The Daily - January 27,2022 - 21

LOUIS AREVALO
line, I was exhausted but happy.
I knew we had captured something
incredible on film and I
knew I would be back, hopefully
with family in tow. In the weeks'
previous skin tracks and during
the national ski competition we'd
filmed, we had learned from our
new friends about their dreams
of skiing, what a lift could do for
the local community-some locals
didn't believe such a thing could
ever exist-and where to put the
first one. They had shared with us
thoughts of mountains near and
far, which lines we would like to
ski or explore together, and how to
involve more women-a challenge
in some of the valleys.
The men we were with had
visited and skied in Europe and
had been guests of the International
Olympic Committee at the
2018 Winter Olympics in Korea,
and they kept coming back to
Afghanistan to build skiing and
adventure travel in their beautiful
home country. They had vision and
a hope for what could be.
IN THE DAYS FOLLOWING JANUARY
6, 2021, my Afghan friends
reached out to see if my family and
I were OK. Did we need anything?
Could they help in some way? They
said we were always welcome in
Afghanistan.
Last August, the outreach was
very different. The first part of
the email asked about my family.
Was my daughter having a nice
summer? When would the film be
released? And then they asked, if I
had time, could I please help them
evacuate from Afghanistan? The
Taliban was sweeping back into
power, and they were at great risk.
They had a plan to quietly depart
the country, and had lined up opportunities
to work in the regional
ski industry. Unfortunately, the fall
of the country was far swifter than
any had predicted and now they
were stuck.
Our expedition team, along with
our friends and families, jumped
into the fray, spending hours on
our phones and keyboards with
an ad-hoc global network of other
athletes, filmmakers, journalists,
veterans, civil servants, and
nonprofit workers to support the
evacuation of ultimately thousands
of Afghans. We focused on
the athletes that we knew and
their families, while sharing what
resources we had with others who
reached out or got connected into
our node of operations.
By no means was I in the driver's
seat of any of this. I did my best
to juggle work and family responsibilities
while supporting the
incredible leadership and work of
the network, specifically people
like Shannon Galpin and Katie
Stjernholm, along with a dedicated
group of State Department
workers and on-the-ground service
men and women. I don't know if
anyone in this group slept during
the days of fundraising, activism,
and action required to seemingly
will people through the violent
streets of Kabul, the ghastly system
of gates and waiting outside
the airport, and onto planes out of
the country.
Throughout August and into
early September, options began
to dwindle as the world's anger-
briefly awakened after the fitful
20-year slumber of a bungled
engagement in Afghanistan-
dwindled again even faster. The
same companies who had profited
from time in Afghanistan,
including many in our beloved
industry who sold mountains of
soft and hard goods to the Afghan
military and police during
the 20 years of war, were almost
entirely absent during the bulk of
the evacuation efforts.
THE CHALLENGE, NO MATTER HOW BLEAK,
HOW DARK THE DAY OR DRY THE MOUNTAIN
TOPS, IS THAT WE CANNOT GIVE UP.
OUR FILM, WHICH WE HAD HOPED
to release by now but was delayed
by the pandemic and the fall of
the nation where it was shot, is in
limbo. We believe we have a path
forward but we want to do something
positive, not create more of
a headache or pain for those who
are still in Afghanistan. I desperately
want the world to see what we
witnessed during our brief time in
the country-during what, for now,
feels like a lost period of hope.
The challenge, no matter how
bleak, how dark the day or dry the
mountaintops, is that we cannot
give up. We cannot give up on Afghanistan,
and more specifically on
the Afghan people. The war and its
consequences are just as much ours
as are America's public lands.
Just like we're not giving up on
climate, I'd ask that even if you've
never considered engaging in
Afghanistan, you take a minute
to do so now. You can donate
directly to Shannon Galpin's work
(shannongalpin.com) as she aims
to support the resettlement of
hundreds of Afghan athletes, or
you can support Afghan Peaks
(afghanpeaks.org), a U.S.-based
organization that plans to continue
running the Afghan Ski Challenge,
the race we went over there
to cover. This year, and likely in
future years, it will be a fundraiser
to support programs aimed at
curbing hunger.
If you're part of an organization
that runs ski mountaineering or
local races for skiing or mountain
biking and want to support, we'd
invite you to create an Afghan Ski
Challenge wherever you are to
provide additional support to
Afghan Peaks.
OUTDOOR RETAILER SNOW SHOW 2022 /
21
http://www.shannongalpin.com http://www.afghanpeaks.org
The Daily - January 27,2022

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