There is an old joke among skiers, usually put to other fans of the sport as a question: what's better, sex or skiing? The answer is a given, but the hesitation in answering, that moment of serious consideration, is cause for humour. Extreme skiers get it. They know skiing isn't just a sport; it's a lifestyle, one inextricably bound up in the notion of adventure.

This book is all about that adventure, that call to some of the world's best known, and unknown, slopes. About downhill racing, and the sophisticated, international club of competitors and the upstarts who on occasion beat them. Throughout this book are skiing's stars, such as Bode Miller, Stein Erickson and Jean-Claude Killy.

This is a book about riding on the edge of danger and surviving it, about the thrill and focus of competition, and the thrill of rescue. It is a book of people; some quirky, some delightful, some strange, some just plain crazy, but all of them drawn to White Heat, the extreme skiing life.