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.
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Lou, what regions of CO does this mainly focus on? Love the idea of it, some of my favorite tours here on the Front Range are super mellow angle low-risk ones, like going for a nice long winter hike, but with a lot more fun on the way out!
Hi Niko, there is no real focus, I tried to select routes over the whole state, though I’m sure I missed quite a few that we should include in another edition. Lisa and I did a few road trips for research, and I had memories of other routes I’d done years ago. Publisher Andy helped with a few routes he was familiar with in San Juans and Crested Butte areas. I’m counting on guys like you to help me ID more routes for another edition that’ll have more choices. I was actually pretty surprised with how difficult it was to find routes within my criterion. Ongoing project for sure. Lou
I’d add that just like all my other book projects over the years, I tried to do something different. Thanks to Andy it happened, and we hope to make a contribution to avalanche safety and overall enjoyment of the sport for newcomers. Lou
Question, are these pages laminated or water resistant in any way? Can I whip this book out on trail?
Lou – thanks! Looking forward to this. I’m an ‘enthusiast’ but really I have the most fun tooling around on easy terrane with my dog and kids!
Question: Is there an option to pre-order the book?
Hi Jim, the book is published, Andy is setting up an Amazon link, which I’ll place on these posts just as soon as he has it done. Meanwhile you could probably order through his website. In fact… I just shot over there and noticed he’s got some deals going on. (I think I forgot to link to him in post above, will fix that…)
http://offpisteskiatlas.com/
I placed my order through offpiste today.
Thanks Lou,
I just bought the book through offpisteskiatlas.com.
Thanks for the support you guys! Lou
Justin, it’s good quality paper but I’m not sure about water resistance. Most people I know would just shoot a photo of the page with their phone and use that in the field, or how about the OffPiste app, it’s looking quite good. Andy will show off the App at the book events. Lou
Justin,
Regarding paper: This paper is not waterproof. We advise anyone going out into the field to keep their books in a ziplock bag with book open to the tour-du-jour. We used to print all titles on very expensive “ultra-green” paper that was touted as waterproof/tearproof. But I still received complaints about durability. So we’ve returned to good-ol’ paper with a UV coating. Turn to the page you’re touring on that day and put it in your to-go bag. Enjoy!
Lou/Andy,
Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to some new tours. Hoping for a long snowy winter.
Thanks Lou – I’ve never been to Colorado but bought the book to support the site. I appreciate your contributions!
Just bought your book and thank you for putting this out! Finally, a book for mellow touring.
Hey Lou,
Nice work, really useful book. If you get back to northern Colorado, look me up, happy to show you a few more moderate/easy tours and laps that a few of us old geezers have been doing for a long time. Take care!
We’ve done the first of these promotions, excellent turnout of a diverse group, really good to see, younger older, male female, expert novice. Thanks everyone for coming! Lou
Hi Lou,
just got the new ski guide in the mail – nice job!
I really like the photos.
However, I would have preferred greater emphasis on backcountry tours, and less on ski area skinning (half the book).
Maybe next time.
Fred
Hi Fred, yeah, can’t please everybody all the time (smile), but if the book sells ok (thanks) the plan is to add more backcountry tours in next edition. I’ve already got a list. This time around it was more about dipping a toe in the water to see if the book and app are financially viable. Regarding the app, the plan is for Andy and I to add new tours as soon as we’ve got the data, so that’ll be well worth getting access to. It’s really nice, impressed me. Lou
Looks like a useful book for safe routes and I look forward to checking it out. I’m confused about the discussion references to an “app.” Is their an integrated app that contains the book info? If so, what is the app and how is it purchased? Finally, will this app be demonstrated at tonight’s event at REI in Denver? Cheers!
Matt, in case you were not at the REI event. The app is called Rakkup. http://www.rakkup.com. They just launched the android version now too, so it’s available to everyone now! Yes, the integrated app contains all of the same info as the book, plus more since it’s not limited by paper and space. It also provides downloadable off-line versions, plus gps navigation.
And… we’ll be adding routes to the app as we research them. Got a bit delayed on that due to the dry winter, but I’ve got a list for our friends to try out. Fun. Lou