Participants Wanted for Backcountry Ski Trip to Iraq in February 2024
Adventure-tour company Untamed Borders have announced that they are organising a group ski trip to Iraq in February 2024, where guests will head to Choman, near the Iranian border.
The trip will coinciding with the Choman Winter Festival and the Iraq Ski Rally and Untamed Bordrers’ ski programme in Iraq has also supported the country’s female athletes, from local refugee camps, to taking part in sports.
“Adventurous tourists are increasingly seeking wilder, more obscure and more remote locations to ski, including the likes of Afghanistan and Iraq. Untamed Borders have run ski trips to Afghanistan since 2011 and Iraq since 2017, but here has been a noticeable trend post-pandemic of more people seeking virgin ski routes,” a spokesperson said, the company had already announced a ski trip to Afghanistan next spring after returning there last winter.
The project was turned into a film called ‘Adventure Not War’, produced by The North Face.
“We have always had extremely positive feedback from these ski trips. 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,” said Untamed Borders’ Founder, James Willcox, who added,
“International visitors not only help financially, by spending money in the local economy, but they also share ideas and skiing knowledge. 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”.
