Skiing-with snow – exploring proximate ethnographies

In this paper, we propose skiing-with as an ethnographic methodological exploration of being proximate with snowy landscapes and the crisis they face. Skiing is a traditional way of moving across and on snow. Skiing also sits at the heart of winter tourism and much is based on extensive fixed infrastructure, and driven by growth-oriented business models. However, the environment and business of skiing are threatened due to climate change and snow uncertainties. By building on the tradition of walking-with methods, we explore how skiing-with as a proximate ethnographic methodology helps us to re-think the current challenges around sustainability from an onto-epistemological point of view. Through skiing-with, we develop a new repertoire for knowing and (re)shaping ski-tourism priorities in the snowy landscapes. In so doing, we illustrate a feminist and posthuman ethnographic methodology for tourism research.