Porter Fox

"I have found that going to a foreign country with the intent of climbing and skiing a peak creates an entirely different type of travel experience. We have a purpose there: Take a group of excellent skiers and mountaineers, and piece together a Powder Magazine feature. It is truly a dream job."

He also has a personal goal in trying to summit and ski Toqllaraju. Porter took a 30-foot dive off a cliff at Kirkwood Ski Resort in California last December into an exposed scree field and fractured his pelvis in four places. At the time, he was not sure how the injury would heal or whether he would be able to ski at the level he had before the accident. "I was extremely lucky to get away that easy and not break my back," he says.

Now, seven months later, he says he feels very lucky. "I have been graced with excellent doctors, therapists and family and friends — and got in 20 days of skiing this winter despite the injury. This trip will be a test of whether or not my body can hold up to a full-blown expedition."

Part of a top-notch crew of skiers and mountaineers, Porter is extremely excited to work with everyone on the Cordillera Blanca Ski Expedition team. He and Wade McKoy spent five weeks ski mountaineering in the Indian Himalayas last winter (1999). "If this trip is as good as that one, we are going to have a really great story," he says. "Also, three of us will be from Jackson Hole, and the brotherhood always stirs a bit of karma."

A writer hailing from Southwest Harbor, Maine, he spent five years living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during which he also co-founded and acted as publishing editor of The Pass, a backcountry skiing and snowboarding journal. During his tenure in Jackson, he acted as Sports Editor and Education Reporter of the Jackson Hole News, and later as the Assistant Editor of the Jackson Hole Daily. Fox graduated from Middlebury College in 1994. He has ski mountaineered in Alaska, Europe, India, Mexico, Canada, and throughout much of the West.

He has also written for Men's Journal, Sports Afield, Snowboard Life, Couloir and Paddler on a wide range of outdoor activities, issues and adventure travel. He currently lives in San Clemente, California, with his dog, Jackman.

Porter is skiing on Atomic Beta Ride 10.EX fat skis with Dynafit randonnee bindings and Dynafit All Terrain randonnee boots. He also has Life-Link carbon fiber probe poles, an Arc'Teryx pack, Mountain Hardwear clothes, Smith goggles, a CamelBak and a tiny Life-Link backcountry pack for summit day. His most important piece of equipment: a Sony Walkman with two hours worth of Metallica tapes.