By Jamie Miyazaki

Posted Monday, June 27, 2005; 20:00 HKT
Flanked by the freezing waters of the Bering and Okhotsk seas, the Kamchatka peninsula is a land of brimstone and ice—not exactly Russia's easternmost point, but eastern enough to warrant the adjective "far." Since the collapse of the U.S.S.R., it has ceased to be a restricted military zone, but it's still uncharted territory as far as tourism goes, and a virtual unknown when it comes to winter sports. You're more likely to run into brown bears than other skiers. And that's only one of the reasons this rugged land—the size of France but with a population of just half a million—is home to the most dramatic ski runs that Asia has to offer. The other is the landscape: the peninsula is pockmarked with 100-plus extinct and 29 active volcanoes that rise to heights of up to 4,850 m and are draped in pristine powder. You can look forward to having the pick of these near-perfect off-piste runs to yourself. There are no facilities, of course—helicopters are the only means of getting to the tops of these slopes. But for once in your life, you can forget about queuing for ski lifts.

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