Well, for much of my life I have wanted to explore and ski Pakistan, home to the largest mountains in the world. In a few short days, I'll be on my way. My Balti language skills are rougher than my cat's tongue, but I'm sure I'll improve as the expedition goes along.

As much as I'm stoked for two more notches on my belt of first ski descents, much of my brain is focusing on what type of extreme weather we will find along the way, as I have found all over the world in the last few years. Will the Karakorum mountains fall into the typical Himalayan plateau pattern of rapid glacial recession due to elevated freezing levels? Will many of the icefalls that Fanny Bullock Workman documented and climbed on her expeditions 100 years ago be gone? Or will we find glacial surging due to increased precipitation from climate change at uber high altitudes? And what of the local people's needs - are they finding glacial melt drinking and irrigation water supplies dwindling,or are their crops and homes being bombarded and destroyed by massive floods? How is the weather affecting political issues such as the strength of the extremist groups such as the Taliban?

It blows my mind that we have found no research documented on these issues, and it's very exciting that we are heading in to uncharted territory on this expedition, both for extreme weather and extreme skiing discovery.