On the Cover: The Sahara Desert stretches from Egypt and Sudan in the east to Mauritania and Morocco in the west. It is the world’s largest hot desert. Rain is rare and snow, almost nonexistent—a climate reality shaped partly by periods of glacier formation throughout history. Wind, however, is constant, stripping and depositing enough grains of sandstone from the Sahara’s rocky plateaus to form ergs, or sand seas, like those along Morocco’s eastern border. It’s not quite the slick surface that snow provides to slide on, but with a little special wax and a lot of enthusiasm, sand dunes can be skied. Chris Niggel couldn’t pass on the chance to make a few tele turns on the shifting red slopes of the Moroccan Sahara. Tamara Susa

THE HIDDEN ISSUE

Taken at Scale p. 64
Kazakhstan, despite being the ninth-largest country in the world, tends to fly under the radar. As do the towering, snow-covered peaks of the Altai and Tien Shan mountains that trace its eastern border. It’s a place where semi-nomadic people still roam freely, Soviet-era trains continue to chug, and daily life blends the traditional with the modern. Within this vast landscape, a small group of local backcountry skiers is quietly developing new zones.

Backtracks: The Last Ice Age p. 74
For millennia, glaciers were the gods of the Earth. Rivers of ice tore mountains apart and carved the undulating contour lines of most modern snowscapes. But for the last 38 years, worldwide, glaciers have quietly slunk down mountains and run into rising oceans. Their slow demise may have an impact equal to the height of glaciation, not only to skiers and ski lines around the globe, but to communities who rely on glacial resources.

DEPARTMENTS

Perspective
Improvisation makes for the best photos.

Editor’s Note
Liam McGee escapes the smog.

Letters

Off Grid

Spectacle

Straight Lines
Chaney Szeto lives the ski dream from a surf town, and Catherine Doucette goes touring in the rain.

Blown In: Head Trauma
While organized sports teams like ski racing have dedicated concussion recovery protocols, professional big-mountain skiers are typically left to fend for themselves.

Blown In: AlpenFlow
Out of a California garage, a new company is quietly prototyping an AT binding that is equally adept at walking, skiing and transitioning. Meet AlpenFlow.

Wisdom: Julianna Howatt
A Canadian ski guide reflects on how a long career in the mountains drove her to embrace her full self.

Mountain Skills: International Inquiries
When backcountry skiing abroad, trip planning consists of more than just checking avalanche.org.

On Location: Ulleungdo Island
Most people who go skiing on an island in the western Pacific Ocean are headed to Japan’s Hokkaido. But, with a little research and a lot of travel, things aligned for Brennan Lagasse and Ryan Salm to visit a small, mountainous island off the coast of South Korea.

HOL Stories: In the Deep
Ski manufacturer DPS finds meaning in building skis for special forces.

Faces: Bryce Barnes
Bryce Barnes’ first taste of sliding on snow as a kid was on a department-store snowboard in Maine. Since then, he’s followed his passion to splitboarding big lines in Alaska and pursuing a career in guiding.

Gearbox: Skins, Sharps, Sunglasses and Travel Gear
Move uphill, protect your eyes and plan your trip to the next great ski destination with these essentials.

Biff America
How to find your mate’s sweet spot.

Tailgate: Birch Whipped

For over three decades, Backcountry Magazine has been dedicated to the pursuit of fresh lines and the people who live for them.