Russia 2023: Ski Kamchatka

While Japan was once the frontier of backcountry skiing, because of social media, movies and magazines it’s now been “discovered” and is getting quite busy. Kamchatka on the other hand is still amazingly wild, remote and undiscovered. If you’re interested in an amazing and unique ski vacation then Ski Kamchatka is for you!

The Ski Kamchatka trip starts with a flight into Moscow where we’ll spend an evening exploring the local food, spirits and sights. The next day we’ll board another plane for a flight to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Perched on the ocean and surrounded by amazing volcanoes this remote corner of Russia is slowly becoming a ski destination. And rightly so, think Hakkuba’s terrain combined Hokkaido’s snow! Even better, there’s basically no one around.

Once we arrive at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport in Kamchatka we’ll head over to our hotel in Petropavlosk and be able to relax for the evening. The next morning we catch an early ride on a snowcat to a remote hut (some trailers) perched on a pass between the towering summits of the very active Avachinsky and Koryaksky volcanos. From there we’ll have massive 2000+m lines right on our doorstep just begging to be skied with the ocean right at our feet. We spend the next two days exploring these amazing peaks and hopefully be able to tag a summit or two.

After we leave our alpine "hut" we catch the snowcat down to our 6 wheel drive truck for a ride a mountain hotel about 2.5 hrs to the south. Once established in this remote ski destination we'll spend our days exploring the Vilyuchinsky volcano and the surrounding mountains and our evenings soaking in some natural hot springs. We'll also catch a snowmobile ride over to the Mutnovsky volcano on one of the nicer days.

Alas the trip must come to a close so after we've had our fun in Snow Valley we’ll catch our 6 wheel drive "taxi" back to the Kamchatka airport and fly back to Moscow where we’ll wrap up the trip over a great dinner and some vodka.