Antarctica

Skiing in Antarctica should be a dream trip for any serious backcountry enthusiast. It represents everything ski touring stands for — remote wild adventure far from the reaches of society. Accessed by boat, sea lions dot the shores where your ski tracks start. Complex terrain, heavily glaciated, and no one else around except you and the group you sailed in with.

My friend Andrew McLean, an iconic ski mountaineer, has been skiing here nearly every year (except this one) for a long time. He goes with Ice Axe Expeditions, a company that runs a boat down there every year. Andrew told me, “Skiing in Antarctica is like making turns in a wildlife refuge on the moon where a typical run might involve penguins, seals, icebergs, towering ice cliffs, crashing surf and maybe a whale or two. With the bright white snow and deep blue sky, it is easy to feel humbled by the massive landscape and eternally grateful to be able to slide around on it. It’s the best trip ever without a doubt.”

Advanced skiers only

You won’t find any backcountry skiing for beginners here, Alaska is more of a testing ground for intermediates and above. Sometimes just getting off the inflatable onto the land is a challenge. One must be familiar with crampons, ice axes, and rope work. Most of the terrain is glaciated and you will be wandering around crevasess and seracs constantly.