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December 30 - 2004
I've always loved mohair climbing skins for backcountry skiing -- the ones made with real goat hair. They're light weight and glide almost as well as a bad nordic wax job. Not as durable as nylon, but they have their place on long flat trips or times where efficiency and speed are primary motives, such as fitness uphilling at the ski area, or doing low angled approaches.

We have quite a bit of mohair skin material around here. It's all 60 mm wide, so it's too narrow for today's fatter skis. (As many know, a skin that leaves too much base exposed on the sides will tend to slip back when the going gets steep.) I've split a few skins to make "skinny skins" that work really well on flat trails, but with recent interest in speedy uphilling, we started looking at wider mohair. Somewhere I'd heard you could split skins in half, so they can be attached outboard on the base, closer to the edges. So we split a couple pair of our 60mm mohair skins and they work amazingly well. Very light weight, climb good -- only downside is they're slightly harder to handle when removing. Interesting stuff, at least during winter!

December 29 - 2004
A mystery of athletics is how much you should do if you have a cold (the season is here). Hamish Gowans' winter fourteener climbing project was cut short last year because of illness -- that gets me thinking.

Can you backcountry ski while sick? I've learned over the years that most people should avoid long days of alpine sports while ill, or they'll just get worse. But how about keeping some workouts going so you don't loose fitness? Good wisdom is to use the "neck check." If all of your symptoms are above the neck (nose, scratchy throat, etc), you can do a workout at about half speed. But it's risky. If you don't keep your intensity level down, you risk compromising your immune system and any illness you have may take a turn for the worse. Perhaps the wisest choice for backcountry skiers with colds is to skip a day or two of workouts, and if symptoms stay above the neck, do workouts that force a lower intensity, such as walking or lift served skiing. Now you know where I was going with this!

Another thing we've learned around here is that cold and flue prevention make for a MUCH nicer winter. We go for all the vaccinations we can get, and use hand sanitizer throughout the day if we're in public (keep a bottle in your car, and a small one in your pocket). We try hard to get enough sleep every night, stay hydrated, and stay on a good diet. Our program works -- colds and flue are infrequent annoyances here at the family compound.

December 28 - 2004
Penn from Backbone Media brought over a nice sampling of Cloudveil gear we'll be using for our next cycle of Couloir Magazine clothing reviews. One incredibly nice piece is the Icefloe softshell. My son snapped it up for his trip today to Highland Bowl. Another nice item in the goodie box was a woman's Wister Jacket -- the perfect light insulating layer for those fit and fast days when you are feeling GOOD!

Penn and his wife are super athletes -- fast uphillers and terrific skiers. I was always wondering when they'd convert to Scarpa F1 boots and Dynafit bindings for races and super-fast ascents. I'm wondering no more. Look out world.

More gear notes: I just got off the phone with Aspen powder guide Bob Perlmutter. He's been on a twenty year quest for one-rig Randonnée boots, and thinks he might have found something close in the Garmont Adrenaline. After dealing with some fit issues, his tip is to consider swapping out the liners if you have any problems. He ended up with Raichle thermo liners (the ones with the thick overlap in front of your shin)-- but recommends giving the stock liners some time before you cut bait.

December 27 - 2004
Got another update from Hamish Gowans, the fellow attempting all the Colorado fourteeners in one winter. Looks like he's on a tear, so I created a special page for his project log. Need to get some photos from him, but don't hold your breath -- he's too busy climbing! He's going solo, but perhaps we can sneak up on him and get a shot!

Gear department: It's been interesting to watch the development of Randonnée bindings these past few years. My recent binding review in Couloir Magazine brushes the surface -- I can be a bit more frank on my own website, so here goes: One would think that since the departure from cable bindings about 30 years ago, we'd have bindings as engineered as, say, an iPod. Bindings such as the Dynafit really are backcountry skiing marvels (and almost as small as an iPod), and most people figure out how to get many excellent days out of their randonnee bindings -- especially compared to the endless breakage history of telemark bindings.

Nonetheless, considering the cost of randonnee bindings and the resources that have gone into improving the things, they've long been in a state of development that could best be termed "retarded." Over the last decades most rando bindings released for retail sale that still had durability and function issues. Most of those problems have been fixed (or users developed work-arounds), but who knows what lurks on the horizon? No company is immune.

I remember when the first Fritschi Diamirs came to me for testing a number of years ago. On the workbench, I snapped in a boot and the heel unit exploded into high velocity shards. An improved heel was quickly designed and released to the public, but not before a number of people had this somewhat shattering experience (lesson: wear eye protection when testing bindings). Then there was the Dynafit Tristep debacle a few years ago. Renowned for their engineering savvy, the Dynafit boys released a binding that worked fine in alpine mode, but you'd walk out of it in one or two steps while touring. A fix was soon issued, but it never worked 100% and the binding was discontinued. And who can forget the Silvretta SL, which would explode into small parts if you took a forward fall while touring? You needed the skills of a Swiss watch maker to put 'em together again -- if you could find the parts. And on and on.

Google amusement department: Okay, many of you know I've bashed telemark bindings over the years because of durability problems that don't seem to go away. It appears things have gotten better in that area. Shoot, it's been at least a season since I was skiing with someone who's telemark binding broke during a tour. Perhaps that's why we now have a telemark boom? Or do we?

Some of you might remember a while back when we Googled the term "telemark mecca" and got a ton of hits (still amusing, check it out). Seems like every ski area in the country is or was soon to be a mecca of telemark.

On similar subject, I recently noticed yet another article about the "telemark boom." I've been around for a while, and seem to remember a "telemark boom" that was being touted back in the 1970s. If that's true, it makes this one of the longest running booms in boom history, and means that nearly everyone on the ski slopes should be on telemark gear. More likely, a bunch of writers out there like telemarking, and they're constantly trying to whip up enthusiasm by calling it a "boom" -- or at least trying to feel hip about being 50-something and still struggling in difficult snow on their tele gear, while randonnee and snowboard glissers crank circles around them. Okay, boom boom -- whatever. Let's Google it!

Linkin claims the boom "arrived in the middle of the eighties." Then we have the "modern boom in Tele skiing" described at Active.com. I was amused by the capitalizing of the word "Tele." I guess if it's a boom, then it should be capitalized! Then there is Warmpeace, which seems to imply the style was "newborn" in the 1970s-1980s (lengthy labor, did it need a caesarian?), and that the boom began with plastic telemark boots. So that puts their boom start-date at around 1992, when Scarpa released the cinder-block like Terminator plastic tele boot. And more. In all, it seems the telemark boom has been happening for at least a decade; longer in some folk's estimation. So, is this the longest running "boom" in history? Perhaps. Bottom line: If we have as many telemark meccas as it appears we do, we need a twenty year "boom" to fill them up with pilgrims.

December 26 - 2004
The Denver Post has published an excellent article about Colorado's "lost resorts," many of which have become backcountry ski destinations. Much of the backcountry skiing in the north eastern U.S. is also done at former ski resorts (where the trails remain, but the commercial operation shut down long ago).

I'm always amused by this, as most such "lost" resorts were created by cutting down a bunch of trees, and some skiers even maintain the lost resorts by cutting brush and the occasional sapling that threatens to block their favorite line. Yep, logging can have excellent results, such as ski runs, houses, and paper. Vintage Ski World sells a popular poster that depicts Colorado's lost resorts. As for logging, remember, if God had not driven mankind from the Garden of Eden, the Sierra Club would have. Sometimes cutting down some trees has its uses.

Gear notes: We continue to get a ton of traffic on our Laser Boot Tongue Mod article, after how many years? Word is we've even created somewhat of a mini market in Flexon tongues. I get numerous emails about this mod. Recently, our web visitors have noticed we're messing around with the excellent Garmont Mega Ride. People are asking if the Flexon tongue will work with the Garmont, and if so, will it improve the "ride?" It will, (with a bit of cutting and grinding to fit the tongue). But do you really need it?

In my opinion, as skis improve it's less and less important to have a boot that's super stiff in forward flex (the primary purpose of adding a stiffer tongue). Use shorter, modern skis with lost of sidecut, and it's amazing how quick and powerful you can turn without heavily pressuring the front of your boots. Nonetheless, larger aggressive skiers may find most AT boots are too gushy, and adding things such as stiffer tongues, extra power straps, etc., can vastly improve a boot without adding much weight.

Hamish Gowans update: Hamish is attempting a fourteener grand slam this winter by climbing all the Colorado 14,000-foot peaks in one winter season (he's using skis and backcountry skiing, but not trying to do ski descents unless they fit in with the climb). He got started Dec. 22, and sent this message on the 23rd via email: "Successful on Longs yesterday, but frostnipped, tender toes. Figure I'll stay off the peaks until this cold snap eases, should be Thu/Fri. Conditions on Longs similar to Pikes and Bierstadt. Almost blown clear. Only snow remaining is there because the wind has compacted it into Colorado Concrete. Best, Hamish"

December 25 - 2004
Merry Christmas everyone! It's a sunny day here in Colorado. We're off to do some uphilling, with a couple of new heart rate monitors (HRMs) to try and get that perfect aerobic training so we can really get strong for our dream Wasatch backcountry skiing trip in January! Hint, you can get a reasonably priced Polar heart rate monitor at Walmart -- highly recommended if you feel like your fitness level has plateaued out, or you want to build super fitness without injuring yourself. Most people train at too high a heart rate -- my experience is that sticking to your target rate can result in significant improvement. An HRM really helps with this.

My favorite Christmas gift? The family knows I like anything with skiing on the cover, so somehow they found this old movie I'd never heard of. Campy fun stuff. Ski troops attack! The scene where a soldier hurls his ski pole like a javelin at an enemy is priceless. Highly un-recommended <grin>!

December 24 - 2004

Got our latest issue of Couloir Magazine -- as always it's a stunning tribute to all we love about backcountry skiing, from deep powder to cool gear. My yearly Randonnée binding review is in this issue. It is somewhat brief, but I tried to give a good overview of the choices and attempted to be a bit more hard hitting than last year (as requested by readers), and will continue to provide extensive details here and at the Couloir website.

Thanks goes out to all who emailed me about AT bindings over the past year, and thanks especially for Bob Perlmutter's feedback on the Silvretta Pure.

But the big excitement for us was the Editor's Picks clothing reviews in Couloir. Instead of myself, my 14-year-old son Louie did the review. He turned out a clever and useful piece. We worked a Kris Holm unicycle into the article (trust me, it's backcountry skiing related). Other featured brands are Marmot, North Face, Thorlo, and Granite Gear -- and of course Dynafit. Check it out at your local outdoor shop.

On to politics: National Forest officials in Wyoming just affirmed a controversial decision to allow the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to continue guiding clients on Teton Pass, with increased use numbers. Many local backcountry skiers are opposed to the decision. They feel it's a "foot in the door" deal wherein the ski resort could continue increasing its use level, and thus crowd out the locals. Seems like a question of balance to me, since increased guiding will also employ more locals -- and continue the evolution of Jackson as the "American Chamonix." I mean, what ensures the perpetuation of mountain culture and alpinism more than a viable guiding economy? My prediction is that the locals will learn to work with the increased guiding, and it'll become part of Jackson's amazing alpine ethos -- and perhaps they'll build more and better parking on the pass.

December 23 - 2004

I've been having an interesting email conversation with ski historian and prolific ski writer John Fry. In question is when the first "ski train" in North America happened. I define "ski train" as a train used by an organized group of skiers, such as those from a club. The train could be a regular run, or chartered. With that definition, it appears that the first ski train was in Utah. It took a group of Wasatch Mountain Club skiers to Parley's summit in winter of 1924-25. I got this info out of Alexis Kelner's history book, Skiing in Utah, and published it in my Wild Snow history book, as well as in the Chronology here on my website.

In "official" ski history, the first ski train is usually considered to be one from Montreal to the Laurentian mountains in 1927. The Utah train takes the cake, but perhaps the Montreal train was specially chartered for skiers, and thus really the "first?" Such is the incredibly earth shattering stuff that historians converse about.

More about Ruedi Beglinger and Selkirk Mountain Experience: I've always liked Ruedi and been a fan of his incredible operation. More, I have dozens of friends who ski with him every winter. As mentioned below, I'm curious about just how safe being guided in Canada is. Ruedi published a letter on his website that says he's done 5,600 days of ski mountaineering guiding as of this October. For the sake of discussion, let's assume he's had an average of nine people per day (I asked some of his clients for a ball-park average), for a total of 50,400 "guest days" under his wing.

As we all sadly know, seven people died during those estimated 50,400 days. So how does that compare to other activities? Take a look at this chart and this table and draw your own conclusions. But wait, considering the fact that fitness DECREASES your risk of death by a significant degree, and backcountry skiing requires a high fitness level, throw all that out the window! My gut feeling after doing a bit of math is that careful backcountry skiers, guided or otherwise, can rest assured they have a statistical likelihood of leading long lives, and if misfortune does occur in our lives, it will probably not be in the form of an avalanche -- our days being guided or otherwise.

December 22 - 2004

It's been interesting to watch the thread about the January 2003 Selkirk Mountain Experience (SME) avalanche disaster over on the Couloir Magazine forums. This is the avalanche the killed 7 guided backcountry skiers. It has been controversial and received a ton of press. The guide, Ruedi Beglinger, has an amazingly good safety record -- considering he takes people skiing in avalanche terrain year after year.

Nonetheless, per common practice in European and Canadian guiding, Ruedi had a large group (21 customers) on an avalanche slope at one time, and this time he and his clients received the sometimes dire consequences of gang skiiing an avalanche slope. On one side of the issue are people loyal to Ruedi (many are his friends and customers) who argue he made no mistakes, while others argue that Ruedi may have made mistakes, and perhaps Canadian backcountry ski guides should be more conservative in their approach.

(Having never been guided in Canada, my position is not firm. I'm uncomfortable with exposing more than one person at a time to avy hazard, but I understand that in large groups, spreading out over the landscape introduces other problems and hazards, such as guides not being able to care for clients.)

It's an interesting discussion, since all backcountry skiing has risk, and the question is, how much risk mitigation is culturally and ethically acceptable? In other words, your guide may have you ski with a helmet, but does he have a helicopter hovering overhead with a trauma team at the ready? Or in the case of exposing groups to avalanche hazard (standard in non-guided groups is to expose one person at a time), what should the standard be? More, exactly how risky is being guided in Canada? My gut feeling is that it's incredibly safe to ski with a guide like Ruedi, but it would be nice to see some numbers that compared the risk of driving to Canada with that of skiing backcountry powder once you get there.

Moving on to less avalanche risk: My son and I participated in the Storm the Stars uphill race on Aspen Mountain ski area this past Saturday. The event was held at night, with headlamps, under a clear moonlit sky. It was incredible. We were mid-pack, and watched as this huge snake of 269 glimmering headlamps streamed up the mountain. Once sealed in my own pool of LED illuminated pain, it reminded me of an alpine start for some huge climb.

Most people do this kind of racing in running shoes, many with traction attachments. The few the proud the brave (us and perhaps 20 others) use skis with skins. The climb is 2.5 miles and 3,267 vertical feet.

The winner did it in 47 minutes. My son and I we're at about the 1 1/2 hour mark -- good time for a 14-year-old and a dad at my age and fitness level. The boy beat me -- that was good -- and I have a feeling he'll be much faster in the next event. Some of the randonnee and telemark skiers beat us by a good margin (one guy my age was about 10 minutes ahead of us), so we have some work to do. Joe, if you read this, Louie and I are on your tail!

I've been doing this climb on skis for more than 25 years. Back in my youthful 20s I could break an hour on ocasion, usually on Ramer randonnee bindings with fairly lightweight boots and skis. I don't know if I could ever break an hour again, but I'd like to knock 10 minutes off my time. We shall see.

For you backcountry skiing gearheads: Louie and I used fairly short/light Dynafit skis, Dynafit F1 randonee race boots, and Dynafit TLT bindings. We used nylon climbing skins (more traction, less glide) because the climb has some steep and icy sections. For other races we have mohair skins (more glide).

During and after the race they had a big party up at the beautiful Sundeck restaurant at the top of the mountain, with a live band, prizes, restaurant and bar -- even some Aspen glitterati showed up. It was really neat -- highly recommended. Results here.

December 21 - 2004

Hello fellow backcountry ski and snowboard enthusiasts. After years of web forum posting, and maintaining my news links page, I've decided to follow the masses and publish a blog.

I'll be covering backcountry related subjects here -- mostly backcountry skiing related -- but also ranging through hiking, mountain biking, 4-wheel-drive trail driving, hunting, and just about anything else my family and I do in the backcountry.

While this will be family friendly, I don't plan on getting too personal. Updates will generally be daily, in the morning, but I'll do multiple updates on days when the muse hits me.

Also, this will be a one-way blog that's mostly created by me, Lou, though my family might chime in now and then. If you have feedback or comments about what you read here, please post at the Couloir Magazine forums, with which I'm associated (I manage them).

Blog stuff: I spoke this morning with Hamish Gowans, a Colorado climber who's trying to do winter ascents of all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks in a short time period this winter. I'll be posting updates of his project here at Wildsnow.com. Climbing 14ers in winter is tougher than most people realize -- should be interesting. I learned this morning that alpinist Barry Corbet has died. He had a long career, including participating in the early Canadian Rockies ski traverse with Bill Briggs, and as a team member on the 1963 American's Everest expedition. He'd been in a wheelchair for years, since a helicopter accident while filming the mountains near here (Aspen area). See excellent obit here.

That's it for now -- today or tomorrow look for more blogging about the recent Charge the Stars uphill race on the Aspen Mountain ski area, and perhaps a bit of opinion about a few controversial subjects.

Thanks for checking in -- I hope you enjoy it!

'best, Lou

current backcountry skiing blog weblog

Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 35 years has been alpinism and back country skiing -- and all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and snowboarding, and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the famous Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, as well as tons of Randonnee rando telemark backcountry skiing info.

All material on this website is copyrighted. Permission is required for reproduction, electronic or otherwise. That includes publication and display on other websites by whatever means. For more about this, PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you choose to do all forms of randonn&eacute;e and randonnée skiing. The information on this website is intended only as general information for a variety of aspects of backcountry skiing and outdoor recreation. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of WildSnow.com of any liability for injuries or losses incured while using such information.

Always go backcountry skiing with a partner, and learn about avalanche safety before you ski outside of ski and snowboard resorts. The best season for this sport is late winter and spring, when the snowpack compacts and avalanche danger is more predictable. The Colorado wilderness backcountry skiing season reaches its prime in May and June. Maritime snow such as that of the Pacific Northwest may be less avalanche prone than continental snow of that such as Colorado and Wyoming. The California Sierra also provides a relatively reliable snowpack for backcountry skiing, snowboarders, snowmobilers, telemarkers and the like. Backcountry skiing is a wonderful sport, but it can transition in moments from wonder to tragedy. You agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instuctions or templatates at your own risk, and waive Wildsnow.com its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items.

Keywords: Ski Information, Info, Outdoors, Wilderness Skiing, Randonn&eacute;e and randonnée, Ski Mountaineering, also Ski Alpinismo and Backcountry Skiing.