Few people take a ski trip to Africa.
But that's what Baton Rouge's Michael Mathews did in February — one stop in a quest to ski seven continents in under 300 days while filming a series of documentaries about the adventure.
He did not expect the skiing in Morocco to fall into the "resort" category — and he was correct. To ski down, Mathews first had to climb 13,000 feet into the Atlas Mountains with no lift or rope tow.
Michael Mathews, owner of The Backpacker, stands in a "ski store" in Morocco with his guide Mohamed Ait Noumar.
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His local guide was observing Ramadan, which meant no food or water from the break of dawn until the sun set. Together they climbed anyway, one step at a time.
Africa was Mathews' third continent of 2026.
Four to go.
Asia
Mathews started the year on skis in Asia, literally. On New Year's Day, with his family, he skied the Mt. Yōtei volcano in Japan.
Continent one, underway.
He has scheduled much of his travel around family milestones. His 18-year-old son graduated from high school in May and starts college in August.
Michael Mathews, an LSU alumnus and owner of The Backpacker, holds an LSU flag to launch his world record attempt of skiing seven continents in less than 300 days. He's pictured here in Mount Yōtei in Japan on Jan. 1, 2026.
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By February, Mathews had added continent two — a helicopter trip into the backcountry of British Columbia. Friends joined him for that leg.
Mathews' global ambition started with money he'd set aside to grow The Backpacker, the Baton Rouge store his father, Dale Mathews, opened in 1974 on Chimes Street, inspired by ski trips Dale used to organize for friends. The store moved to its current Baton Rouge location on Jefferson Highway in 1982. The business has since grown.
A Lafayette location opened in 2007, the same year its founder retired. They opened a third store in Mandeville in 2023.
At 43, Mathews decided to go all in on the reason his father started the business in the first place — adventure. Along the way, he'd try to break a world record and build content that might bring new attention to the store and the travel business.
The decision wasn't made lightly.
Michael Mathews with the food tour guide tour in the Old Medina of Marrakech, Morocco.
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"This is a risk. It's a financial risk and a risk of being away from the business," he said. "You don't know what's going to come from it. You just don't."
Before this year, Mathews' passport wasn't full of stamps. He'd been to roughly a dozen countries, but after months of research, he decided the world ski tour was what he wanted to do.
Africa
Mathews and videographer Cam Easler climbed and skied the Atlas Mountains in Africa.
What stayed with Mathews wasn't the climb or the skiing. It was meeting village guides who struggled to obtain even basic gear like jackets and skis. Most of what they have comes from tourists, donated or sold off as they pass through. The village where Mathews skied, Tacheddirt, didn't get its first road until 2009.
Tacheddirt, the highest village in North Africa, is home to fewer than 500 people who farm terraced mountainsides, growing apples and walnuts and raising sheep and goats.
The Backpacker's Michael Mathews stands at the far left in the village of Tacheddirt, Morocco. He's pictured here with two other villagers beside him, videographer/photographer Cam Easler and their ski guide Mohamed Ait Noumar, on the far right, holding the child.
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Their guide, Mohamed Ait Noumar, was born and raised in the village. He is Tacheddirt’s amghar — the community's chief or elder. He speaks English, French and Arabic but never learned to read or write. World records need official witnesses who sign documents. Since Ait Noumar can't read or write, Mathews had to film the village chief speaking the proper "certification words" in English.
The village has its own school and teacher for up to fifth grade. After that, children bus down a single-track dirt road to a town called Asni for school each week, boarding Monday and returning Saturday. Their mothers ride along to do the week's grocery shopping.
Ait Noumar said the village's next goal is a doctor.
Both of Ait Noumar's grandparents are more than 100 years old — not unusual, he told Mathews. The people of Tacheddirt live from the land and the rain in a way Mathews said he's still processing.
Michael Mathews pouring mint tea as part of a food tour breaking of Ramadan fast. The pouring of mint tea is a tradition to welcome others and break the fast. The tour took place in the Old Medina of Marrakech, Morocco.
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"It was a totally eye-opening experience to see another way of life," he said. "It made me realize how lucky we are to have education, food and technology so readily available."
Europe
In Austria, Mathews discovered another surprise: skiing cost far less than it does in the United States. Lift tickets ran about $60, compared to $250 to $300 for a walk-up ticket at many American resorts. Meals were roughly half the price, and nearly every business he encountered — from ski schools to guesthouses tucked into the mountains — was locally owned.
While skiing in St. Anton, Mathews hired a guide who kept mentioning one name: Hannes Schneider.
Michael Mathews approaching the Heidelberger Hut (Heidelberger Hütte), a ski-in mountain refuge and restaurant, situated at 2,264 meters in the Swiss canton of Graubünden — as part of his effort to ski all seven continents within 300 days.
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Born in a nearby Austrian village in 1890, Schneider is widely considered the father of modern ski instruction. His Arlberg teaching method — progressing from snowplow to parallel turns — is still used to teach beginners around the world.
After opposing Hitler, Schneider was arrested following Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria. He was later released through American intervention and eventually settled in New Hampshire, where he helped shape skiing in the U.S. by opening a ski school and training soldiers in the Army's 10th Mountain Division.
Mathews and Easler planned to eat one evening at Schneider's café, run by Schneider's grandson, Christoph. The line was too long, so they crossed the street instead.
An older American couple sat down beside them. They started chatting and introduced themselves — it was Christoph Schneider, Hannes Schneider’s grandson.
A statue of ski legend Hannes Schneider in Steuben, Austria
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Two nights later, Mathews had dinner in the Schneider family's apartment above their hotel — Hannes Schneider's former home. That evening, Christoph Schneider sat down for an on-camera interview about his grandfather's life and legacy.
Preparing to leave again
Easler, along with a documentary crew, has built an eight-part series around Mathews' journey. Episodes covering , the , and are all live on .
Easler says the pacing of the trip presents its own challenges.
"The 300 days really puts that added level of back-to-backness," Easler said. "If somebody were to do this over a three-year span, it seems much more manageable."
As part of his world ski tour, Michael Mathews skied to the famous Hospiz Alm, a high-end alpine restaurant in St. Christoph am Arlberg, a short ski or drive from Zürs, Austria. The restaurant is famous for its traditional Austrian fare and is a Michelin-starred eatery with a giant underground wine cellar.
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Now Mathews is preparing to leave again right after his son starts LSU this August, and his daughter, 14, starts her sophomore year at St. Joseph's Academy.
The fall will have multiple back-and-forth trips to the Southern Hemisphere, including:
- Bariloche, Argentina, the third week of August.
- Thredbo, Australia, the second week of September.
- Mount Hutt, New Zealand, the third week of September.
- Then, toward the end of October, back to Ushuaia, Argentina, to board an expedition to Antarctica — the leg Mathews has called the most logistically complex of the whole attempt.
The ship, run by IceAxe Expeditions, carries about 190 guests and is chartered for skiers and hikers. Its size lets it reach shallower water near the islands. Mathews' wife, Margot, is going, though she won't ski. She plans to snowshoe with penguins, kayak, paddleboard and take Zodiac tours to see whales. Mathews plans to take the polar plunge.
When Mathews is gone, running the three Backpacker locations falls to the people he trusts.
"I've got an amazing team — a leadership team who's been with me for a long time," he said.
This summer at The Backpacker has been a difficult one, full of technology issues.
"It really put me in a point where I felt like, golly, maybe I shouldn't keep going,” he said, "but I have to finish this thing.”
When asked what the trip has taught him, he doesn't talk about skiing.
Michael Mathews atop a mountain in Austria. Valluga Summit at St. Anton, Arlburg, Austria — he skied down the other side of the mountain.
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"I thought forever that numbers were my thing," said Mathews, who majored in finance at LSU. "The biggest takeaway that I've had from going around the world and doing this is that I'm a relationship person. It has really given me a lot more confidence in myself to leverage my relationship skills for the rest of my life."
He said that, growing up, students are “trained to sit at a desk and get things done. Social hour is a treat. Recess is a treat. And now I've realized — there's a whole world out here of people that I can get to know and build relationships with."
Before the year ends, Mathews hopes to ski in Antarctica, completing seven continents in less than 300 days.
But he suspects that long after the record attempt is over, one of the moments he'll remember most won't be standing on a summit.
It will be climbing a mountain in Morocco, one step at a time, beside a guide who spent the day without food or water and never complained.