Silvretta Traverse
Ok, on the road headed for Austria, Switzerland where we’ll backcountry ski the Silvretta Traverwse! Drove over to Boulder yesterday afternoon and visited Brian Litz, co-founder of Backcountry Magazine and general man about the Colorado mountains. Got together with him, Gordon Banks, Pam Rice and Chris Webster for some of that Littelton Mexican food Brian kept promising. Pam and Chris got Capitol Peak skied last year. Chris only has two 14ers to go to have skied them all, and Pam has just over a dozen more to be the FIRST WOMAN to lay tracks on every 14,000-foot peak in Colorado! Problem is, Pam and Chris have too much fun. A planned trip to Italy will happen for them during prime ski mountaineering season this year, so who knows how many more years it’s gonna take these guys! But it’s true, you don’t have to rush it when it comes to the 14er Project — might as well savor every summit and every turn.
Check this out. Brian layed some magazines on my for my archive, including a full set of the early (before it was bought by current owners) Backcountry Magazine. This is issue Number One. I remember when this came out in 1994.. Craig Dostie was working his fingers to the bone on Couloir Magazine -- with a skeleton staff because the market for backcountry skiing pubs was so small. Along come these cats from Boulder, and I thought 'wow, do they know something about this market that I don't?' Turned out both magazines pretty much limped along, then 'Backcountry' got bought by a motivated and resourceful publishing company, who then bought Couloir as well. As for the pink motif on the cover, Brian?
At any rate, I’m sitting here in the Philly airport watching my laptop battery drain down. This is somewhat the whirlwind trip and I’ll be in a few locations without internet access while on the Silvretta Traverse. I’ll publish ongoing trip reports when possible, otherwise I’ll add them in later. Meanwhile we’ve got a few more guest blogs for your viewing pleasure, and perhaps WildSnow (the website) will even take a rest day! Whew!
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
