows of our mountain hut rattled all night long in the gusty wind and just before dawn three small earthquakes shook us from deep below. These were linked to the series of earthquakes that hit Kumamoto in Kyushu causing such devastation and loss of life. Lack of sleep immediately became an irrelevance. The Japanese Alps were an unusual sight as winter had only brought one fifth of the usual snow, the lowest amount in 50 years. ...
Luis was right to confirm the trip as the snow cover was poor but sufficient. However, instead of the Sierra Cream that a skier would expect at the end of March we had to deal with ‘variable’ conditions which included quite lengthy walks in ski boots, not without pain for some. Much of any trip’s success is down to the weather and on this one it was amazing. As we sat in the sun on the tops we enjoyed 360° views over the arid landscape of Andalusia and the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa ...
We were supposed to be making a ski traverse of Corsica but we had to accept the inevitable. There wasn’t and wasn’t going to be, enough snow this season. An alternative had to be found. One week before departure I was scratching my head thinking of somewhere that would tick most of the boxes. I was in regular communication with a Russian friend who was off to Georgia as were Faffing Jim and some other skiers I know. Initially I wasn’t interested as I’d been before but then the idea of the ...
It’s only ever happened once before on a trip and the problem that time was ‘relatively’ easily solved. Hopes were high that Anto would re-join us soon. Losing one’s passport is never going to be a pleasure but for a British citizen in Kosovo it is a world of pain. Obtaining an emergency travel document in Pristina requires superhuman levels of patience, expense and complete mastery of one’s temper whilst confronting the faceless walls of bureaucracy and their intransigent computer systems. ...
“Ski fast and take chances” were the parting words from our Swedish friends. Hmm we thought. This wasn’t the year for skiing fast in Hakuba and as for taking chances in this game…. we’ll leave that to others. It was unseasonably warm and the Japanese Alps had one fifth of their usual amount of snow. The least snow in over 50 years we heard. Japanese tree skiing is second to none when there is a plenteousness of powder. When there isn’t, the tree and bush ...
The two lads at the car rental desk looked increduously at us. ‘You seriously want to rent a car, ….here?’ We pretty quickly got the idea that this doesn’t happen too often in Korea. The car rental pool had a dozen cars and this for an airport that handles 45 million passengers a year. We signed where we were told to sign, paid the money and were soon on the road. If adventure skiing is your thing Korea is not a top choice! Skiing is popular with Koreans during the ...
The December 2015 Podorange team came from four nations and English and French were spoken if not always understood! Kindness and good humour shone through and everyone worked well together during our month on board. We encountered rather poor weather and ice choked seas the latter which prevented all vessels from heading south of Cuverville Island. That’s pretty far north! We enjoyed fine skiing on un-named summits around Cierva Cove followed by the Antarctica ‘classics’ Igloo Hill, Mt ...
Following the short pre-flight safety brief, ‘You can lean on the door once she’s closed’ our pilot taxied the Porter out onto the Mount Cook runway oviously by feel as he could see absolutely nothing through the heavily frosted wind screen. In no time we were airborne, into the sun and heading for Tasman Saddle for the grand finale to our road trip of South Island. We’d skied the back bowls of Treblecone, the Pisa Range, West Coast Glaciers and Club fields and we ...
Running before a steady, comfortable breeze we averaged 5 ½ knots under sail on the 15 hour passage from Ny London to Ymerbukta. With a spinnaker we would have taken 8. Speed however, was not our priority and our stress-free passage afforded us magnificent views of the mountains of Oscar II land and Prins Karls Forland. We were on our return from 8 days ski touring in the far NW of Spitsbergen, our high point being Virgohamna a mere 15 miles south of 80°N. Virgohamna was the site of several ...
If a person is fortunate, he or she can choose to spend time in the wilder parts of our planet. Replacing the routine and demands of everyday life, even for a short time, with a life in close contact to nature is an uplifting tonic. Spitsbergen is the perfect place for such a tonic; 78° north, cold and austere, a land of mountains and ice. The absolute best way to discover an island such as Spitsbergen is by sea and so our floating base camp for this adventure was the 45’ yacht Aleiga, ...
Time passed. We all sat in the van going nowhere due to the FIS ladies world cup race at the resort of Bansko further up the road. The policeman was adamant but Ivo didn’t relent, slowly sapping his will to resist until ‘Bingo’, off we go. Ivo winked and said his memorable words. Now skinning through the magnificent Macedonian pine forests of Bulgaria is truly magic and the experience in itself worth the journey. Virgin snow and majestic trees require a particularly aesthetic skinning ...
‘Excuse my ignorance but isn’t it still a bit dangerous there’ was the reply to ‘Tehran’ when I was asked from where I had just flown in from. We were in the taxi heading for Chamonix from Geneva and my fellow traveller’s view of Iran conformed not unsurprisingly to the image westerners have of this fascinating country and its welcoming people. Iran the pariah is the standard line in the western media. The first hurdle the budding visitor has to overcome is to convince family members that a ...
I love skiing in the Dolomites with my friend Francesco and there’s no better objective than a full traverse from Passo Rolle to Sesto. I also love the food. How about this for a mountain hut dinner menu? Insalatina di maialino, chiodini e orzo soffiato con sifonata di patata Zuppa di pesci d’acqua dolce, foglie di cavolo e zenzero Tortelli di grano saraceno alla rapa rossa, semi di papavero e ricotta affumicata Spalla di vitello al fieno e pàche selezione monograno Felicetti alla ...
Majestic Yotei, the Mount Fuji of Hokkaido, lords it over the world famous ski resort of Niseko. On a rare windless, blue sky day a 2000m skin sees the motivated ski mountaineer standing on the summit, skiing into the crater then all the way back to the car; Hokkaido’s longest run. Never had I seen such fine weather here in February. This was our turn. The mountain was as busy as Hiro had ever seen it though he appeared to be the sole representative of the home nation in the quest for ...
‘It’s a long way to what…?’ Effort for no gain so we abort. This was a week of Plan B’s, about turns and making the best of what we had which was not a lot. However, everyone took the lean snow conditions in their stride and in the evenings we enjoyed delicious food and had a hoot. ‘Welcome back on a good snow year’ our friendly barman said. ‘Inshallah’ I replied as I often do. The barman’s face clouded and he said ‘that’s not a good word anymore’. Six days after the Charlie Hebdo ...
Eight and a half days of sunshine out of nine, permanent daylight and the lovely mountain huts all for us. This June visit to the Kebnekaise region of northern Sweden was so good it will be hard not to compare should we return. The skiing was in magical light and on sparkling diamond dust snow. Two experiences stand out; 1904m Lillietoppen and Rick’s birthday midnight sun ski complete with whisky, Dundee cake and candle. It was also pretty cool skiing to the end of the last ribbon of ...
We shouldered the heaviest packs that any of us had ever carried on this trip. The payback? Ski mountaineering from comfortable camps in some of the most wondrous scenery imaginable. We enjoyed blissful, absolute silence throughout. It was bitterly cold as soon as the sun went down and scorching hot by 2pm which meant to get good, safe skiing we had to rise early. Brrrrr. We burnt a lot of energy and when in the valley, ate a lot of food. The waitress at Denny’s couldn’t believe that ...
