Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information opinion website and e magazine. Lou's passion for the past 45 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about
backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the
Fourteeners! Books and free back country news and information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.
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Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you do any form of randone, randonnee and randonnée skiing. The information and news on this website is intended only as general information. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information, text and images contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using, reading or viewing the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of Wild Snow as well as content contributors of any liability for injuries or losses incurred while using such information. Furthermore, you agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instructions or templates at your own risk, and waive Wild Snow its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items for backcountry skiing or any other use. 
That second view is great. Here’s to a good winter!
I was playing Honest Abe and building a railing out of aspen logs. Fun. But I’m ready to ski on that white stuff!
Super nice! May this be a regular trend (i.e. snowfall) all season long!
I must say that I am envious. We are heading into a hot summer here on the south coast of NSW!
Today’s report from Mike Y. is that Quarry Road is deep and requires a lift kit and aggressive tires/chains/retreads.
Cool
Lou did you ever, or would you consider posting coordinates of your place so we can check out your ski terrain?
actually, as I write this I see that might not be a good idea…
never mind!
cool pics!
Gringo, it’s easy to figure out for anyone interested. That’s all I’ll say. We’re fairly generous with the place in various ways that many of our friends and associates know about, but I’ve never felt it appropriate to do an information dump. We don’t keep anything valuable up there so it’s not a security concern, more about at least a modicum of privacy. Lou
http://www.skinet.com/skiing/articles/ski-bumming-tiny-house?src=facebook
Wonder where they got the idea?
Ken, I’d seen that. I did get a laugh out of it. The way they’re using the rig is really just a pull-behind RV that looks cool. The way they write about it seems to effort at making it into something more — though I’m sure what they’re doing is fun. Stick a wood stove in an RV, add some wood paneling, and there you go. Our porta-hut concept is to build something that’s intended to be portable, but more for the purpose of moving from one long-term location to another, and with super beef to handle huge high altitude snow loads. Sort of like a tiny mobile home on steroids. In a sense the WildSnow HQ is an RV, but it’s wide and tall, not something you’d just whip around the country with on a whim.
If I built another one, I’d probably keep the jumbo width (9 foot 6 inches) but also go a bit longer than the trailer size of 16 feet, to what sounds like a lot of tiny house builders use, 20 feet.
Thing is, I didn’t want to get to the point where anyone could accuse us of using or planting a mobile home, and the smaller size and appearance has a lot to do with that. So Keeping the size down is important in that sense. I’ve been in a lot of RVs that are bigger than the porta hut!
In fact, when we were planning our project we did talk about just buying a big honkin’ pull-behind RV and reinforcing the roof. But those things are pricey and ugly, and even with a stronger roof the wall could be too weak. Our project of course had multiple goals: aesthetics, quality, and of course keeping the government from harassing us. Parking an RV and using it on occasion is the best way to keep harassment to a minimum, but other than that the idea wasn’t working for us. So we built an “RV” from scratch. We’re still delighted with the results and have not gotten any complaints.
Be careful on the snow shovel. This flat lander learned the hard way that a Steel Metal edged shovel tears up wooden decks. My neighbor quickly warned me and I returned the Shovel to Valley Lumber for a plastic Suncast.
My mouth is watering to get some sliding in!