We’re leaving today for five days backcountry skiing on the Trooper Traverse from Leadville, Colorado to Aspen. The weather looks a bit shaky for the first few days, but it appears we will finish the trip with a string of blue sky days. A few photos from the original trip in 1943.
I've gathered quite an archive of photos from the original 1943 Trooper Traverse backcountry skiing trip. This is one of my favorites. There is not doubt in my mind the guy has a hunk of Spam on that fork. And he's smiling. Perhaps he knows something we don't?
Just as it was for the soldiers, Jerome Bar is our ultimate destination. Photo above is the bar and soda fountain around the late 1940s when it was a soda fountain resulting from prohibition. After prohibition the soda serving continued for a while, eventually combining with alcohol service. During their many parties at the Hotel Jerome the soldiers invented a famous drink. Known as Aspen Crud, the somewhat deadly concoction consists of bourbon and vanilla ice cream blended together -- no doubt an opportunistic combination of soda fountain and available libations. The Hotel Jerome told me the would host us with lunch and a round of cruds when we show up this coming Friday after skiing over from Leadville. Thanks Jerome!
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.
