Morocco offers several options for skiing. If you’re looking for couloirs however, there is only one place. Refuge Tazaghart is surrounded by many narrow corridors, all pretty easily accessible. One of the better couloirs in the area is Couloir Median which offers two variations. Looker’s right there is a very narrow couloir, nice and steep. I climbed and skied it on February 6, 2014, together with Jurriaan Huisman.
During a visit to Bolivia, I had met some climbers who recommended me to climb Cotopaxi. When I found out that skiing from the summit of this volcano is possible, my trip to Ecuador was a fact. In december 2013 I skied from 5897 meters down to 4800 meters. Find out more about my ski expedition to a big mountain somewhere on the equator…
The lake district in both Chile and Argentina is a perfect location to ski some volcanoes during the Southern Hemisphere’s spring. Most of them can be skied in one day. For two of them a multi-day trip is required. Mount Tronador is more of a mountaineering objective and therefore lacking a great ski descent. The biggest ski objective of all the volcanoes therefore is Volcan Lanin. A two-day trip will get you to the summit of 3776 meters from where you can ski down a beautiful couloir on the East flank of the volcano…
Bariloche is a popular town for tourism located in the lake district of Argentina. It has some beautiful scenery to offer which attracts outdoor minded people both in summer and winter. In winter many people go skiing at the well-known resort of Cerro Catedral. This resort gives also access to a backcountry area next to a great hut, refugio Frey. This backcountry area is known for having great couloirs…
Las Leñas has some of the best easily accessible backcountry terrain in the world. You take the Marte chairlift and so many opportunities await you that it can keep you busy for years. At the back of the resort there are three very prominent peaks begging to be skied; Cerro Martin, Entre Rios and Cerro Torrecillas. For many Entre Rios is their favourite. I skied it in the summer of 2013.
Skiing in Europe and North America is really popular but there is one resort in the Southern hemisphere that offers almost unlimited offpiste – and backcountry skiing. This place is Las Leñas in Argentina. With over 200 documented offpiste / backcountry runs it is a true mecca for skiers all over the world. One of the finest runs accessible without much effort is Hourglass, a beautiful steep couloir…
A couloir is a steep gorge or gully. With enough snowcoverage it can be very exciting to ski one. Once you enter a couloir, there is no way out and because you’re in a big terrain trap, you have to either ski from one safe spot to the next or ski in one go in order not to get caught in an avalanche. If you like skiing couloirs like I do, there is a hidden gem in the French Alps; la Grave…
Initially I went to Morocco ‘just’ to ski on the African continent. I expected bad snow conditions and relatively boring terrain. As low expectations are always a good thing, it turned out I had great springsnow in the tail end of the season, perfect weather and some interesting terrain. The last day of the trip I skied the couloir from Brèche des Clochetons just opposite the Refuge des Mouflons, a great finish of a great skitrip!
Gulmarg is a great destination for powder skiing. Multiple bowls are lined up and scream to be ripped apart. However, most of the terrain is very similar and the real steeps are lacking, with some exceptions of which my favourite is called Great White. A huge bowl with steep lines accessible within a couple of hours from the gondola offers great lines and a nice day out in the field.
After skiing all over the world one creates some sort of wishlist with skiruns. On top of my list was the Couloir des Cosmiques. This is a skirun in Chamonix which involves a decent rappel and around 2500 meters of vertical skiing. The ultimate classic run of Chamonix they say…
