DEEP: The Story of Skiing and the Future of Snow

by Porter Fox

"DEEP is a book about skiers, written and produced by lifelong skiers, with a message that reaches far beyond the slopes we draw inspiration from. It covers a sport that has inspired millions and the mountains and snowfall that make it possible. It is not a tale of the end. It is a beginning - a reminder of how dynamic and fulfilling the skiing life is. And a wake-up call regarding what needs to be done to save it.  The narrative follows the unlikely rise of skiing from prehistoric Norwegian hunters to nobility in the Alps in the 1800s to present-day freeriders on the vaunted slopes of the Rocky Mountains. On his global tour of the most celebrated peaks in the Northern Hemisphere, from Washington’s Cascade Range to Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, Fox talks to alpinists about the allure and mysticism of the sport and to scientists about climate change and its effect on snow—ultimately finding a story that is far larger than the impending demise of skiing.For the seven million skiers in America who dedicate their winters to tracking storms and waking up at dawn to catch the first chairlift, the lifestyle change will be radical. It will likely be far worse for the rest of the world. Fox uses primary evidence and interviews, mixed with groundbreaking scientific studies, to explain exactly how and when the Great Melt will play out, the vital importance snow and ice have to Earth's climate system and the tremendous groundswell that is rising up to fight climate change. DEEP goes on to map a way to mitigate global warming, reduce human impact on our planet and repair the water cycle. As it turns out, the efforts to save snow and ice might end up saving the world."

Genres: Adventure, Nonfiction, Sports

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Porter Fox was born in New York and raised on the coast of Maine. His book Northland, about travels along the U.S.-Canada border, will be published by W.W. Norton in July, 2018. He lives, writes, teaches and edits the award-winning literary travel writing journal Nowhere in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated with an MFA in fiction from The New School in 2004 and teaches at Columbia University School of the Arts. His fiction, essays and nonfiction have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Powder, TheNewYorker.com, TheParisReview.com, Salon.com, Narrative, The Literary Review, Northwest Review, Third Coast and Conjunctions, among others. In 2013 he published DEEP: The Story of Skiing and the Future of Snow. The book was featured on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Review and in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Fox has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing, nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and was a finalist for the 2009 Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize. He was a 2016 MacDowell Colony fellow and a recipient of MacDowell’s Calderwood Foundation Art of Nonfiction Grant. He won a Western Press Association Maggie in 2014 for a two-part feature about climate change. He has written and edited scripts for Roger Corman and several documentary filmmakers. He recently completed his first collection of short stories and an anthology of short fiction with poet Larry Fagin. He is a member of the Miss Rockaway Armada and Swimming Cities art collectives in New York and collaborated on installations on the Mississippi and Hudson rivers, Venice Biennale (2009), Mass MoCA (2008) and New York City’s Anonymous Gallery (2009).

Reviews

[Josh Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This book was really just all over the place and not what I was hoping for. I wish there was more on the history of skiing and commentary on the sport itself. The history section seemed like it was only a couple of pages. The second section was the author’s travel logs around ski resorts (extremely boring) and climate change research (extremely dense). The research he related seemed so repetitive to the point it all sounded the same. I hesitate to recommend.

[Sam T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book Deep by Porter Fox. It is not a hard book to read, but it is around 300 pages. It takes mostly about skiing in the Alps. There are two parts to the book. The first park is the story of skiing. Part two is the future of snow and what winter will turn into around the world. I've never liked nonfiction books, but I liked this one because I am a skier. The book talks abut crazy events that have happened all around the world of skiing. It talks about the best ski resorts all around the world. One chapter talked about Jackson Hole, WY where I have been in 7th and 8th grade. It was cool to relate to a book and know where the author was talking about. He talked about some of the runs at Jackson that I have been on. I liked this book mostly because I love to ski and I take trips out west. I hope someday to go to the Alps and ski them. I have learned a lot about the Alps from this book because it is a nonfiction. In the middle of the book between part one and part two, are pictures of ski resorts all around the world. If you like to ski or would like to learn more about skiing, then this will be a good read for you.

[Matt Drews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book but it was boring, didn't do much to advance awareness and knowledge about climate change, and tried to be too many things at once. The section about the avalanche in the Cascades was the most interesting part of the book but did not seem to fit into the overall theme. His section on climate change felt more like a weird travel log but didn't drum up any interest about the places he was visiting and also didn't make me feel engaged with the climate change motif. It's a shame because books about skiing are few and far between.

[Sortal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads like two authors wrote two different books, then spliced the chapters together. I enjoyed the stories of skiing, but ended up skimming through the evidence for global warming. (It's dull being persuaded of something you already believe in.) This book didn't give me any new ideas about what I, as a skier, can do to help solve the problem of global warming. I love the concept of a book dealing with environmentally responsible skiing, but this one didn't pull it off in a coherent way.

[Andriana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had big expectations for this book. It is indeed all over the place as some say. At once it’s a memoir, then some other story, then about climate change, then some history, then again climate change, then again some other story and it goes on like that…I impatiently rushed to read it hoping it will get better. I can say I only enjoyed the last parts about Switzerland.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent observations about how the reality of global warming is painfully evident to those that have spent their lives in the mountainous areas of Earth intertwined with the sport of downhill skiing.

[Ben Tuthill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different read. The majority of the book focuses on one story of friends in an avalanche with a few intersecting stories of skiing various mountains. The other half is a climate change book. Overall just meh.

[Phill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at climate change and primarily its impact on skiing, the economy and life on earth.

[Jim Sestito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book introduced me to climate change. A love for skiing and winters had me hooked. I don't ski anymore. But I am still hooked. Ditch your car.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

read for school. a little painful to read. there was just a lot of information to absorb which was difficult

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting

Hard to grapple with how fast we are wiping out of worlds mountain ecosystems, not to mention the ski industry

[Carson Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book describes a sport that has changed the life of millions of people. It also covers the mountains and snowfall that make it possible. This book is a realization regarding what needs to be done to preserve it for years to come. For the millions of skiers in America who dedicate the majority of their winters to tracking the weather and waking up at dawn to catch the first chairlift. The book describes the rise of skiing from hunters to royalty in england to the present-day ski bums on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The author talks about how climate change may affect skiing around the world.
Although there is a focus on skiing as a sport there is a large presence of climate change. Fox believes we humans cause it, however he also informs us on how we can reverse our impact. He understands that nothing can change overnight but he would like to see steps taken to preserve this part of history. For the sake of our class Ethnography this book would have been more useful if it focused more on skiing which was the main topic more than it focused on the climate it would have been more useful for the project. If I was to recommend this book to someone I would recommend it to someone who is interested in skiing but the also have a love for saving the environment. Also to read this book and enjoy it the reader would enjoy to read informative books. I would not suggest this book to be made into a movie, I prefer action movies, so this book as a movie would bore me. Overall this was not my favorite book I have ever read, on the other hand it was the most boring book I have read.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about skiing, but also the future of skiing if we continue on the climate change track we're on. It's pretty grim. There is compelling evidence from some of the brightest researchers looking into this that we're on pace to see a 4-6 degree celsius rise in temperature in the coming century which would mean much of the snow we have on the mountains that make up our ski resorts both in the US and Europe will just not be there.

But he globetrots and skis in some awesome places. I used the inside of the cover to keep a list of the ski places I need to ski before the snow all melts:
Japanese Alps in Hokkaido
Cascades/Steven's Pass/Leavenworth
Jackson, Wyoming
Mount Hood, Oregon
Mont Blanc/Le Grands Montets, Chamonix
Mègeve/La Grave, France
Innsbruck, Austria
Zermatt, Switzerland
Tennesee Ober Gatlinburg? (Weird, right?)
Snow World, Netherlands
Gemsstock, Andermatt, Switzerland

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book - something that should be read by skiers and environmentalists alike. I have been a fan of Porter Fox's writing since I was ten. The images from Powder magazine - trees laced with frosts and plumes of wispy powder - decorated my room late into my teens. So it was fun to read a longer work from a writer who filled my childhood with articles and travel dreams.

This book will make you want to ski. So if you don't live near a mountain be careful. It will also make you think about the way skiing has changed with global warming and what the future of the sport looks like. Fox paints it as fairly bleak - with lessening snow-pack, more intense but less frequent winter storms, and a surplus of dangerous avalanches to come. Skiing has always been a sport that demanded an individual feel connected with the environment. Fox does an excellent job of addressing environmental change while issuing a simple call to action: change the way we act, or lose snow forever.

[Kiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read that weaves the history of skiing together with climate change to try to see into the future of the ski industry, the future of snow, and what that means for the world. This is way more than your "climate change leads to less snow, which leads to less skiing" tale. This is about how a diminished snowpack affects the world, not just the skiers and riders who will be bummed when their favorite mountain closes due to a change in climate. Perspectives from all sorts of players are included here, from your average powder hound to your avid skier who's seen how glaciers have retreated in the Alps in the last 65+ years, to climatologists around the world and more.

[Brock Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideally I would have given this book a 3.5. This book contains anecdotes about skiing combined with an overview of how climate change may affect skiing over the coming years. Both aspects are interesting but not combined all that effectively.

The anecdotes were a nice hook for the dryer science based topics but I would have preferred that he just cut to the chase and used the same space to go more in depth with the climate science.

The sceptical views of climate change from people living in the European Alps were interesting from a North American perspective where we are used to a different brand of climate change sceptic.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teton County Call #551 Fox P
Adam's rating: 4 stars

Powder skiing is surreal. It also might not be that easy to come by in the not-so-distant future. Fox takes the reader to some of the most classic places to ski and talks about how those places are being affected by climate change. While the story line felt a little disorganized and the solutions for augmenting climate change were a little fuzzy, this book encourages the reader to savor the turns they're getting now and take a look at their action's affects on the climate. A great read for anyone who appreciates snow.

[AdultNonFiction Teton County Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teton County Call #551 Fox P
Adam's rating: 4 stars

Powder skiing is incredible and it might be harder to come by in the not-so-distant future. Fox takes the reader to some of the most classic places to ski and talks about how those places are being affected by climate change. While the story line feels a little disorganized and the solutions for augmenting climate change are a little fuzzy, this book encourages the reader to savor the turns they're getting now and take a look at their personal effects on the climate. A great read for anyone who appreciates snow.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chock full of interesting information, stories and testimonials, research and quotes....As a mtn lover, I connected deeply to parts of the book and had my brain set on fire with some new (to me) research and ideas. I think Fox achieved a great balance of information and stories while painting captivating scenes of snow from around the world and over great periods of time. A book worthy of passing on to others and reading again in the future.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the way the author presented many facets of global warming without bias. This challenged me, as the reader, to look at the facts, which both confirmed and put a new perspective on my current beliefs. If you love snow sports, the mountains, and their current co-existence with the natural cycles of the Earth - go to every place you have ever dreamed, and go soon. The future may hold only a manipulated version of the beauty and recreation we know today.

[Susan Strayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved hearing the interview of Porter Fox on NPR which inspired me to buy this book. I loved the author's description of skiing powder. I've been there. I've felt that. It's pure joy. But like most nonfiction books my attention waned after about 30% through. Maybe I'll come back to it this winter when the snow is flying again.

[Sm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two story lines here. One is about the culture of skiing, and the addiction of "ski bums" to the thrill of powder. The other is about climate change. The ski culture section is decent the climate change section is repetitive and provided me with no new insights. I would rather have seen a book specialized in either of the two topics.

[Sudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book during a ski trip-it is a riveting story that skiers and non-skiers can enjoy. The author pulls you in with tales of skiers, but the book is a cautionary and alarming portrait of the domino effect of global warming. Highly recommend this.

[Karen Stubenvoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Goes into a lot of background about the Tunnel Creek avalanche at Stevens Pass ski area, then about issues related to global warming / climate change, and snow & glaciers in the American West and in Europe. Almost a bit too much of "what a great skier the author is".

[Carl Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things don't look good for our ski industry with global warming. Interesting to hear the history of the declining and changing winter environments throughout the world!!

[Peter Dubeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the type of book you should hand deliver to your government officials or whoever controls the policy of your future.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just tries to tackle too much. It's a memoir and a non-fiction book about climate change at once.

[Mitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting stories about skiing around the world, but too much repetitive discussion about climate change.

[Scott Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love skiing read this book.