– The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog
  • Avalanches
  • Gear Reviews
    • Ski Reviews
    • Boot Reviews
    • Binding Reviews
    • Snowboard Splitboard
    • Book Reviews
    • Avalanche Beacon Reviews
    • Airbag Backpacks
    • Backcountry Electronics
    • Misc Gear Reviews
  • Podcast
  • Tips & Tricks
    • Ski Touring Basics
    • Boot Fitting
    • Fitness & Health
    • Gear Mods
  • Trip Reports
    • Fourteeners
    • Huts – Cabins – Lodges
    • Denali McKinley
    • 8,000 Meter Skiing
  • Stories
    • History
    • Humor
    • Land Use Issues
    • Evergreen Ski Touring
    • Poetry
  • Resources
    • All Posts Listed
    • 100 Recent Comments
    • Backcountry Skiing & Ski Touring Webcams
    • Ski Weights Comparison
    • Archives of WildSnow.com
    • Authors Page
    • Ski Touring Bindings
      • Trab TR2 Index and FAQ
      • Salomon Guardian & Tracker
      • Naxo Backcountry Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Silvretta Pure Backcountry Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Marker F10-12 Duke Baron
      • G3 Onyx Ski Binding FAQ
      • G3 ION Ski Touring Binding
      • Fritschi Backcountry Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Fritschi Diamir Frame Bindings Mount DIY
      • Fritschi Diamir Bindings FAQ
      • Fritschi Tecton FAQ
      • Atomic Salomon Backland MTN
      • Dynafit Tri-Step Binding 2001-2003
      • Naxo randonnee alpine touring AT ski binding FAQ
      • Dynafit Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Dynafit Binding Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
      • Dynafit Beast 16 FAQ Review 1
      • Dynafit Beast 16 FAQ Page Two
    • History
      • Ski Touring Binding Museum
      • Trooper Traverse Intro & Index
      • Randonnee Ski Touring “AT” ski gear — What is Hip?
      • Chronology
    • Backcountry Skiing Core Glossary
    • Gear Review Policy & Disclosures

– The Backcountry Ski Touring Blog

Banner
  • Avalanches
  • Gear Reviews
    • Ski Reviews
    • Boot Reviews
    • Binding Reviews
    • Snowboard Splitboard
    • Book Reviews
    • Avalanche Beacon Reviews
    • Airbag Backpacks
    • Backcountry Electronics
    • Misc Gear Reviews
  • Podcast
  • Tips & Tricks
    • Ski Touring Basics
    • Boot Fitting
    • Fitness & Health
    • Gear Mods
  • Trip Reports
    • Fourteeners
    • Huts – Cabins – Lodges
    • Denali McKinley
    • 8,000 Meter Skiing
  • Stories
    • History
    • Humor
    • Land Use Issues
    • Evergreen Ski Touring
    • Poetry
  • Resources
    • All Posts Listed
    • 100 Recent Comments
    • Backcountry Skiing & Ski Touring Webcams
    • Ski Weights Comparison
    • Archives of WildSnow.com
    • Authors Page
    • Ski Touring Bindings
      • Trab TR2 Index and FAQ
      • Salomon Guardian & Tracker
      • Naxo Backcountry Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Silvretta Pure Backcountry Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Marker F10-12 Duke Baron
      • G3 Onyx Ski Binding FAQ
      • G3 ION Ski Touring Binding
      • Fritschi Backcountry Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Fritschi Diamir Frame Bindings Mount DIY
      • Fritschi Diamir Bindings FAQ
      • Fritschi Tecton FAQ
      • Atomic Salomon Backland MTN
      • Dynafit Tri-Step Binding 2001-2003
      • Naxo randonnee alpine touring AT ski binding FAQ
      • Dynafit Skiing Bindings – Info Index
      • Dynafit Binding Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
      • Dynafit Beast 16 FAQ Review 1
      • Dynafit Beast 16 FAQ Page Two
    • History
      • Ski Touring Binding Museum
      • Trooper Traverse Intro & Index
      • Randonnee Ski Touring “AT” ski gear — What is Hip?
      • Chronology
    • Backcountry Skiing Core Glossary
    • Gear Review Policy & Disclosures
   

Powder Magazine 35 Year Anniversary — Out of Bounds and Out of Luck

by Lou Dawson September 21, 2006
written by Lou Dawson September 21, 2006
Thanks to Ortovox for sponsoring this avalanche education content. Check out the additional plethora of avalanche safety resources on their website.

The other day I got a phone call from photo editor Morgan at Powder Magazine, and last evening Tom Bie (Editor of Powder) rang up. They were looking for information about ski descents and a few shots of yours truly from olden days. According to Tom their Thirty Five Year Anniversary issue that’s coming up has a big retrospective covering what’s happened in skiing over those 35 years. Talking to the Powder boys reminded me that my debut as a ski writer was with Powder back in 1977, and that the musty article was still floating around the Dawson family archives.

I have to admit that in 1977 I thought by 2006 I’d either be dead or trying to move a spoon of oatmeal from bowl to mouth without spilling any on my pajama top. (Things have gone better than that, thank God, and life has been good. ) Titled “Out of Bounds and Out of Luck,” the antique article is amusing as a period piece, somewhat embarrassing, and worth kicking around. So I keyboarded it to WildSnow’s vast hard drive array and used it as a “look back” article that fits with our recent mountain safety theme. ( Link at bottom of this post.)

Powder editor and mascot David Moe (Captain Powder) got me to write the article. It was 1977, I was doing handyman work at the Climbing Magazine office in Aspen, and Moe was there talking to Climbing editor Michael Kennedy about some of Mike’s photos that Powder was publishing. Moe and I got to talking about recent unfortunate ski related events in my life, and asked me to write something up and send it to him. At the time I couldn’t write with the quality Powder wanted, nor in the hyperbolic ski hipster voice their writers have made a standard (I probably still can’t) but Moe liked the theme of what I sent him so it got printed.

At the time, according to the Powder’s intro squib I’d been “skiing 13 years, was part owner of a climbing school, and was well respected.” I don’t know where the latter came from as I was a dirt bag and proud of it, but the ski mountaineering had been going well and Aspen Climbing School was the first permitted mountaineering guide service in Aspen (that permit is still in use by one of our present guide businesses.)

Ortovox Banner

SPONSORED BY

Then it all came apart when I badly busted my leg out-of-bounds skiing on the backside of Aspen Mountain, in an area all local skiers called Keno Gulch or Keno Gully. I wrote about the rescue in the Powder article, but didn’t write about the year and a half of being crippled afterward, and what it was like changing in a few hours from a fireball mountain boy to a depressed gimp with a leg bone that wouldn’t heal. Someday I’ll put pen to paper and share that time of life, as doing so would be good and cathartic in many ways. Meanwhile:

“It snowed all day Friday and through Friday night. Saturday turned out to be one of those beautiful clear March days. The skiing was outrageous, bumps with piles of soft snow on top, good powder everywhere. It was crazy mach-ten all day except for a rest at the Sun Deck restaurant before last-run. We decided on the out-of-bounds shot down Keno gully…” Read the rest of the article here.

3 comments
0
FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
previous post
The Future of Skiing on Paper
next post
OUT OF BOUNDS AND OUT OF LUCK — Powder Magazine Guest Editorial – November 1977

3 comments

Zach Lentz September 21, 2006 - 10:25 am

Thanks for sharing the Keno’s story Lou! Very interesting, and for those of us who know the route well, very easy to envision the horror of a rescue through that bushwhack!

Mark September 22, 2006 - 8:10 am

Starting around 1984, Powder fueled my skiing obsession like no other publication, and I’d tried pretty much all of them then: Ski, Skiing, Snow Country. These days I prefer the backcountry mags like Couloir as the others don’t really hit the mark.

Mark Worley September 23, 2006 - 5:46 am

Sounds like you had a cadre of friends that made your rescue possible–without which you might have suffered much more. It is interesting the shift in ski area boundary policies. So many places used to be 100% anti-rope ducking, and now whole-heartedly endorse it and have policies that seek to manage it. My buddies and I skied beyond the ropes perhaps three times back in the pre-open boundaries days, and even when doing so a mere couple arms breadths from the boundary and only for a few seconds was quite a rush. Guess we knew we could lose our passes–and that the patrol could likely spy us easily–but the snow was surely nicer out there!

Comments are closed.

Recent Comments

  • Jim Milstein on The Gothic Mountain Tour: Not Just a Training Race
  • Eric Steig on Light(ish) & Robust — 2021/22 Fischer Transalp First Look
  • phillip gallagher on Using the Avalanche Forecast for Trip Planning
  • Slug Spud on The Gothic Mountain Tour: Not Just a Training Race
  • Kevin S on Ski Touring News Review February 2021 — Backcountry.dot.com, Critters, Shark Tank, more

Gear Reviews

  • Light(ish) & Robust — 2021/22 Fischer Transalp First Look

    February 18, 2021
  • Skis From the Future — 2021/22 Is All About the Freeride

    February 11, 2021
  • An Education on the Ephemeral Glide — Bases, Wax and DPS Phantom

    February 4, 2021

Trip Reports

  • Making Turns and Skintracks at Bluebird Backcountry

    February 24, 2021
  • Celebrating the Low Danger, Low Angle Ski Tour

    February 16, 2021
  • Cooke City in Photos — Montana Trip Report

    January 29, 2021

Totally Deep Podcast

  • Drinking Beer with the Bench Girls — Totally Deep Podcast 84

    February 12, 2021
  • Griffin Post Stays Home — Totally Deep Podcast 83

    January 10, 2021
  • Risky Business — Zahan Billimoria on Solving for Z

    December 14, 2020

Tips & Tricks

  • Celebrating the Low Danger, Low Angle Ski Tour

    February 16, 2021
  • Warm Toes for Cold Smoke — Tips To Keep Your Feet Toasty

    February 8, 2021
  • The Five Pillars of Skintrack Wisdom

    December 17, 2020

Ski Touring Stories

  • Envisioning a Friendly, Busier Backcountry — Shaun Deutschlander Q&A

    January 18, 2021
  • Giving Myself the Gift of Backcountry

    January 15, 2021
  • Six Who Dared — Elk Mountains Traverse & Richard Compton Tribute

    January 7, 2021

Newsletter Sign-Up

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • About Lou Dawson
  • Authors Page
  • About
  • Contact
  • Copyright & Legal
  • Website Security

@2020 - All Rights Reserved. Designed and Developed by WildSnow


Back To Top

Read alsox

Using the Avalanche Forecast for Trip...

March 5, 2021

The Gothic Mountain Tour: Not Just...

March 3, 2021

How Has Covid Influenced Backcountry Skiing?

March 2, 2021