Happy New Year everyone. We spent our New Year holiday in the backcountry paradise of Moab, Utah. It was super fun to visit Moab during off season. Peaceful in town and out on the trails. A few establishments are closed, but restaurants such as Zachs and the Red Rock Cafe (best scones I’ve ever had) are open, and motel rooms are reasonable. We did some sightseeing (winter light on the slickrock country is sublime), got out on a few moderate 4×4 trails and just enjoyed getting away from it all for a family weekend with some relatives.
Moab is a joy. While you can turn over rocks and find a few whiners, most residents and visitors revel in their recreation paradise. The attitude is positive and contagious. Refreshing after mountain living where it sometimes seems like everyone is at each other’s throats about development issues, snowmobiles, access, etc.
It was fairly warm in Moab, but we opted to leave our open Jeep home, and used our primo Tacoma for the trails. Turned out that was a good strategy, as “warm” is a relative term.
Ski movie news: Amazingly, one of the skiers in the campy classic Ski Troop Attack contacted me! It was none other than Dave Beck, pioneer of the backcountry skiing Sierra High Route and now a dog sledding entrepreneur.
Dave writes: “For the ski trivia folks… I was one of the German ski troops killed in Ski Troop Attack. Most of the film was shot in N Dakota but they came up to Mammoth, CA to shoot some extra footage. In 1963 I was 21 and a gung ho backcountry skier and I was in the movie business. They took us out to a nice dinner with ample wine and told us to come by the next morning for our pay. When I showed up at 9AM the film crew had already left for LA at 5AM…”
The only thing I’m wondering is if Dave is the guy on the receiving end of the hilarious ski pole javelin throw. Sadly, I’ll have to watch the DVD again.
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.
