WildSnow News — College Pick — Capitol Peak Gets Skied

Months ago we blogged about our son Louie’s college pick. Your comments were super helpful in the process of finding a school. The young man made his pick a few days ago: Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington. All factors pointed to the choice. Burly skiing, various design degree programs, outdoor oriented culture, to name a few. It was a tough decision and I give Louie credit for carefully examining all the pros and cons of several awesome schools he got admission approval for. So there you go, another ski partner for you Baker fanatics, and I hope to meet some of you while up there visiting!

We were so clueless with the college process that we hired admissions consultant Carolyn Williams to keep us on track. Cost of which was easily canceled out (and exceeded) by time savings and max financial aid. Thanks Carolyn!

What about Capitol Peak here in Colorado? It now has four ski routes. Yesterday Frank Konsella, Pam Rice, Pete Sowar and Chris Webster connected the upper east face with their “Secret Couloir.” Zip, another new route down what used to be thought as the hardest fourteener to find ski routes on, let alone climb. One rappel required. That makes four routes total. This latest is a super nice line that will probably become the standard way of skiing Capitol. Check out (defunct link removed 2015). Good example of how some rope work can open up many new lines that would otherwise be inaccessible. Congratulations to this crew for a job well done!

15 Responses to “WildSnow News — College Pick — Capitol Peak Gets Skied”

1. Paul Beiser April 29th, 2008 8:26 am

   Congrats to Louie, sounds like a great fit. Can’t wait to see and read more about the latest Capitol line.

2. Chris Webster April 29th, 2008 9:26 am

   it’ll be a day or day or two for the trip report, we are on Daly at the moment. 🙂

   Cheers
   Chris

3. john dough April 29th, 2008 9:41 am

   I told you so! He will love the “Great Northwest”. Maybe he should go to school early, I hear they are still in winter up there.

4. Dan April 29th, 2008 11:15 am

   Hey Louie,

   Welcome to Bellingham…and don’t forget to bring your mountain bike too.

5. Matt Wibby April 29th, 2008 11:30 am

   Congrats on the choice as WWU is a great school. Most all The Ski Journal staff (including myself) are Western Alum. It’s late April and still snowing at Baker…

6. dave downing April 29th, 2008 2:06 pm

   hey louie. am i too old to crash your dorm room couch?

7. Sky April 29th, 2008 2:09 pm

   Bellingham, eh? Look out, Lou! Buncha hippies up there!

   I look forward to WWU-related blog fodder in the next few years.

8. Brittany April 29th, 2008 2:40 pm

   Thanks for posting about the success of Frank, Pete, Chris, and Pam on your blog! They deserve big kudos for sure!

   Lou, I also wanted to let you know that Pete’s last name is Sowar, not Saur. I tried to email you about it a few times, but it kept bouncing back.

9. Lou April 29th, 2008 2:47 pm

   Woops, I’ll fix!

   For email, use the contact link in menu to left, then let me know if it doesn’t work. You might be using one of my old email addys.

10. Louie April 29th, 2008 7:36 pm

    Western seems to have the best outdoors combined with good academics. I am really interested in their industrial design degree, and it is supposed to be a really good program. They do projects with MSR and some other outdoor companies in the area. Plus, there’s great skiing, and what looks like good rock climbing and mountain biking (or unicycling).

    P.S. Any alumni know of the best residence hall?

    Louie Dawson

11. day April 29th, 2008 9:36 pm

    GREAT alpine climbing and ski touring in the Cascades! Having Baker at your back door, as well as quick access to Canada, really puts the quantity of terrain through the roof… Never too early to start planning–check out the now out-of-print guidebooks by Rainier Burgdorfer and Martin Volken, both are probably still available on Amazon…

12. Mark Worley April 30th, 2008 10:58 am

    Great choice Louie. Bellingham and surrounding area could easily vie for coolest city in America. I have a couple connections there if you’re interested.

13. DH April 30th, 2008 3:13 pm

    Welcome to Bellingham Louie! I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about residence halls and make some turns with you too. Feel free to email. The Dawsons should make a trip up here this week because Highway 20 (road accessed high alpine touring) opens tomorrow.

14. Lee Lau April 30th, 2008 5:57 pm

    Big time congrats to the Capitol Peak skiers

15. Slater NW September 5th, 2009 10:47 pm

    Contribute some sticky green to the community while here. Get your schoolin’ done, but don’t stay…… :alien: