‏Unforgettable Ski and Snowboard Adventures Await in Utah

Utah is a winter wonderland like no other, boasting stunning red rocks, pristine white snow, and a sky filled with stars against an inky backdrop. This American state is home to some of the best ski and snowboard destinations globally, offering unparalleled adventures amidst breathtaking scenery.

Ski into a Whiskey Distillery in Park City

Park City is a historic silver mining town turned ski mecca, nestled at the base of Park City Mountain, the largest ski resort in the United States. Here, you can ski directly into the world‘s only ski-in, ski-out distillery, High West Distillery, for a taste of smooth whiskey. Park City also offers exhilarating activities like bobsledding and celebrity spotting during the Sundance Film Festival.

Luxurious Skiing at Deer Valley Resort

Deer Valley Ski Resort, exclusively for skiers, is consistently ranked the #1 Ski Resort in the United States. With perfectly groomed runs, attentive ski valets, and luxurious accommodations, it‘s a haven for skiing enthusiasts. Plus, with an upcoming expansion, Deer Valley will become one of the largest ski resorts in North America.

Record-breaking Snowfall at Snowbird and Alta

Snowbird and Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon are renowned for their incredible snowfall, earning Utah the title of having “The Greatest Snow on Earth®.“ Experience some of the best steeps and deeps in the USA, with epic tree runs, gullies, and open bowls.

Winter Adventures in Heber Valley

Heber Valley, located near the new Deer Valley East resort expansion, offers a plethora of outdoor adventures, including snowmobiling, winter horseback riding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. Don‘t miss the famous ice castles or the chance to try SUP yoga in geothermal hot springs.

Spectacular National Park Visits

After hitting the slopes, extend your adventure to Utah‘s stunning national parks, including Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Arches. Explore red desert canyons filled with snow during the day, and marvel at the brilliance of the Milky Way under the designated dark sky parks at night.

Source: https://www.snowsbest.com/ski-snowboard-utah-adventures/?amp=1

Learn more: https://www.adventurefilm.academy/

Pakistanis Take to the Slopes in ‘A Journey About Sharing’

Two hundred and thirty million people live in Pakistan, in the shadow of some of the world’s tallest, most celebrated peaks. But only around 3,000 Pakistanis participate in winter sports.

This astonishing fact opens A Journey About Sharing, a film by European-based non-profit Zom Connection. The organization is committed to equipping the inhabitants of northern Pakistan with the skills and gear they need to get out and enjoy winter.

“When I go snowboarding, I feel independent. It’s like giving yourself a chance to test yourself. How good are you? And everywhere you go, you get respect from it. And while riding a snowboard, you feel free,” says one young man early in the film, over shots of Pakistani children riding and skiing on crude boards and homemade bindings.

The film is a whirlwind tour, delivering vignettes from all over the country as it seeks to describe Pakistan’s burgeoning winter sports culture. In one isolated valley, school lets out for two months every winter, and snowsports are an excellent way to keep children occupied in positive ways.

In another, a man named Hasham created The Hindukush Winter Sports Club. Hasham is the descendent of the area’s former rulers, from before the region became a part of Pakistan in the 1970s. With deep ties to his native soil, Hasham is committed to tapping into Pakistan’s incredible natural resources to bring economic wealth to the area.

Skinning up is hard without skins

“So when we talk about the potential of skiing and winter sports in the Hindu Kush, we’re only talking about beautiful mountains to ski on,” Hasham says in an interview midway through the film. “There’s no lifts. In the next 10 years, if we can develop winter tourism and winter sports activities, then I’d say our goal should be to develop all this without disturbing and destroying nature. We will need lifts. But all of this needs to happen at a gradual and natural pace, without destroying the environment. It’s going to take a very long time.”

In the meantime, if you want to take some turns, you’ve got to do it the hard way: by skinning up first. But skinning is pretty hard without, you know, skins.

When British military officers first brought downhill winter sports to the region in the 1920s, the equipment of the day was long slabs of heavy wood. While the downhill tech has changed considerably since then, many rural Pakistanis are still using skis that would be recognizable to those long-ago officers.

A meandering journey

That’s why Hasham started looking for a way to modernize some of the equipment used by his fellow downhill enthusiasts. He reached out to a group of winter athletes in France’s Chamonix Valley, and Zom Connection was born.

There’s no doubt that “A Journey About Sharing” functions first and foremost as a 50-minute commercial for Zom Connection. Lacking a through-line or characters to follow for more than a few minutes, it’s best viewed as a meandering journey through a country many Europeans and North Americans know precious little about, especially when it comes to its winter sports.

But that doesn’t mean it’s short on adrenaline. Between interview scenes and shots of French athletes hand-delivering recycled outdoor equipment, there’s plenty of stunning footage of adventurous Pakistanis ripping up and down some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet.

Source: https://explorersweb.com/weekend-warmup-a-journey-about-sharing/

Learn more: https://www.adventurefilm.academy/

From summit to sea: a snowboarding adventure in the Arctic Circle

There are no lifts in Norway’s picturesque Lyngen Alps, so if you want to ride down a mountain to the shore you have to hike up it first

I’m on top of the world, in all senses of the term: we’re 500 miles inside the Arctic Circle in Norway’s Lyngen Alps and I’m buzzing at having reached the summit of Riššavárri, after a 3^1/2-hour hike.

Jagged white peaks rise starkly from snaking, deep blue fjords, the sun is shining, the light’s amazing – and there’s no one here but me and my guide, Mikal Nerberg. With more than 60 summits over 1,000 metres, the Lyngen Alps have a quasi-mythical status among hardcore skiers. It’s a purely touring destination: there are no ski lifts, so any mountain you want to ride down you have to hike up, using “skins” on your skis for grip. With ski fans increasingly wanting a fitness break, rather than just boozy lunches and downhill meanders, touring is a growth area.

The Lyngen Alps is where alpine guides come on holiday once their European season finishes, and where they bring their best and favourite guests. I’m here in early April but the season runs until June, when there’s skiing in the midnight sun.

Instead of getting a resort bus or cable car to our starting point, we take a ferry across the fjord from Lyngseidet to Olderdalen. Our hike begins at sea level, rising up through a forest of elder and silver birch, the trees bowed under the weight of the snow. Mikal is on touring skis, while I’m on a splitboard – a snowboard that splits in two so it can be used like touring skis. The way isn’t too steep, but Mikal insists on a slow pace and makes us stop for snacks every hour to keep energy levels up.

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Coming out of the woods we see our target summit, high in the sky, and still another 1,000 metres away. The climb quickly gets steeper but at the hour-two stop I still feel OK. As we reach hour three, however, I begin to wonder if I’ll ever make it to the top.

I put my board together, while Mikal checks the snow to see which line would be our best descent. We set off, navigate some juddering wind-ruined snow then find a pocket of lovely soft pillow-like powder. Further down we ride super-fast spring slush, passing giant boulders of icy snow, and then cut into the forest we climbed through earlier, dodging the tightly packed tree trunks and stumps as if in a computer game. We emerge into a snowfield and ride down to the fjord, a complete run from summit to sea.

Most skiers and snowboarders stay at the Magic Mountain Lodge (bunks from £40pp full-board) in Lyngseidet – the main, albeit tiny town – but it’s fully booked, so I stay in a private rental house in a hamlet 12 miles north (Take Me Away, Holiday House, from £110 a night, sleeps four). Like almost every house in Lyngen it looks straight out of the Cabin Porn book: white wood with a pretty green trim and a 1960s-style kitsch interior. On my first night a white hare dances in the drive.

On day two we drive north to the waterside hamlet of Koppangen, where the road stops abruptly and turns into mountain. From here we set off for the 950-metre summit of Goalborri. Yesterday’s blue skies have switched to snowy showers. Before long it’s too steep and slippery to proceed by splitboard so I strap it to my backpack, put crampons over my boots, and Mikal hands me an ice axe for stability.

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This feels more aerobically tough than the day before – like climbing a snowy ladder, with the odd rock to scramble over – but we cover a lot more ground. After 2^1/2 hours we reach the top. Tiredness only hits as we start to ride the steep but reassuringly wide couloir. Lower down, we put down fresh tracks in soft spring snow, before popping out at the fjord.

Later that night I see the wisps of the northern lights rise in the sky. It’s beautiful but doesn’t come close to being the highlight of my trip, nor does the snowboarding down, fun as that was. The bit I love best has been the hiking up, the hard work of earning those runs down in this wild, silent and most un-ski resort-like place. Which also happens to be as easily reachable from the UK as the European Alps.