Skiing the Planet

"Mongolia is kind of close, right?" Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel.

The blog about skiing around the world. The most recent blog articles can be found in Blogspot. This page lists all the skiing-related articles from this blog series.
Skiing Kauniainen at 3AM
May 2011. Its 3AM and I'm about to ski on the local hill in Kauniainen.
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May 2011, Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

Invasion of the Golfers
This is the end. Snow is melting, snowmaking is over, the cliffs are no longer covered by snow -- not that it prevented me from skiing them -- and the bar has run out of Pepsi Max. And the golfers are invading Peuramaa.
Full story

April 2011, Peuramaa, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

Poland Is Melting Away
Fail. Noon, Saturday, somewhere in Poland mountains. Despite a 6am wakeup the weekend is quickly turning into a disaster.
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April 2011, Zakopane, Poland; Strbske Pleso, Slovakia
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

Five States in 48 Hours
The 48 hour challenge: to ski in as many states as possible during 48 hours. My tour covered five states: Sundown (CT), Mad River Glen (VT), Bretton Woods (NH), Sunday River (ME), and Nashoba Valley (MA). I found some truly incredible skiing along the way. Mad River Glen: Just wow. And Nashoba Valley...
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March 2011, Sundown, Connecticut, USA; Mad River Glen, Vermont, USA; Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA; Sunday River, Maine, USA; Nashoba Valley, Massachusetts, USA
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

Family and Off-Piste Skiing in Are
As far as I can tell, Are is the best family ski resort on the planet.
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March 2011, Are, Sweden
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)

Mad About Mad River Glen
I had heard the stories about Mad River Glen, but seeing is believing. Their slogan is "Ski it if you can". The 700 meters of vertical on the icy bumps of the "Chute" crushed my belief in my skiing abilities and sent me skiing blue runs.
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March 2011, Mad River Glen, Vermont, USA
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

The 48 hour challenge, take two
A couple of weeks ago it was northeast United States, now its eastern Europe. I have from Friday evening to Sunday evening and a car. Where could I go?
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March 2011, Zakopane, Poland; Strbske Pleso, Slovakia
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

State of the Mission
Cullen asked me how many countries I have skied in. I now have an answer. I have skied in 5 continents, 17 countries, 29 countries or states and been to about 80 different ski areas. This season I have been to 14 different countries or states.
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March 2011, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland; Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Alpincenter Bottrop, Germany; Mall of Emirates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Levi, Kittilä, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

Off-Piste Skiing in the Peuramaa Alps
Peuramaa is a full service ski area: there's a parking lot, ticket sales booth, a couple of ski lifts, and even a bar. Seriously though, they have the playground.
Full story

March 2011, Peuramaa, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Afterski

Skiing the Horny Donkey
Yesterday I skied at the Horny Donkey ski area. Well, Horni Domky. This is a small ski area in northeast Czech Republic near the border towards Poland. I was surprised that a wet, steep grass hill sticks to your skis and slows you down quite a bit. Steep is better in grass skiing then, too.
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March 2011, Horni Domky, Czech Republic
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

The 48 hour challenge
How many states can you ski in during 48 hours? I'm about to find out...
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February 2011, Mt. Ashland, Oregon, USA; Mount Shasta, California, USA
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Climbing (Mountain)

Zillertal on the Cheap
I had forgotten how good ski destination Austria is. While the highest altitudes in Austrian resorts are generally moderate, 1600 meters of vertical is nothing to be sneezed at. In fact, that tops any ski area in Northern America. And you can ski it top to the bottom on one, consistently steep run.
Full story

February 2011, Zillertal, Austria
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Afterski

I am on a Mission
The mission is to ski in as many places in the world as you can. All countries where there's natural or man-made snow. In every major ski destination in the world. In at least some of the smaller places. On mountains, on hills, indoor, in winter and summer, on piste and off piste, on powder, slush, crust, and, occasionally - frequently, as my ski repair shop would say - on rocks. Going up by ski lift, on foot, on skins,crampons, cats, cars, or helicopters.
Full story
(Suomenkielinen versio)

January 2011, Puijo, Kuopio, Finland; Treblecone, New Zealand; Whakapapa, Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand; Valle Nevado, Chile
Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts)

This is the 22th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, set 11, set 12, set 13, set 14, set 15, set 16, set 17, set 18, set 19, set 20, and set 21. This is the last set.

See also the Planetskier blog articles about caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas. There is also a full list of all articles regardless of topic, a list of services "approved by the Planetskier, and a world map of all skiing related destinations from the blog series: