Skiing and Sailing the Arctic

JoshA

Senior Insider
This trip combines some of my favorite activities and, of course, they begin with the letter s.

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http://www.powder.com/stories/travel/skiing-sailing-arctic/#469+c939692266

At the core, outdoorspeople value similar things: escape, adventure, physical exertion, fear and overcoming it. However, beyond a shared love for what some would call hostile landscapes, ski mountaineering and sailing have very little in common. The Shifting Ice, Changing Tides expedition, a three-week long sailing and ski mountaineering trip that embarked one year ago from the coast of Iceland to Greenland, capitalized on a few more similarities. Both endeavors have small carbon footprints, and both allow people to access terrain in ways it has never been accessed before.

One of the most intimidating lines, a 5,800-foot descent off Uiluit qáqâ in the Tasermiut Fjord, came with big consequences and huge rewards. They embarked on a big climb late in the day—getting to shore from the sailboat was a time-consuming process—but they committed and made the climb. The reward? A 1,000-foot no-fall zone of mixed powder and corn, followed by a 4,000-foot apron of GS turns in the same great snow.
 
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