Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information & opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 50 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about
ski touring 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 ski touring news and information here.
All material on this website is copyrighted, the name WildSnow is trademarked, permission required for reproduction (electronic or otherwise) and display on other websites. PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT and TRADEMARK INFORMATION.
We include "affiliate sales" links with most of our blog posts. This means we receive a percentage of a sale if you click over from our site (at no cost to you). None of our affiliate commission links are direct relationships with specific gear companies or shopping carts, instead we remain removed by using a third party who manages all our affiliate sales and relationships. We also sell display "banner" advertising, in this case our relationships are closer to the companies who advertise, but our display advertising income is carefully separated financially and editorially from our blog content, over which we always maintain 100% editorial control -- we make this clear during every advertising deal we work out. Please also notice we do the occasional "sponsored" post, these are under similar financial arrangements as our banner advertising, only the banner or other type of reference to a company are included in the blog post, simply to show they provided financial support to WildSnow.com and provide them with advertising in return. Unlike most other "sponsored content" you find on the internet, our sponsored posts are entirely under our editorial control and created by WildSnow specific writers.See our full disclosures here.
Backcountry skiing is dangerous. You may be killed or severely injured if you do any form of ski mountaineering, skimo randonnee and randonnée skiing. The information and news on this website is intended only as general information. Due to human error and passing time, the information, text and images contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date.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 templates at your own risk, and waive Wild Snow owners and contributors of liability for use of said items for ski touring or any other use.
Lou,
Having been up to the alpine recently, do you think that Grizzley Chute is still in condition for a snow climb (no skiing)?
Thanks,
Cody
Hey Cody,
I was near there on the other side of the pass over the weekend skiing Champion peak and UN 13,736 and from there Grizzly looks to still be full of snow up the couloir.
Jordan
Thanks Jordan.
Cody
Man you have a great helping of clean living out there.
Lou,
What a fun day! I’ve been wanting to ski that Couloir for a couple years and never made it up there. I’m glad we made it happen on our Nation’s Birthday! It was great to ski with you, Teddy, Glenn, and Tim. Let’s make it happen again soon. Cheers!
Adam
Chad and I got to ski Condundrum on Thursday…. we drove up in Chad’s “stock” Nissan Xterra, which barely made it, which makes me want to reconsider the statement if a “stock” 4×4 is adequate for such an endevour. (we did get to watch a Ford Expedition high-side itself a couple of times on our way up).
Fun skiing…. although a bit warm (who figured mid-July would be warm?).
Njord