Sample Article and Press Release
On the Trail of Greatness
Deep Creek Mountaineering Shop heads back in time this coming Wednesday, December 14, with backcountry skier and writer Lou Dawson's "Trooper Traverse" slide show.
Dawson, a 49-year-old Carbondale, Colorado resident with six books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, last year retraced a legendary 10th Mountain Division ski tour that in 1944 went up and over the 13,000 foot mountains between Leadville and Aspen, Colorado. Dawson was accompanied by photographers Brian Litz and Chris Clark.
"It was a great trip," said Dawson, who is the first man to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot mountains. "If it's not my best trip, it's in the top five."
The idea for the "Trooper Traverse" show, which includes original photos from 10th Mountain Division members, started when Dawson decided to research the 1944 tour, and collected newspaper clippings and interviewed veterans. There were 33 Mountain Division members on the trip.
Their trip was remarkable," he said. "These men were the cream of the crop, unlike most of the other members, most were already skiers when they signed up for the legendary 10th Mountain Division."
Troopers on the original traverse carried 70 to 90-pound packs, and made their way on stiff, wooden skis.
"Their gear was primitive, but effective when used within its limits," said Dawson.
When the 10th Mountain troopers made it to Aspen, their first stop was the Hotel Jerome, and the hotel bar's famous Aspen Crud, a deadly mix of bourbon and ice cream invented by the soldiers during other trips to Aspen.
"That's what we did, too," Dawson said with a chuckle, "though we probably didn't drink as much crud as they did."
Dawson and his friends completed their trek in May, when the weather was warmer and avalanche danger less. "Compared to the 10th Mountain Division guys, we were wimps. Our packs were half as heavy, but at least we were twice their age."
Dawson grew up in Aspen, and has seen it change from an old mining and community ski town to the international resort it is, where one sees more fur coats than mountaineers on its streets these days.
"Aspen has lost much of the spirit that made it the town people think it is. My intent was to recapture some of that spirit at least once more. We walked out of Hunter Creek (at the end of the trip), someone picked us up, and we went down to the Hotel Jerome."
Dawson said the Jerome bar staff was very accommodating, and his group's arriving without notice was a good test of how a least some of the old Aspen spirit remains. Even so, he wondered aloud how another of Aspen's ritzy watering holes would have reacted to three boot clad and smelly mountaineers showing up at their bar. "It wouldn't have been pretty," laughed Dawson, "especially if we'd showed at the Caribou Club (a members-only joint ), and started singing those old sexist 10th Mountain marching songs!"
The show starts at 8:00 P.M at Deep Creek Mountaineering's presentation room.. Cost is $5.00 at the door. Please call Deep Creek Mountaineering for details.