SKIING HISTORY Journal of the International Skiing History Association SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT SKIING THE SEVEN CONTINENTS 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 Switzerland 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 United States, 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 snowmaking: It will all wash away. This is already com- Sincerely, mon in New England. Meanwhile, the ski 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 mountain sports: ski moun- Winto the U.S. Ski and Snowboard 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 South America from Antarctica. We onto my skis 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-foot summit of Mount Everest. 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 continent—the fabled Seven Summits. 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 mountaineering ecologist responsible planks to conquer the polar regions, worldwide snow nomads of the for pioneering ski touring 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.