SKIING HISTORY Journal of the International History Association SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

SKIING THE SEVEN Why the Quest Now Goes Well Beyond the Sport TEXT “POW” TO 52886 TO MAKE YOUR PLEDGE TO VOTE

2 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY Letter from the ISHA President

Climate change is a matter of concern to all of us who live to glide on snow. Each of us can support candidates who advocate productive climate legislation, and we can support organizations working to activate young voters in snow country. TOM LIPPERT TOM

To the readers of Skiing History:

harlie Sanders frames his wonder- grams to slow carbon emissions, or even ful Seven Continents report in plan for a warmer future. If our sport is to Cthe context of climate change. He have a future, those climate deniers must points out that skiers worldwide face habi- be exiled from power. Regardless of who tat loss. It’s a matter of concern to all of us sits in the White House, as long as the who live to glide on snow. As historians, Senate remains in the hands of climate de- we are acutely aware of the problem, be- niers, no progress can possibly occur. And cause we have seen the retreat of Alpine the Senate will continue to approve judges glaciers over the past century and, espe- determined to put corporate interests cially, over the past decade. above the environment. I first saw this for myself in 1983, when, Skiing is a small community that with a couple of friends, I skied the Haute spends very little on political action. As a Route from Chamonix to Arolla. At the mere start, a few years ago, ISHA divested time, the Swiss Federal Institute of Tech- its fossil-fuel stock. Going forward, each of nology (ETH Zurich) reported that the us can support candidates who advocate country’s glaciers had retreated an average productive climate legislation. And we can of 50 feet per year for a century, and the support organizations working to register process was accelerating. The numbers and activate young voters in snow country. were so disturbing that I began writing Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wis- about climate change in 1989, and in 2005 consin, Colorado and Arizona stand out as went back to school for a degree in envi- snow-country states where a few thousand ronmental journalism. I entered a second young snowsport addicts might make a big career, promoting renewable energy. difference at the polls. Since 1999, the Swiss glacial retreat rate The ad on the facing page asks support has doubled. Glaciologists predict that for the nonprofit organization Protect Our will lose two-thirds of its ice Winters, founded in 2007 by a group of by the end of this century — possibly all high-profile snowsport athletes. The group of it. Skiing is in danger off the glaciers, lobbied successfully for statewide climate too. In the , the Fourth Na- legislation in Colorado and Nevada. For tional Climate Assessment of 2018 reported 2020 one of their goals is to reach up to that terrain below about 7,000 feet will two million voters with a climate action soon get more winter rain than snow, and message. That would represent progress. eventually only rain. Forget : It will all wash away. This is already com- Sincerely, mon in New England. Meanwhile, the season at higher elevations, in the Rockies and Sierra, has grown shorter by about two weeks, and that change is accelerating. We’re all frustrated that climate deniers Seth Masia in elected office have reversed most pro- ISHA president www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 3 SkiingSkiing thethe SevenSeven ContinentsContinents

QUARK EXPEDITIONS The ultimate voyage of discovery in a rapidly warming world. BY CHARLES J. SANDERS

hen international matic and sublime destinations has urgent aspiration among the truly ski mountaineer- existed for well over a century and possessed of the global ski commu- ing icons Dan remains a pillar of the sport’s appeal. nity, with its centerpiece the drive and John Egan It’s no exaggeration that among the to achieve one of the holiest grails of were inducted most dedicated skiers and boarders, modern sports: ski moun- Winto the U.S. Ski and the desire to slide everywhere is today taineering on all seven continents. Hall of Fame a few years ago, it was more pervasive than ever. Inspired It was in pursuit of complet- Dan who wistfully described the by the pioneers who preceded us on ing that elusive quest that I found global magic carpet ride that skiing alpine journeys across this magnifi- myself, along with my wife and had provided for him and his broth- cent blue and white planet, for many son, clutching the handrails lining er. “When I was a kid skiing for the similar pull of adventure has our ship’s narrow corridor as we Warren Miller,” he said, referencing launched decades of global ski travel, pitched and rocked our way through the late ski film icon who inspired whenever time, opportunity and the world’s most violent body of more far-flung snow travel than any finances have permitted. It has also, water—the infamous Drake Pas- person ever has or likely will, “I re- along the way, fostered an expand- sage—separating the southern tip of member him telling me that if I held ing love for winter adventure, and a from . We onto my tightly enough, some more profound respect for the Earth. were certainly not the only ones, day they would turn into an air- Sadly, that joy and wisdom are by far, who had made the decision plane to take me around the world.” now joined with the fear that climate that our lifelong passion to see and He laughed and added, “And I’ll be change may someday soon bring it ski the most ecstatically beautiful, damned. He was right.” all to an end, for ourselves and our frozen place on Earth had to be ac- The notion that skiing can be a children. As a result, the dream of complished sooner rather than later. ticket, or at least a happy excuse, to skiing the world now has recently It just felt that way out on the cold, visit many of the world’s most dra- intensified into perhaps the most heaving water, hundreds of nautical

4 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY Left and cover: Author Sanders and family silhouetted against a massive ice cliff along Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica. miles south of Cape Horn on the way to our seventh continental ski destination together.

he original roots of interna- tional ski travel trace back Tto the Victorian Age, when Swiss hoteliers and leisure-class Brit- ish gentry first discovered in the 1860s that vacationing in an Alpine wonderland could serve as an appeal- CHIN (2) JIMMY ing alternative to England’s dreary On October 18, 2006, Kit and Rob DesLauriers and Jimmy Chin arrived at the top of the winters. The idyllic fixation on genu- world, the 29,029- summit of . Next step: skiing down. With the descent, inely global ski adventure, however, including a group rescue of her husband, Kit (inset) became the first person—man or wom- did not emerge until the beginning of an—to climb and ski from the highest point on each —the fabled . the 20th century, with inspiring tales of fur-clad explorers sloshing ashore ers for experiencing the world on According to Doug Stoup, the ski with their sled dogs and seven-foot skis. And to the growing band of ecologist responsible planks to conquer the polar regions, worldwide snow nomads of the for pioneering in Antarc- and intrepid mountaineers lugging Gen-X and Millennial generations, tica, there are now probably several their ropes, crampons and skis higher the arrival of adventure gurus Doug dozen people of varying ages and and deeper into the remote, glaciated Coombs, Chris Davenport, and more abilities who have skied or boarded mountain ranges dotting the rest of recently, Candide Thovex and his the snows of all seven continents, the cold world. Ski the World campaign, signaled that with many more hoping to complete From those footsteps emerged it was “game on” when it comes to the quest before climate change ren- the romantic, pre-War travelogues the goal of skiing every worthwhile ders it impossible. And Stoup, the of Ernest Hemingway and Lowell patch of snow on the planet. man with more polar expeditions Thomas, both of whom had an abid- The fact is, though, that it has to his credit than anyone in history, ing love for adventure skiing and an only been with recent advances in should know. A significant percent- even deeper affection for describing ski touring equipment, safety tech- age of those who have completed their heroic exploits to the public. niques, and more efficient air travel the circuit have done so with his Even more influential in captivating that the world has grown small help on one or more of the 40 trips the imaginations of early ski voyag- enough to genuinely accommodate he has organized or led to the Polar ers were the visually exquisite moun- the seven-continent ski dream. It is North and the Antarctic. tain films of German director Arnold now a reality that any dedicated skier In admitting that skiing the seven Fanck and his more casual American or boarder with enough experience, continents has unexpectedly grown counterpart, John Jay. desire and sponsorship (self-funded into a recognizable goal within the The releases of those first winter or otherwise) can slide his or her sport, with backcountry ski moun- action features to a growing audience way around the entire globe. And so, taineering in Antarctica as its cap- of adrenaline junkies in the 1920s and it’s no longer just the explorers, the stone, Stoup is still careful to clarify ’30s presaged the coming of Warren filmmakers, and the superstar free- that “the kind of people who attempt Miller, Greg Stump, and all of their skiers with a universal ticket to ride. to ski on all seven continents rarely cinematic disciples as the proselytiz- It is potentially all of us. confuse that goal as being separate from the larger dream of skiing every- where for as long as they can.” “Look at it this way,” he ex- plained. “Being able to say ‘I’ve done “It’s no longer just the explorers, that’ becomes proof of commitment, even a personal rite of passage, in a the filmmakers, and the superstar sport in which accomplishment is sometimes hard to measure. That’s free-skiers with a universal ticket to especially meaningful to those who choose and al- ride. It is potentially all of us. pine aesthetics over racing. But ul- ” timately, it has to be viewed as just www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 5 WARREN MILLER ENTERTAINMENT WARREN

NINA M. OSSOFF SANDERS NINA M. OSSOFF SANDERS Warren Miller, a pioneer in action sports Charlie Sanders, in a prayer garden near the climbers’ cemetery below South Base films, inspired generations of skiers to Camp I on the Nepalese approach to Everest, gathering information on climate change explore the exotic and the extreme. and the effect of pollution from nearby Kathmandu and its exploding population. one more step on the perpetual jour- tion, those marvelously obsessed role bullet-train ride into the ney to experience the entire world models preached, required experienc- west of Tokyo. A subsequent ski on skis, to enjoy and celebrate life ing a few iconic mountain routes in trip to the of Kashmir, and adventure to the fullest in the pursuit of the dream of skiing if not hard on the Pakistani border and a short time we have on this planet.” all, at least some of the best moun- burgeoning war zone, was unsettling Global adventurer Jimmy Pet- tains the world has to offer. Just but spectacular amid the peaks above terson, author of the seminal book exactly when that goal shifted for Gulmarg. Skiing ’s remote Skiing Around The World and perhaps Nina, our son Jackson and me into Atlas Mountains on the behemoths the most widely travelled skier in the seven-continent quest is difficult that loom over the Kasbah at Mount history, agrees. Like Stoup, he asserts to pinpoint, but it suffices to say that Toubkal was part of an extraordinary that the dream of skiing the seven it did, along with the knowledge that cultural experience just a few hours continents is a great aspiration, but all trails would lead to Antarctica. beyond the snake charmers and palm still nothing more than a handy stop In , we had tackled the trees of Marrakech, Morocco. on the road to the next mountain, a Tasman Glacier on Mount Cook, In , negotiating the way to measure progress toward the which for 25 years I had dreamed Aiguille du Midi Arete prior to endless goal of experiencing every- about skiing after seeing John Jay’s descending the Valley Blanche at thing, everywhere, on skis. “Skiers film of Stein Eriksen gliding down Chamonix, and skiing the runs be- are dreamers,” he wrote. “And your through the seracs to a waiting air- low La Meije through snow squalls own skier’s odyssey only comes to a plane on the snow. And that was at La Grave, had both been sublime. close when you cease to dream.” exactly how we experienced it on And our dozens of North American “Of course,” he added over summer trips dedicated to finding ski odysseys were highlighted by drinks in a tiny Austrian inn below endless winter traipsing through the the Chugach backcountry in , the Kitzsteinhorn, “it doesn’t stop Southern of , and with hundreds of square miles of with your seventh continent. If it later the Snowies of . untracked powder and the best pure does,” he paraphrased an old Woody Equally spectacular were August skiing we have ever experienced. Allen joke in toasting the quest with trips into the , where the There were other highlights as me, “you’re doing it wrong.” views of from Portillo, well, most of them frequent stops Chile, high above Inca Lake and the on the “must-do” adventure list of ithin my family, that contraption known as the Roca Jack international skiers that are too nu- same philosophy had drag lift, was one of the pinnacles of merous to mention, but each in their Wresonated across genera- our South American adventures. own way memorable. That included tions, reflecting traditions handed In , we had floated through skiing the old U.S. ski-troop training down since the 1940s by a wacky the trees beneath Hokkaido’s Yotei, runs at Cooper Hill, Colorado, with group of winter adventurers that the powder-buried Japanese volcano, my dad in celebration of his 80th included U.S. 10th Mountain Division and received Shinto blessings from birthday, surrounded by all of the veterans and friends. True dedica- samurai-clad ski warriors at Shiga, a old, World War II “Boys of Winter”

6 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY CHARLES J. SANDERS CHARLES J. In an extraordinary contrast in imagery, palm trees wave in the warm breezes just beyond the walled Kasbah on the approach to Africa’s remote snow-capped Atlas Mountains, with the majestic 13,671-foot Mount Toubkal, Morocco, standing guard. savoring some of their last runs to- down the Lhotse Face (a frightening Naval officer with a background in gether in the sun. scene captured in the Oscar-winning intelligence, however, Hayes also By 2016, I hoped that we had fi- 1975 documentary The Man Who Skied judged himself as uniquely qualified nally, respectfully, earned our shot at Down Everest), Hayes deduced that to overcome those obstacles. completing the seven-continent ski still, no one person had skied the During his time in the service, circuit. And so it was on December snows of all seven continents. Hayes’ had grown adept at planning 15, a little before 5 am, that we found The principle reason for that global ski travel around his access to ourselves alone on the deck of the strange hole in the world of skiing free military transportation. In fact, Ocean Diamond, staring out over milestones, Hayes determined, was he had managed to hitch enough an endless expanse of the Southern that while Everest had rightfully rides to ski the other six continents. Ocean speckled to the horizon with earned its notoriety as the world’s Hayes’ new strategy would be to icebergs. Ahead lay the chance to most dangerous place to establish carve himself a place in skiing lore fulfill the dream. But in Antarctica, sporting credentials, even reaching the by sneaking a pair of skis with him more so than anywhere else in the more remote Antarctic was at that on one of the American scientific world, there are no guarantees of time the rarer feat. And it was Ant- military missions to the South Pole anything—least of all, success. arctica, not the Earth’s highest peak he hoped to finagle his way onto as on the Nepalese-Tibetan border, that a civilian advisor. Once there at the omeone, of course, had to was an indispensable destination in U.S. McMurdo Station, he planned have been first. When Oliver the seven-continent ski tour. on climbing and skiing the most im- S“Tom” Hayes III, a three-tour In those days, visitors who did pressive, nearby ridge. If there was Vietnam combat veteran and lifelong manage to reach the frozen continent trouble, he could at least count on skiing devotee returned stateside in were usually not dedicated skiers prompt medical attention to go along the mid-1970s, he discovered some- or mountaineers. Rather, they were with his likely arrest and expulsion. thing about international ski history mainly scientific adventurers with Either way, Hayes felt that it that he found truly extraordinary. special permission to be there from would be worth the risk to be able to Hard as it was to believe, more than a sponsoring government. Most claim one of the great, unofficial priz- twenty-five years after Sir Edmund wouldn’t in their wildest fantasies es of the sport, regardless of the mod- Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had first have contemplated risking serious est level of athletic accomplishment it conquered Mount Everest, and more injury in a downhill skiing accident might represent. Knowing the process than five years after Japanese extreme with medical help usually several of catching a lift to the most remote, skier Yuichiro Miura had skied a sec- days away, let alone dragging along strictly regulated corner of the planet tion of that same sacred mountain the equipment necessary to mount could take years, Hayes set out in the before nearly being killed tumbling such an attempt. As a former U.S. late 1970s to give it his best shot. www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 7 eanwhile, following Hill- to plot a less spectacular Antarctic mission on Antarctica had failed, he ary’s conquest of Everest, descent on skis, both independently had also astutely chosen to emulate Mmembers of the serious wondered whether their dreams to Bass and Wells by getting in contact mountaineering community had turned reach the mountains of the frozen with the American-supported Chil- their attention toward another histor- continent would ultimately prove a ean armed forces about procuring ic dream far more challenging than ridge too far. guest transportation to Chile’s base Hayes’ goal: the race to become the It was then that a new force in on the western Antarctic peninsula. first human to summit the highest mountaineering arrived, the likes Through his apparent military peaks on all seven continents. This of which had not been seen since connections in Santiago, Hayes was parallel effort would have a powerful the ill-fated day that famed Brit- able to swing a seat on one of dicta- influence on the seven-continent ski ish mountaineer George Mallory tor Augusto Pinochet’s cargo flights quest, especially as the two pursuits set out to summit Everest in 1924. out of Punta Arenas to the Junta’s eventually morphed into a single, re- In a mountaineering world rapidly tiny Antarctic Peninsula outpost. lated crusade. evolving toward professionalization, Now shamelessly flaunting rather By the end of the 1970s, several it was actually two amateur climb- than concealing his skis as he carried world-class climbers had joined the ers—far more experienced as skiers them off the plane, he walked away Seven Summits race, including 10th than mountaineers—who now strode from the transport after it nearly Mountain vet Bill Hackett and the unself-consciously into the spotlight. crashed on arrival, jumped onto a South Tyrolian master mountaineer During the summer of 1981, Chilean military helicopter that fer- , who in 1978 be- Snowbird resort founder Dick Bass ried him up to a ridge above Paradise came the first person to summit six and Hollywood mogul-turned ad- Harbor, and skied down. On Decem- of the seven: (), venturer had met and ber 1, 1984, Tom Hayes finally staked Elbrus (Europe), Aconcagua (South joined forces in pursuit of their mu- his claim as the first person ever to America), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Ever- tually held and equally outlandish have skied all seven continents. est (Asia), and the mountains he Seven Summit climbing dreams. The “I’m not sure how my dad cel- considered to be the highest in the idea that these two, self-described ebrated,” said his son Tim, “but he loosely defined region of Oceania: “high-altitude trekkers” could beat was really, really proud of that ac- near Canberra (if elite climbers like Messner in the complishment for the rest of his life.” one considers only mainland Austra- race for the seven summits would Famed mountaineer Ned Gillette lia as representing the continent) and ordinarily have been laughable. But would take another four years to the Carstensz Pyramid on Puncak with their audacious amateur spirits, accomplish the same goal, a circum- Jaya in (if the surround- bolstered by conspicuously healthy stance that Tom Hayes believed put ing South Pacific region is included). financing, Bass and Wells were a into perspective the overwhelming While Messner now set his sights neophyte phenomenon of nature. odds he had faced and overcome on ascending Mount Vinson, and as Unfortunately, just as death had through amateur perseverance—with Tom Hayes simultaneously continued stalked Mallory on Everest, it came a little help from his friends. calling on Bass and Wells, too. In the latter case, however, it was their y the time Tom Hayes had close friend and team member Marty skied his seventh continent, Hoey, one of the finest female ski BDick Bass and Frank Wells mountaineers in the world and the were back on track, having accom- head of safety at Snowbird, who plished successful climbs on every died in a fall near Camp IV on their continental summit but Everest. doomed 1982 Everest expedition. Frank Wells now had a decision Another attempt on Everest the fol- to make. Following his two abortive lowing year ended in near-tragic tries to summit Everest, the last of disappointment for both men, with which had nearly killed him, he de- Wells coughing up blood as the team termined that it would be irrational unsuccessfully strove for the summit. to risk his life to try a third time. And so, for Bass and Wells, the elu- Bass disappointedly forged ahead sive prize of Chomolungma remained without him, facing alone the com- unachieved for the time being. petitive zeal of Messner and several other aspiring Seven Summit climb- om Hayes, in the meantime, ers now breathing down his neck. was suddenly having better To Bass, however, the loss of his luck on his seven continent partner and the rising intensity of Vietnam veteran Tom Hayes noticed a T ski quest. While his attempts at con- the competition were just two more, hole in skiing’s record book: No one had vincing the U.S. Navy that he would minor obstacles for him to overcome skied all seven continents. He accom- be a good addition to a scientific by sheer force of will. Climbing with plished exactly that in December 1984. 8 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY CHARLES J. SANDERS SANDERS CHARLES J. Nina Ossoff Sanders learns firsthand why European skiers have been visiting Gulmarg, Kashmir, in the western CHARLES J. SANDERS SANDERS CHARLES J. Bucket List Worthy: skiing off- in Portillo, Chile, high in the Andes and in view of Himalayas, since the Brits established a Inca Lake and spectacular Aconcagua—at 22,837 feet, the highest peak outside of Asia. ski club there in 1927. famed alpinist David Breashears as ow that the Seven Sum- tions that he had abandoned two his new guide, the amateur Bass mits had been successfully seriously ill climbing mates at high departed again for Kathmandu in Nclimbed by an individual camp in to do so—Stammberg- the spring of 1985, and improbably— mountaineer, and the seven conti- er busied himself climbing and skiing almost incomprehensibly—became nents skied (albeit less spectacularly) the highest fourteeners in Colorado. the first person ever to summit the by a single ski adventurer, a new, Stammberger’s incredibly danger- highest peak on all seven continents. ultimate, seven-continents ski moun- ous and occasionally reckless exploits He reached the top of Everest on taineering dream slowly but inevita- captured the attention of Aspen April 30, 1985, some five months bly began to take shape. newspaper editor and former 10th after Hayes had completed his seven- Since his ski descent from Ant- Mountain Division ski trooper, Bil continent ski journey. Bass said a arctica’s Mount Vinson with Bass and Dunaway, who had helped pioneer prayer for the late Marty Hoey at the Wells in 1983, Yuichiro Miura had by shredding the pinnacle, descended with Breashears been contemplating climbing up and North Face of in 1953. and the Sherpas, and after calling skiing down from all seven continen- The attention that Dunaway’s publi- his family and Frank Wells with the tal summits. His problems, however, cations afforded Stammberger helped good news, headed home to throw were his advancing age, and the fact overcome the stain on his reputation himself the biggest mountaintop that his run and subsequent tumble caused by the Cho Oyo incident, party the world had ever seen. down Everest had commenced well and enable his marriage to Playboy The shindig at Snowbird, as below the crest. Even though he centerfold Janice Pennington. cataloged in the narrative of the Bass would conquer Chomolungma another As Stammberger’s heart had al- and Wells adventures, Seven Summits, three times (the last climb at age 80), ways resided in the Himalayas, he remains one of the legendary après he came to the realization that he next chose to attempt a ski descent gatherings in ski-mountaineering simply no longer had the necessary of one of the world’s most difficult history. It is still discussed with rev- physical and emotional stamina to peaks, Tirich Mir, on the border of erence among those who attended, survive a ski descent from the top. Pakistan and Afghanistan. Was he including the eighty musicians of the Miura himself had been preceded building up to skiing Everest from its Utah Symphony, the additional 150 in his contemplation of skiing the summit? No one can be sure, since members of the choir Bass insisted Seven Summits by one of the most he disappeared into the Hindu Kush upon hiring, and hundreds of invited curious characters ever to streak in 1975 never to be heard from again. guests and Snowbird employees. “I across the ski mountaineering land- Bil Dunaway led the search for wanted to throw a party that would scape. Friedrich “Fritz” Stammberger Stammberger’s body, which was nev- make Nebuchadnezzar envious,” he arrived in Aspen from Munich in er recovered. Some of his personal admitted, with a wink to his defeat- the early 1960s looking every bit the effects, however, were discovered ed colleague, Reinhold Messner, who part of the mythic, Alpine-god he near the base of the mountain, lead- completed his own Seven Summits fashioned himself to be. After climb- ing to wild speculation led by his quest a few months later and estab- ing and skiing the sixth highest peak widow that her husband had been lished one of the greatest mountain- in the world (Cho Oyo) in 1964—and far more than a simple ski moun- eering careers in history. not so incidentally enduring accusa- taineer. Those allegations included www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 9 bacle (shot during an expedition that resulted in the deaths of six other climbers), trying to discern how best to handle the deadliest of the mountain’s sections—especially the infamous, nearly-vertical Hillary Step just below the summit that Miura himself had not skied. While all of this was transpir- CHARLES J. SANDERS CHARLES J. ing, Davorin Karničar was quietly New Zealand’s Tasman Glacier on South Island continuing his own Seven Sum- presents several unique challenges to skiing, such mits ski mission. Having previously as entering (left) and exiting ice caves on the way pioneered an “uninterrupted route” to the snow fields. Skier: Jackson Sanders. from the top of Everest (in the pro- cess nearly careening to his death

CHARLES J. SANDERS CHARLES J. circumventing the Hillary Step and completing his five-hour descent of the Lhotse face by somehow that he had also been an intelligence for it,” but according to her, there skirting the Khumbu icefall to its asset of the CIA, the KGB, or both. may as well have been. runout), Karničar, too, had just one There is no proof of any of this, oth- “I didn’t see Dick again before ski mountain left to conquer. Like er than the certainty that the career we left,” Kit recalled, but after that, Messner before him in the Seven of an enormously gifted (even if in- “Seven Summits was always on my Summits race, his last challenge judicious) ski mountaineer had been hotel bedside...By the time I finished would be the pinnacle of Antarctica. snuffed out well short of its apex. the book, the idea was speaking to Thus, even as Kit, Rob and team- As a result, by 2005, two decades something primal in me.” And so mate Jimmy Chin planned their own had passed between the time that after talking it over with Rob (who ski route down Everest, Karničar was Dick Bass stood on the roof of the agreed to participate in some of the desperately trying to reach Mount world and the day that one of the climbs and descents with her), Kit, Vinson to become the first human world’s greatest extreme skiers ar- indeed, decided to go for it. She to complete the Seven Summits ski rived at his Snowbird resort and would attempt to climb up and ski circuit. This reality added even more won her second consecutive World down from the Seven Summits, and tension to the DesLauriers expedition. Championship. In all become the first person, not just the Prior to commencing their climb that time, though ski mountaineer first woman, to do so. with the traditional Buddhist reli- Davorin “Davo” Karničar of Slovenia Over the next 18 months, Kit gious ceremonies at the foot of the had surpassed Miura in skiing from made the impossible seem common- Khumbu Glacier, the DesLauriers the peak of Everest in 2000, still no place. She became the first woman team arranged for an audience with one had succeeded in skiing the to climb and ski the summits of Vin- one of the holiest leaders in the Seven Summits. And once again, as son and Aconcagua. She likewise region, Tibet’s Lama Geshe. At the it seemed with all things involving skied from the summits of Elbrus, place he designated as “the junction Dick Bass, strange and extraordinary Kosciusko and Kilimanjaro. Since of heaven and Earth,” Lama Geshe things followed. DesLauriers had already climbed and blessed Kit’s efforts to complete the That evening, skied Denali from its summit in 2004 skiing of the seven summits. And and her husband (world-class skier (making her the first woman to do then he sent the team off on what he and mountaineer Rob DesLauriers) so), that left only one hill in Asia to prayed would be a safe and success- were enjoying dinner in Snowbird’s climb and ski. It was, of course, the ful journey, “for the good of them- Aerie restaurant in celebration of her same dragon that Bass had also of selves and for others.” back-to-back championships, when necessity slayed last: Everest. “I contemplated what he said,” Bass unexpectedly joined them. As In late August of 2006, the she wrote in her autobiography High- was his pleasure, he waxed poetically DesLaurierses headed with their er Love. “For my entire life, I’d been about the philosophical mindset of team to Nepal. They approached the called to seek the highest places....But the climbers he had met on his seven epic challenge as confidently as pos- now I also understood that being in summits odyssey, and proceeded to sible, despite the unavoidable visions those places—the junction between note how he saw those same traits in of Miura crashing down the Lohtse earth and sky—opened my heart to Kit and her approach to skiing. Face to within two hundred meters a heightened kind of love….I realized The next morning, a signed copy of certain death in the bergschrund at that maybe the greatest limitation of Seven Summits was delivered to the its base. Their intense preparation people experience is thinking they couple at their hotel. There was no for Everest, in fact, included study- can’t achieve something they want to accompanying note to Kit saying “go ing the film of Miura’s near-fatal de- achieve. By challenging myself here,

10 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY perhaps I could inspire others to challenge their perceived limitations.” The torturous climb up Everest took more than a month. On Oc- tober 18, 2006, the DesLauriers team found themselves at the top of the world. That was the “easy” part. After a brief, celebratory mo- ment on the summit with Rob, Kit DesLauriers popped into her skis and began the series of turns that would take her down from 29,029 feet. The journey did not go as smoothly as hoped, however. She arrived on skis at the top of the Hill- ary Step a few hundred feet below the summit, sent Rob ahead on roped ski belay as planned, and a SANDERS CHARLES J. short time later found him dangling The fluke of a Humpback whale confirms why sailors named this magnificent spot in unconscious due to a lack of oxy- Antarctica “Paradise Harbor” early in the 20th Century. gen over the exposed edge of what amounted to an 8,000-foot drop. A harrowing death-zone rescue on skis from the Seven Summits. deck and staring at the outlines of followed, involving Kit rallying the That fact, of course, does not di- monstrous, glaciated peaks that were Sherpas to assist Rob while she minish the extraordinary accomplish- becoming visible, Jackson, Nina and down-climbed to get more bottled ments of Davo Karničar, who less I for the first time wondered aloud oxygen, nearly passed out several than one month later on November what exactly we were doing there times on the way, and then climbed 11, 2006, completed his climb and with our skis. It simply didn’t look back up again to help assist in the ski descent of Mount Vinson and possible. And peering through the rescue. After Rob’s oxygenated re- his own Seven Summits ski circuit. gloom, it certainly didn’t appear sane, covery, the full team was finally able Though apparently urged to do so simply for the sake of joining a hy- to reunite on foot at Camp IV, still by many of his fellow Slovenians, pothetical global ski club. above 26,000 feet. There they slept Karničar rightfully and graciously re- That doubt, however, instantly for several hours before Kit, Rob fused to dispute Kit DesLauriers title evaporated as the dawn revealed and Chin successfully skied a full as the first person to ski the Seven what had to be one of the most mile down the Lohtse Face without Summits, despite the harrowing in- spectacular sights in the universe. incident and proceeded briefly into terruptions she had encountered. Sunshine suddenly illuminated a the Khumbu icefall, accomplishing as On September 16, 2019, with the nearly cloudless sky, and lit up the Karničar had perhaps the most chal- sad irony of a Shakespearean tragedy, glaciated harbor as if it glowed from lenging and dangerous run on Earth. the man who had survived dozens of within. I had never seen ocean water Upon their arrival at Base Camp, confrontations with death in some of reflect that deep a shade of blue be- a disappointed Kit announced that in the world’s most inhospitable envi- fore, or viewed mountains so caked her opinion she had not truly com- ronments, was pruning a tree in his in snow, made even more spectacular pleted an uninterrupted ski descent. backyard when it fell and killed him. by randomly spaced veins of ancient With few exceptions, the world de- It goes without saying that regard- cobalt and azure ice standing out murred, adopting the widely accept- less of this premature ending to his against the brilliant white. ed view of Dick Bass that judging remarkable life, no discussion of the Leopard seals lolled on ice bergs fulfillment of spectacular but amor- greatest ski mountaineers in history as flocks of Chinstrap and Gentoo phous endeavors such as these is is complete without devout reference penguins took turns using smaller simply not an exact science. Having to the magnificent alpinist and ex- floes as fishing platforms. Hump- climbed up and descended on skis treme skier Davo Karničar. back whale mothers and their calves from the summit of Everest, down- spouted in the distance, thrusting a climbed a belay section in order to ith two days of air travel fluke into the air as they rolled and save a life, and continued down from and another 48 hours of dove for krill. For skiers and natural- Camp IV through the most difficult, Wcrossing the Drake Pas- ists both, this was a 360-degree view skiable portions of the route, Kit sage behind us, our ship had finally of heaven. DesLauriers has generally been rec- slipped into Antarctica’s Wilhelmina Two hours later, our Zodiac was ognized as the first person—man or Bay as we slept through the brief being lowered from steel arms pro- woman—ever to climb and descend spring night in 2016. Now up on truding from the ship four decks www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 11 SNOWBIRD RESORT SNOWBIRD Through grit and dogged determination,

CHARLES J. SANDERS CHARLES J. Snowbird Resort founder—and amateur A stratovolcano located in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Hokkaido, Japan, Mount Yotei mountaineer—Dick Bass improbably is famous for being located in the powder-blessed region that is home to several of became the first person to summit the Japan’s most popular ski resorts. Skier: Jackson Sanders. highest peak on all seven continents. above, and splashing into the icy wa- to be one of the most astonishing noting the changing sponginess ter. In full arctic winter gear, and car- views in the world, a translucent of the snow beneath us. Skiing rying the usual inventory of avalanche blue, black and white masterpiece slowly back down over potentially probes, shovels, beacons, ropes, ra- of water, rock and hundreds of feet crumbling snow bridges to the zo- dios, crampons, skins and skis, we of layered snow and ice glistening diac pick-up area, situated across a descended with our guide Andrew in the sun. After posing with our fifty-foot-wide sea channel from the Eisenstark for the trip to the land- penguin accompanists, we unroped, empty Gonzales Videla Chilean re- ing zone. The islands and mainland peeled off our climbing skins, and search base where Tom Hayes had of Antarctica are accessible by water with some deep breaths swooped completed his record-setting journey, only at the rare points where glaciers down through the corn. Descending we discovered that fragmented pack and land slope gently into the sea. through the exquisite scenery to the ice had choked off the landing site. Most of the steeply cliffed shoreline water on the precise route we had One gets awfully cold, awfully sits five to ten stories above the water. climbed (now reasonably certain of fast, waiting to see if it will be nec- After trudging our way ashore its stability), Jackson came to a grace- essary to make a swim through icy and performing the standard gear ful stop next to Andrew, and both waters to reach a likely unheated checks, we fixed climbing skins to joyously raised their poles above source of shelter for the night. After our skis, and roped up. The para- their heads. two hours of nervous small-talk, the mount danger of skiing in Antarctica You did it!” Andrew shouted. zodiac (with Andrew’s radio guid- is generally not avalanches, but rather “Seven continents! All before you ance) was finally able to pick its way falling into one of the many, end- can buy your own beer!” At 19, through the debris to give us a lift lessly deep crevasses that open and Jackson had joined Tom Hayes’ back to the ship. That night, we close in the flowing glaciers. Forcing son, Tim, as one of the two young- warmly toasted luck, family, friends, an intense smile, Nina followed An- est males to accomplish the seven- and the spirit of gemütlichkeit. The drew carefully up the ridgeline, one continent ski quest, an obscure, un- next morning, the Ocean Diamond foot in front of the other, one glide verifiable fact about which he seemed turned north through the Drake Pas- at a time. Jackson and I headed up to care nothing at all. “It’s not about sage once again, toward home and behind them. We buzzed with ner- that,” he said, flashing the sarcastic deeper reflection. vous energy, but the good kind that grin he saved uniquely for his par- simultaneously makes you happy, ents, before repeating the mantra. t’s never been easy to explain and hopefully keeps you alive. “It’s about doing it right.” to those who do not partake in There were, naturally, other Iwinter mountain sports why the s it turned out, it was Antarctic ski descents under far less experience of cold powder snow a thankfully uneventful enticing conditions. At Waterboat and sunshine is so deeply tied to the A45-minute climb up to our Point in Paradise Harbor, in the kind spiritual well-being of those who do. vantage point a thousand feet above of deteriorating overcast that Antarc- The addictive aesthetics of skiing, the Foyn Harbor. At the ridge top, Ant- tica is really famous for, we aborted euphoric feeling of flight, of being arctica once again revealed what had a mainland climb after unanimously totally immersed in sublimely beauti-

12 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY CHARLES J. SANDERS CHARLES J. Left: The famed gondola of La Grave, —perhaps the most extreme on the globe—offers a bird’s-eye view of Le Meije, in the French Alps. Above: If anyone ever has a doubt about the spirit and toughness of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division’s members, they’ll let you know otherwise.

CHARLES J. SANDERS ful—even mystical—winter mountain he believed to be the self-evident to become uncommon.” And living landscapes, are all life-affirming gifts reason for experiencing the world’s an uncommon life is a notion that impossible to describe to those who highest peaks, was just too glib to a great many dedicated skiers hold have not experienced them. serve as an adequate explanation for dear. It signifies not only the drive Even among those who do grasp non-professionals following in foot- to achieve a higher level of personal that enchantment, trying to define steps rather than breaking trail. Nor joy and endorphin-fueled satisfaction, the motivations for wanting to en- did the somewhat more romantic but also the search for distinction in gage in pursuits as quirky as at- musings of the great Dartmouth ski the eyes of peers with similar spirits. tempting to ski in every exotic and coach Otto Schniebs suffice, who By completing the seven-conti- sometimes dangerous locale across tried in the 1930s to frame his love nent quest, it is certainly true I had the world and on every continent affair with skiing in the simplest pos- hoped to achieve a definable accom- can be daunting. “Why not just en- sible terms by explaining, “this is not plishment that would indelibly mark joy the ride without keeping count?” just a sport, it’s a way of life.” our family not as elite, but rather as is a frequent rejoinder by knowl- That ethos of snowy, sunshine- simply belonging to the global tribe edgeable skeptics, many of them pur- on-my-shoulders enlightenment is of skiers of the uncommon variety. ists suspicious of tainted motives. no doubt an important aspect of Achieving that badge of belonging That question is poignant for the seven-continent ski quest for is an additional, important source of mere mortals like us, whose efforts all who attempt it. Nevertheless, it validation for all who treasure be- take place far below the heights seems an over-simplification to sug- ing even a small part of the unique achieved by the Stoups, Miuras, gest that the expenditure of energies band of international skiers and DesLaurierses and Karničars of the necessary to accomplish so eccentric boarders perpetually moving through world. Their professional achieve- a goal can be explained away as Schnieb’s special way of life together. ments represent the pushing of hu- merely the by-product of a life-long All of those revelations got me manity’s envelopes. We, on the other passion (whether based in spiritual- closer to the center. Still, somehow, it hand, need to search significantly ity, hedonism or both) for a life on did not yet feel like the whole story. deeper to discover the motivations snow. There had to be more to it It took the words of one more master for our more humble undertakings, a than simply amassing a collection of ski mountaineer to drive home the pursuit to which I found myself irre- skiing experiences to tick-off on an final, perhaps most important, point. sistibly drawn upon our return. imaginary “way-of-life” checklist. In his Forward to Kit DesLau- To complete the journey success- And so, I turned once again to riers’ book Higher Love, renowned fully, I determined I had to at least Warren Miller for clues as to just alpinist Conrad Anker reflected on try to answer that question. Why what that more might be. In one of the fact that in a world growing per- the craving for the seven continents, his film narrations, the ancient mari- petually smaller through technology, rather than simply focusing on the ner of global ski travel observed that the question of what still qualifies pure joy of the skiing experience? the search for extraordinary experi- as “uncommon experience” is to- British mountaineering legend ence also lies at the heart of skiing’s day a far more complicated inquiry George Mallory’s famous quip “be- draw. “Adventure,” as he put it, “is than it was in Warren Miller’s time. cause it’s there,” theorizing on what the invitation for common people Addressing the reality of modern www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 13 existence within the global GPS is rising at an alarming rate, and that None of us, as Jimmy Petterson bubble, Anker posed the question of remains troubling no matter how suggests, should ever stop dreaming whether, “in our overcrowded and meticulously we try otherwise to about our next ski adventures. But overtaxed world, with pretty much limit our fossil-fuel consumption. in doing so, we must also commit every geographical feature mapped, Still, there must be those who will ourselves to the responsibility of named and assessed for value,” does bear personal witness, and in order working harder, longer and more it still remain even possible to find to do so effectively, visit those places effectively to ensure that our great the elements of exploration and ad- where conservation efforts are most grandchildren—and all the spiritual venture necessary for a genuinely urgently needed and speak out con- descendants of our proud tribe of transcendent ski experience? cerning how best to protect them for global skiers and boarders—will have He concluded that the answer future generations. That is precisely the same opportunities to experience to that conundrum, of locating and what many international skiers are the joy and wonders that we were fulfilling the kind of uncommon now doing, through their participa- granted, long into the future. In the dreams that signify truly meaning- tion and leadership in groups rang- end, that and that alone will be the ful triumphs, is as elementary as it ing from the Sierra Club and the real measure of whether or not we is long-standing. “We simply need,” Outdoor Business Climate Partner- have truly “done it right.” he explained, “to locate the blank ship to the Explorers Club and Pro- spots on our own maps, and explore tect Our Winters (POW). them,” too. It is my hope that by having wit- Charlie Sanders is a board member of the Anker’s epiphany was that the nessed first-hand the rivers of melt- International Skiing History Association search for personal meaning has water now coursing through New and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of always been an essential element Zealand’s South Island glaciers, the Fame, and serves on the advisory board of underlying these quixotic journeys, rapidly melting ice of the Alps, the Protect Our Winters. He also is a member even the ones undertaken with pre- polar regions, and even the Himala- of the 10th Mountain Division Descendants cision by world-class athletes and yas, and the frequent droughts and Association, an elected member of the Ex- explorers. As Kit DesLauriers herself freeze-thaw cycles plaguing so many plorers Club, author of the award-winning defined it, perhaps the most impor- regions with formerly stable and book “Boys of Winter: Life and Death in tant lesson of her accomplishments reliable snowpacks, I am now more the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second was the realization that her skills credibly positioned to work toward World War,” and a contributor to “Passion and love of ski mountaineering had protecting the disappearing winter for Skiing,” the history of Dartmouth Col- not been the sole keys to her suc- world. Reducing the ecological hor- lege snow sports. cess. Only when they were joined rors that human-induced climate together with her will to give some- change is already producing will not This article is dedicated to the late John thing important back to the world be easy, but we must take action im- Fry, who spent the better part of 90 years had she been motivated to achieve mediately—especially in the areas of skiing the world, and enriching our lives the ultimate goal of higher love, the education and legislation. and our dreams by writing about it. kind that contributes to the well- being of others. In taking the lead of these leg- ends, and attending to the blank spot on my own map, I realized after long reflection the simple as- pect that I had sorely overlooked: gratitude. Not in experiencing the thankfulness that was always present over fulfillment of our skiing mile- stones as they progressed, but rather in committing to better and more consistent ways of expressing that appreciation—in the words of the Tibetan Lama—for the good of ourselves and others. Yes, it is true that there is great irony in the fact that the carbon footprint of global travel is more substantial than we would prefer.

Though commercial aviation cur- ICE AXE EXPEDITIONS rently accounts for a small 2.4 per- Jackson, Charlie and Nina Ossoff Sanders in Foyn Harbor, Antarctica, the ultimate cent of global emissions, the number destination in their successful Seven Continents ski quest.

14 | Winter 2020 SKIING HISTORY 2020 CORPORATE SPONSORS ISHA deeply appreciates your generous support!

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD ($700) ($3,000 AND UP) Race Place | BEAST Tuning Tools Gorsuch The Ski Company (Rochester, NY) Intuition Sports, Inc. Thule Obermeyer SILVER ($500) Polartec Alta Ski Area Warren and Laurie Miller Dalbello Sports Snowsports Merchandising Corporation Deer Valley WORLD CUP ($1,000) Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners Active Interest Media | SKI & Skiing Hertel Aspen Skiing Company Holiday Valley BEWI Productions Hotronic USA, Inc. | Wintersteiger Bogner MasterFit Enterprises Boyne Resorts Metropolitan New York Ski Council Country Ski & Sport Mt. Bachelor Dale of Norway NILS, Inc. Darn Tough Portland Woolen Mills Descente North America Russell Mace Vacation Homes Dynastar | Lange | Look Schoeller Textile USA Fairbank Group: Bromley, Cranmore, Jiminy Peak Scott Sports Fera International Seirus Innovations Gordini USA Inc. | Kombi LTD SeniorsSkiing.com HEAD Wintersports Ski Utah Hickory & Tweed Ski Shop Snow Time, Inc. Mammoth Mountain Tecnica Group USA Marker-Völkl USA Timberline Lodge & Ski Area National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Retailer Vuarnet POWDR Adventure Lifestyle Corp. Western Reps Association Rossignol Ski Area Management Sports Specialists, LTD Sun Valley Resort Vintage Ski World World Cup Supply, Inc.

For information, contact: Peter Kirkpatrick | 541.944.3095 | [email protected] www.skiinghistory.org Winter 2020 | 15 Join ISHA for 63% off SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER

Join the International Skiing History Association for only $18 and receive six issues of Skiing History, our bimonthly magazine for members only, mailed to your home. Plus access to our online archive, where we post every new issue upon publication and every back issue starting in 2009.

In every issue of Skiing History, you can learn about the history of ski resorts, equipment, technique and the sport’s pioneers, innovators and champions around the world. Plus fascinating vintage photos, colorful illustrations, and cartoons.

After the first year, you’ll auto-renew at our regular $49 price. To join, go to https://www.skiing history.org/membership/special-intro-offer and checkout with the promo code FREED18-19.

To learn more about ISHA and Skiing History, go to skiinghistory.org.

IMAGE COURTESY HANS TRUÖL ARCHIVES / ANTIQUESKISHOP.COM