(Hanover Square Press)

You know ski season is right around the corner when the ski films drop, but this year, a ski book has dropped, so let’s go, let it snow. Heather Hansman has made it her life’s work to write about skiing. She speaks our language — dropping in, ridgelines, gapers, first chair — and she meets up with locals who act as her guides. In Jackson, it’s Air Force legend Benny Wilson and pro skier Rachel Burks while in Aspen, it’s hardcore local skier Mikey Weschler, and on all these hills, she’s asking what’s it like now to work multiple lowpaying seasonal jobs in an overpriced rental market, to eke out a living just to be able to ski hundreds of days every season. For all that has changed, it seems a lot has stayed the same. There are still kids going to Colorado instead of college and she talks about why that is and what it is about skiing that makes it this kind of a draw. And the book itself feels a lot like a conversation you’d have at a bar après-ski, tired and happy, as the locals spin yarns about the good old days. Great gift for any mountain enthusiast.

— Reviewed by Jenny Lyons. Connect with her on Instagram @jennysbookshop to find more great book reviews and recommendations. Look for these titles and more at your local bookstore.

10 stories of skiers, ski bums, ski legends

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Tracking the Wild Coomba, by Robert Cocuzzo

Freedom Found, by Warren Miller

Beyond Skid, by Maximilian Ritter

The Story of Modern Skiing, by John Fry

The Winter Army, by Maurice Isserman

In Search of Powder, by Jeremy Evans

Shaped by Snow, by Ayja Bounous