Featuring 38 true-life stories of adventure and self-discovery, adrenaline, and honesty, a former professional NCAA downhill competitor reveals the soul skier's raison d'etre finding exhilaration, faith, grief, love, and everything that truly matters amid the gloriously tangible, tactile, break-your-leg-if-you're-not-careful rocks, trees, and gullies of the alpine world. These essays, collected from numerous glossy ski and lifestyle journals, including Powder, Couloir, and Telemark Skier, celebrate the land of winter and the author's roles as mountaineer, ski racer, father, and all-around life enthusiast. His stories will appeal to anyone who has ever hit the slopes and felt the adrenaline rush of perching atop a steep precipice, knowing that skiing is the physical, emotional, and spiritual place where deep truths are explored and the graceful interaction of body and terrain answers back.

There is something extraordinarily special about sliding on snow that has excited generations of snow sports enthusiasts. Add to this the dimension of travelling through the mountains and the result is a recipe for some of the best outdoor activity days you could ever imagine. I have been fortunate to share some of these adventures with Henry Branigan: Skiing off the summit of Mount Blanc at dawn or, equally enjoyable, skiing under the northern lights from hut to hut in Norway, still my all-time favourite way of travelling through the mountains. A complete guide to alpine ski touring, ski mountaineering and nordic ski touring sets out to provide the fundamentals about going off piste and then journeying through mountain terrain, in a logical, easy to read format. Adapting ski technique for various off piste conditions is an essential skill that makes all the difference between surviving and savouring adventures off piste. The book also covers the fundamental mountaineering knowledge including navigation, weather and avalanches that are essential before venturing beyond the confines of a ski area. Equipment and planning a tour are covered, whether it is in an Alpine or Nordic environment. All in all this is a very comprehensive and valuable resource for anyone aspiring to venture into the mountains on skis. Bob Kinnaird Principal Glenmore Lodge National Outdoor Training Centre

The second in the Scottish Offpiste guidebook series, this colourful book focuses on the incredible mountains of Glencoe centred around the historic White Corries ski area. 93 routes, 230 pages, 210 full colour photos and diagrams - plus a completely new section on avalanche and mountain safety and decision making.This offpiste skiing and snowboarding guidebook showcases and explores stunning backcountry freeride terrain, steep faces, remote gullies, epic traverses, and the oldest ski hill in Scotland. The skiing on offer in the corridor between Crianlarich and Ballachulish is some of the best in the country, and with the Pass of Glencoe steeped in mountaineering history there are few more atmospheric places to have adventures. Inside you will find easy freeride routes at Glencoe Mountain Resort, hidden corries and gullies on the famous Buachailles and the Bidean nam Bian massif, as well as some classic days out such as the prized Black Mount Traverse. With route entry diagrams, detailed descriptions, and loads of colour photos, this book is not only an essential source of information but a guide that will keep readers inspired until the snow arrives!

In addition to the film, technical chapters include: equipment - what to pack and what to wear; get your kit on - when and how to wear it and carry it - for maximum efficiency; and planning - from general advice to the night before, to changing plans on the slope. It includes guide books, internet, forecasts, ski maps, sketch plans, and more. It features skinning uphill fitting, caring and using skins - kick turns, picking a line, and more. It covers defensive skiing - get home without getting hurt - using side slip, traverse, kick turn and stem. It helps you in understanding snow Aspect and altitude - finding safe snow and good skiing on the move. It also covers safe travel Avalanche terrain - route choice, assessing gradient, group spacing and communication. Using a rope Abseiling, crevasse rescue, self rescue, and ski belays, it also includes skiing roped on glaciers - not falling in! It also looks at avalanche rescue transceiver, probe and shovel use from simple exercises to dealing with a 'real incident'. This DVD will educate and inspire all those wanting to learn the essential skills and techniques for back country skiing, ski touring and ski mountaineering. Filmed in the Silvretta Alps of Austria, the fifty minute documentary follows a team of four skiers on a varied and exhilarating week of piste, ski touring and ski mountaineering in glaciated terrain. Starting off piste in Ischgl, see how they get a feel for the snow conditions, find fresh tracks, and safely get away from the crowds on a big powder day. Setting off on a simple day tour, see how they make use of skins to reach a ski summit, before enjoying a superb descent to the valley. Finally, they set off on a hut to hut tour - through glacial terrain - taking in alpine summits on the way. See how they make safe decisions about the terrain and snow conditions on the move. Watch how they take sensible precautions to minimise the risks, yet enjoy some superb skiing in the mountains. The skills covered illustrate a progression through off piste skiing to multi day ski tours and ski mountaineering in glaciated terrain, and are appropriate to skiers and boarders of all standards.

"A fascinating look inside the complexities and enjoyment of skiing. For every skier, from the beginner to the Olympic Gold Medalist, this book provides a treasure of information." -PAUL MAJOR, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, U.S. SKI TEAM
"I was delighted to learn from this interesting book more about the physics of a sport I have enjoyed for more than seventy years." -NORMAN RAMSEY, NOBEL LAUREATE IN PHYSICS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

With more and more people heading into the winter backcountry on skis, snowshoes, and snowmobiles, avalanche safety is of paramount importance. Allen & Mike's Really Cool Avalanche Safety Book distills the sometimes overly technical information of snow science into a user-friendly format with helpful illustrations and easy-to-understand text. With years of experience as NOLS instructors to draw on, Allen O'Bannon and Mike Clelland team up to give winter recreationists the information they need to stay safe in the backcountry, including how to prepare for your trip, proper equipment and how to use it, snowpack assessment, choosing safe travel routes, decision making, and rescue scenarios. Written for both aspriring winter backcountry travelers and experts alike, this book is a must-read for anybody who loves to experience the solitude and beauty of the snowy mountains.

Fully revised and updated 2nd edition including an entirely new chapter on avalanches If you want to leave the confines of the piste, and explore the mountains and valleys beyond, then this is the book for you. Everything you need to make the transition from piste skiing to ski touring is here, from downhill off-piste and uphill skills to avalanche awareness. All aspects are covered in detail, with clear descriptions and stunning photos. The first section of the book covers the knowledge and techniques required to travel beyond the marked trail. The second part contains a selection of Bruce's favourite tours, in guidebook style, to help you plan your own backcountry adventure.

Skiing in movies, like the sport itself, grew more prevalent beginning in the 1930s, when it was a pastime of the elite, with depictions reflecting changes in technique, fashion and social climate. World War II saw skiing featured in a dozen films dealing with that conflict. Fueled by postwar prosperity, the sport exploded in the 1950s-filmmakers followed suit, using scenes on snow-covered slopes for panoramic beauty and the thrill of the chase. Through the free-spirited 1960s and 1970s, the downhill lifestyle shussed into everything from spy thrillers to beach party romps. The extreme sports era of the 1980s and 1990s brought snowboarding to the big screen. This first ever critical history of skiing in film chronicles a century of alpine cinema, with production information and stories and quotes from directors, actors and stuntmen.

A young woman follows winter across five continents on a physical and spiritual journey that tests her body and soul, in this transformative memoir, full of heart and courage, that speaks to the adventurousness in all of us-now available in paperback. Steph Jagger had always been a force of nature. Dissatisfied with the passive, limited roles she saw for women growing up, she emulated the men in her life-chasing success, climbing the corporate ladder, ticking the boxes, playing by the rules of a masculine ideal. She was accomplished. She was living "The Dream." But it wasn't her dream. Then the universe caught her attention with a sign: Raise Restraining Device. Steph had seen this ski lift sign on countless occasions in the past, but the familiar words suddenly became a personal call to shake off the life she had built in a search for something different, something more. Steph soon decided to walk away from the success and security she had worked long and hard to obtain. She quit her job, took a second mortgage on her house, sold everything except her ski equipment and her laptop, and bought a bundle of plane tickets. For the next year, she followed winter across North and South America, Asia, Europe, and New Zealand-and up and down the mountains of nine countries-on a mission to ski four million vertical feet in a year. What hiking was for Cheryl Strayed, skiing became for Steph: a crucible in which to crack open her life and get to the very center of herself. But she would have to break herself down-first physically, then emotionally-before she could start to rebuild. And it was through this journey that she came to understand how to be a woman, how to love, and how to live authentically. Electrifying, heartfelt, and full of humor, Unbound is Steph's story-an odyssey of courage and self-discovery that, like Wild and Eat, Pray, Love, will inspire readers to remove their own restraining devices and pursue the life they are meant to lead.

Dotted across the whole east-west width of the Alps, Italy's resorts offer a powerful combination of attractions: top class lifts, snowmaking and piste preparation, wonderful scenery, unbeatable food and wine - and to top it off, the lowest prices in western Europe. The book: - covers Italy's top 35 resorts in detail - is fearlessly frank and uncompromisingly impartial in its assessment of resorts - meets the needs of the many, not the few - rates resorts for every standard of skier - includes scores of photos and mountain maps - is designed to be used, with sewn binding and cover flaps for convenient page marking Conceived by the editors of Where to Ski and Snowboard, these new guides - researched and written to the same high standards - have less of the ephemeral detail that people can now get from the web, and more in-depth analysis of the merits of resorts - and coverage of more resorts, too.

The most impressive, thrilling and scenic ski runs from one of the world's leading ski experts. Long descents, big verts, challenging pistes and stunning scenery, Powder is the definitive guide to the best and most feared ski runs on the planet. Whether you're a serious off-piste skier or a novice with alpine ambitions, this visually stunning guide will undoubtedly inspire the winter Olympian in all of us. Along with classic runs in Chamonix, Whistler and Jackson Hole, Powder will also take you to offbeat and exotic locations such as the Himalayas, the Atlas Mountains and the 2014 Olympic destination of Sochi in Russia - places notable not only for the fantastic skiing and snowboarding, but also for their extraordinary scenery. Powder is the ultimate bucket list for any snowsports enthusiast, challenging beginners and experts alike to take on the most breathtaking runs the world has to offer. Contents include: Mt St Elias, Alaska; Whitehorn 2, Lake Louise, Canada; Inferno, Murren, Switzerland; Tortin, Verbier, Switzerland; Aiguille Rouge, Les Arcs, France; Klein Matterhorn Descent, Cervinia, Italy; Lyngen Peninsula, Norway; Sochi Olympic Downhill, Rosa Khutor, Russia; Mizuno no Sawa, Niseko, Japan; Everest, Mt Everest, Nepal; The Motatapu Chutes, Treble Cone, New Zealand; Fast One, Mt Buller, Australia; Mt Vinson, Antarctica.

Predating the wheel, the ski has played an important role in our history. This is brilliantly brought to life in this engaging book. Roland Huntford's brilliant history begins 20,000 years ago in the last ice age on the icy tundra of an unformed earth. Man is a traveling animal, and on these icy slopes skiing began as a means of survival.That it has developed into the leisure and sporting pursuit of choice by so much of the globe bears testament to its elemental appeal. In polar exploration, it has changed the course of history. Elsewhere, in war and peace, it has done so too. The origins of skiing are bound up with the emergence of modern man and the world we live in today.