Jun

‘Riding the World’ – 5 Mountains, 5 Continents, all in 5 Days?

Neil Skilton Category

Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, snowboardingholidays, Top 10s Tags

chamonix, Chile, off piste, piste, ski resort, ski resorts, Skiing, Snowboarding

Ok, I enjoy a challenge, but this time I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. What started off as an incoherent, passing thought is slowly rising up from the depths of my subconscious and beginning to take over any normal, rational thinking I may have once possessed.

Image: Flickr/ggvic

Snowboarding on five different mountains, on five different continents. In five days?! It certainly has a nice ring to it, and as far as challenging adventures go, it’s pretty high up there. It sounds like a nice idea – get to travel to some interesting locations, visit new mountains and ski new resorts. Ski in South Africa! Who can honestly say they’ve done (or even thought about doing) that? Definitely a story to tell the grandkids, and probably the first story you told to their grandmother!

Preliminary research however illuminated some stark facts and revealed more than a few logistical nightmares. What time of year to go? What countries to visit? What order to visit them in? The distance between continents is staggering in places, and flight times are disconcerting.

A quick search gave these horrifying results – Geneva (Chamonix) to Durban (Tiffindell) – 16hrs; Durban to Chile (Arpa) – 24hrs; Chile to Melbourne (Falls Creek) – 20hrs; Melbourne to Tokyo (Fuji) – 12hrs. That’s 72hrs out of a total of 120hrs available just on airplanes. Not to mention the numerous transfers, the hours at the airport checking in, collecting bags, plus a 4½ hr drive from Melbourne to Falls Creek or the fact that Tiffendell, South Africa’s only ski resort is in the midst of a long legal battle and might not be open. Oh, and sleep.

Strangely, this has done nothing to put me off the idea, quite the opposite in fact. The seed has been planted, and now I find myself spending hours wondering about the average snowfall of Argentina in June, or how accessible are the ski resorts in India, and would I sacrifice riding Japan’s legendary powder for a few hours saved from in-flight entertainment systems. Maybe give me 5 weeks instead.

About the author

Neil Skilton wrote 7 articles on this blog.

"Snowboarding is just the tip of the iceberg of my passion for adventure sports and travel. Beneath also lies a love of rock climbing, surfing and mountain biking. Cooking, eating, reading and writing take up the rest of my time!"

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Luke June 13, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Now you have mentioned it you have me thinking about it too….

I would have thought a major problem would be the fact the seasons are opposite it the Northern and Southern Hemispheres so when you can board in Europe the South American slopes will be basking in summer. Perhaps you can choose some all year round resorts but then you won’t be able to ride the whole mountain and probably will be limited to a bit of slush…..

Perhaps the way to do it is stick to the Northern Hemisphere and all places close-ish to Europe to cut down flying times.

How about starting in the Arctic (not technically a continent but we need to cut some corners here) perhaps Greenland or Svalbald so its exotic….. Then you could do an East Coast North American resort, a resort in central europe Europe, plus Board in Asia by skiing Mount Ararat in Turkey and finally board in Africa in Oukaimeden which is in the Atlas mountains in Morocco….

4 continents plus the Arctic – is that good enough?
Neil Skilton June 15, 2011 at 11:58 am
Hi Luke, glad to see someone take an interest in the idea, even if it is, at the moment, highly theoretical!

I think if it were to include both hemispheres, June would be the month to do it; most resorts south of the equator are just opening with their first snowfalls (or praying for cold enough temps to get their snow machines blowing) and many west coast North American ones still have a degree of snow left. But, as you said, the riding would be questionable and some hiking would certainly be involved. I’m all for hiking normally, and have had great days in late spring / early summer, but for this kind of mission maybe not!

Some good suggestions there too, Oukaimeden looks like quite a playful little resort and Mount Ararat looks incredible. I thinks it’s a case of weighing up the practicalities against the ideal (a private jet and personal helicopter would, for example, be ideal) then take it from there.

Thanks for the input, 4 continents plus the Arctic would still be one great trip.
Andy C June 15, 2011 at 2:05 pm
This post just popped upon my twitter feed for my Snowboarding mag and I had to make it my lead article!

I’ve just announced my intention to do a so pilar trip, except I’ve given myself 7 weeks to do seven continents.

June seems to be the best time to start, but my problem is the Antartic leg. I have been reading a blog about a guy who’s down there and snowboarding, but the logistics are pretty formidable. Have you considered Scandinavia or Indian Kashmir? There are a surprising number of glaciers still available for the intrepid adventurer, if you’re stuck for snow.

Anyway, I wish you luck and maybe we’ll see each other criss- crossing the globe at some stage.