Ski Magazine

splendid isolation

Where do you have to go to spend a day ski touring and mountaineering without running into another person? Deep in the backcountry outside of Smithers, in northwestern B.C. That’s where photographer Mattias Fredriksson ventured with local mountain guide Michael Brackenhofer and Danielle Willhoeft last season to explore the backside of the Hudson Mountain Range. In this shot, the pair ascend a chute to Turquoise Ridge to ski their next line. “It was a beautiful and very long day of ski touring and ski mountaineering,” Fredriksson recalls. “We did not see a single soul all day, which adds to the wild experience.” Nikon D850 body, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens @ f/5, 1/800sec, ISO 125…

ski to shining sea

There are few places on the planet where you ski directly down to the ocean. Norway’s Lofoten Islands is one such spot, and this couloir, though not the steepest nor blessed with the best snow, provided one of the most direct routes that photographer Ming Poon had ever seen. Poon nabbed this photograph of Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger while on location filming with TGR last winter, and the crew rewarded themselves with some beach time at the bottom. “It’s rare to find such a nice couloir that you can literally ski to the ocean,” says Poon. “The Lofoten islands are a ski and snowboard paradise. I very much look forward to returning.” Mavic 2 Pro with Hasselblad L1D-20c camera, 28mm f/2.8 lens @ f/5, 1/800sec, ISO 100…

first impressions

It takes a lot to wow a ski photographer, especially one as prolific and well traveled as veteran shooter Grant Gunderson. Yet during his first trip with Bella Coola Heli Sports, Gunderson was “completely blown away” by the terrain on offer—the largest heli-skiing tenure on the planet. Gunderson and skier Sam Cohen were grounded during the first seven days due to weather, then the skies cleared and the pair took flight. “It was an amazing first day out,” recalls Gunderson. “Perfect bluebird conditions with all runs starting at 6,000 to 7,000 feet in the alpine and skiing down directly toward the ocean.” Canon EOS-1D X body, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens @ f/6.3, 1/1250sec, ISO 125…

national treasure

I’ll be honest: When I first learned that Nancy Greene Raine would be my host for a day of skiing, I had to google her to find out who she was. It didn’t take long to figure out she was big time. Thousands of search results returned snippets detailing Greene’s illustrious ski racing career and her term as a Senator for British Columbia, along with hundreds of black and white photos of a young Greene in action and more recent headshots of a woman with cropped hair and a charming, crooked smile. On our appointed ski day, I’m told I’ll find Greene outside the Sun Peaks Sports Center, to just look for her signature red jacket. I find her easily enough—her outerwear doesn’t give her away as much as her Rossignol…

tracked out

Early one January morning, in one of the oversized ballrooms tucked deep in the belly of the Colorado Convention Center, no one seems to be paying much attention to an industry seminar. The air in the standing-room-only space is languid and warm, and the majority of eyes watching the deck are half-open at best. The presentation, covering the previous seasons’ increase and decrease in sales of skis, apparel, and other alpine gear according to the Snowsports Industries of America, seems flat. Sort of like the growth in sales of these same products. But, on what could have been the tenth or perhaps the one-hundredth slide, a statistic pops up that snaps the room’s trance. Pens click, notebooks flip to a fresh page, and many raise their phones omit to snap a…

overheard online

We can all agree that 2020 was a year of big news: Police brutality, racial inequity, wildfires raging, a presidential election, and of course a global pandemic that wreaked havoc in pretty much every nook and cranny of our lives. So, as we turn the corner into 2021, we thought we’d switch gears and tackle some lighter-weight subjects … like women’s ski bibs. Who would have thunk that a piece of outerwear could ever be the subject of such controversy on SKI’s Facebook page? But lo and behold, Bibgate indeed took place in late 2020, with some lady rippers swearing by the bib-style ski pant and others calling them “hideous.” Well, different strokes, we suppose. Let’s Hear it For the Bibs LS Can confirm, bibs are the literal greatest piece of ski…