There has been a boom in people taking up backcountry skiing, according to adventure travel company Untamed Borders, with tourists increasingly seeking wilder, more obscure and more remote locations to ski, including the likes of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Untamed Borders has run ski trips to Afghanistan since 2011 and Iraq since 2017, but there has been a noticeable trend post-pandemic of more people seeking virgin ski routes.
Sales of backcountry skis increased by 81% in 2020, according to Snowsports Industries America, and the sector has continued to be buoyant since – with backcountry snowboard sales also spiking by 146%.
As countries opened up after lockdown, that new wave of interest in the sport translated into people seeking new destinations to ski in and increasingly travelling to unconventional ski locations.
Unique ski culture and experiences
Untamed Borders hosted a ski trip to Afghanistan earlier this year, the first one since the Taliban retook control of the country, and is leading international ski tourists on a group trip to northern Iraq in February 2024. Private guests have also been with the company on ski excursions to Tajikistan, Iran, western China, Pakistan and Lebanon.
“We have always had extremely positive feedback from these ski trips,” said James Willcox, founder of Untamed Borders. “The combination of skiing routes and runs, which have rarely or never been skied before, along with the chance to experience the culture and life in these fascinating rural areas in winter, is a really heady mix. People come on these skiing trips knowing they’re experiencing a skiing culture and experience, which few people get to see.”
Willcox believes ski tourism trips can have a positive influence on local communities. “International visitors not only help financially, by spending money in the local economy, but they also share ideas and skiing knowledge,” he said. “Visitors have played an active role on our trips in the past by offering ski training advice for locals, helping to improve skiing infrastructure and donating equipment and money. This kind of cultural exchange is a vital tool to help further the skiing culture in the likes of Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Ski trips in 2024
In February 2024 Untamed Borders is returning to Afghanistan for a group ski trip, where guests will have the chance to explore fresh routes in the country’s Bamyan Province, while also taking part in the annual Afghan Peaks Ski Race.
The company is also organising a group ski trip to Iraq in February 2024, where guests will head to Choman, near the Iranian border – with the trip coinciding with the Choman Winter Festival and the Iraq Ski Rally. Untamed Bordrers’s ski programme in Iraq has also supported female athletes, from local refugee camps, to take part in sports.
Main image: Skiing in Afghanistan (Neil Silverton/Untamed Borders)