Left to right, Jim Ward, Lou, Bob Wade at Ute Mountaineer 40th anniversary party. Lots of history in this photo. Along with his lengthy career as an all around outdoorsman, Jim was one of my instructors at the “Ashcrofters” mountaineering camp during the summer of 1966. Coolest camp ever, back in the halcyon days of outdoor education. The skis we’re holding?
Well, “Big Jim” worked for years as a founder of the 10th Mountain Hut system, as well as doing the first big “cross land” ski traverses such as slogging from Denver to Aspen. He loved covering ground, and swears to this day that the best ski for that is the Trak Bushwacker, a fat short “sliding snowshoe” with fishscale base. “I even used the Bushwackers for a few days of skiing with the snowcat powder tours,” he says, “They’re great!” I think Jim was hinting that the Wades should start selling them again since his favorite pair had a chainsaw cut halfway through the tip and he needed some new ones. “Clearly, that damage happened during a Forest Service approved trail cut,” I asked? Absolutely.
Whoops, almost forgot, yes those are Norrona reindeer covered nordic touring boots, footwear of choice for long distance ski sloggers of the 1970s.
This past Friday, Ute Mountaineer mountain shop in Aspen celebrated their 40th anniversary. The party was huge — filled up their retail space in Aspen with three generations of climbers, skiers and assorted other active folk. Owner Bob Wade came to Aspen around 1975 and immediately began working on opening a shop, really Aspen’s first true mountain shop. Over the years, “The Ute” with Bob at the helm remained heavily involved in local human-powered sports. They implemented and sponsored the first “uphill” ski races on the ski mountains, and worked with trail advocates to create the amazing trail system we now have in the upper part of our valley. Recently, now that Bob has passed off much of the day-to-day to his daughter, he’s been involved in wonderful projects such as creating Aspen’s community climbing area at a rock outcrop called Gold Butte, as well as working with various non-profits. Congratulations Bob, and thanks for all (even if your carabiners were too expensive)!
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.
