166: Skiing in Iraq & Afghanistan, plus Ice Swimming in Samoens

We discuss skiing in Iraq and Afghanistan with Ashley Hartz and James Willcox from Untamed Borders, as well as ice swimming in Samoens with Cathy Munro.   The Ski Podcast is sponsored by Les 3 Vallées - the largest ski area in the world Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. SHOW NOTES James was last on the podcast in March 2021 when we discussed skiing in Afghanistan Ashley is based in Snoqualmie in Washington State, USA Patrick Thorne is the author of ’Around the World in 50 Pistes’ and was on the podcast in Episode 162 (3:45) Alex Irwin from 150 Days of Winter reported from Courchevel, France (5:30) Dave Burrows from SnowPros Ski School reported from Courmayeur and Pila in the Aosta Valley, Italy (6:30) Keith Webb reported from Badhofgastein in Austria (10:00) Gethin James reported from Cairngorm Mountain in Scotland (11:44) Gethin joined us for Episode 162 to tell us about skiing in Solden  Find out about the new Rannoch chairlift at Glencoe Mountain  Ashley tells us about skiing in Iraq (13:15)  The Hamilton Road links Iraq and Iran (15:15) Korek ski resort in Iraq has 200m of groomed pistes (16:30) Find out about Free to Run (23:00) The 6th Choman Winter Festival took place in 2022 (24:30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiD8ckLY054 The Iraq Ski Rally was set up by Untamed Winters (26:30) Check the latest FCO advice on Iraq (29:45) Untamed Borders helped with the logistics for Michael Palin’s programme ‘Into Iraq’ recorded for Channel 5 (30:00) Try Battleface travel insurance for cover in destinations like Iraq (30:30) Listen to our special episode about skiing in Afghanistan (33:00) Read about the Afghan Sports Trust (35:00) The World Ice Swimming Championships are taking place in Samoens in January 2022 (40:00) You can follow Iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast on social media