The Slender Skinner, Backcountry Training and Avalanche Lessons
If anyone has been into the Carbondale Cripple Creek Backcountry store or near a Colorado Ski Mountaineering Race podium, they have seen Tall Paul. But the one place you will almost never catch him is riding a lift. This guy loves going uphill as much as anyone and its all for the love of the mountains. He is one of my main ski partners, but has faded from the ranks of spraying and social media, so we are here to do it for him. While everyone else sits around and complains about how their favorite low hanging fruit is getting picked, Paul is going one ridge further out and breaking trail where no one has been before.
Paul on the small crown of the avalanche described in the episode. Just over the roll it stepped down and went a long way.
Doug Stenclik is an avid skimo racer and ski mountaineer who lives for sharing the amazing sports of ski touring and splitboarding. Since his first time on skins he was hooked and the obsession has taken him all over the United States and the world pursuing the human powered ski turn. He founded Cripple Creek Backcountry in 2012 and took over the Colorado Ski Mountaineering Race Cup in 2014 to spread knowledge and the love of the sport. In 2019 he took a step back from the ski shop and race promoter life to become a publishing partner with WildSnow.