Encore – 10 Cool Backcountry Things You Have Done

by Lou Dawson
written by Lou Dawson

Here we go again. Lots of new faces visiting WildSnow; perhaps some of you can work on a list, or perhaps new lists now that you’ve done new stuff? We published this post a while ago, but it’s timeless so instead of it getting lost in our nearly 3,000 blog posts, I bring this up to the front once or twice a year. If you make a new list please note that it’s a new version. Lou

What 10 cool BACKCOUNTRY things have you done (doesn’t have to be skiing)? Leave a comment with your list. Doesn’t have to be your “best” or your most radical, not necessarily a top ten, just 10 interesting cool things you’d like to share. Brag a little, get spiritual, honor someone or something, share some weird/wonderful stuff, whatever comes up.

Here are mine, I tried to stay a bit more gritty and soulful than just listing things like climbs:

1. Lived in a tepee my brother Craig built in the mountains above Aspen.
2. Drove a 1942 Chevy from Colorado to Yosemite at average speed 35 mph, climbed a few days, then got kicked out of the park for illegal camping with unleashed dogs.
3. Did yoga on a winter morning, outside, at 10,000 feet in the Capitol Creek valley.
4. Hunted on skis with my 10-year-old son.
5. Said final goodbye to my dad by myself on top of a mountain.
6. Skied Hayden Peak at night during a full moon in January.
7. Married a beach girl and convinced her to stay in the mountains with me.
8. Built random cairns with Raoul Wille up at Conundrum Hot Springs in the Maroon Bells Wilderness of Colorado.
9. Spent a year of my life in the Wind River Mountains wilderness working for NOLS, a favorite memory: sound of wind in timberline conifers. Funny memory: teaching students to eat “edible” berries and everyone finding out they were poisonous at approximately the same time (it was ugly, but everyone lived).
10. Said a prayer on top of Denali.


Get on it folks! Leave your 10 (or 5, or 20, or whatever).

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