Okay, so your house guests are a pair of super experienced ski tourers from Europe (inventing the Dynafit binding? I count that as a 300 on scale of one to ten in experience). The question, what to do that’ll give Tyrolean aces Fritz Barthel and Riki Leitner great skiing but a pinch of American flavor? To begin, when things are good in Colorado, they’re fine, and yes, this winter has treated us well. More, what better place than the western Elk mountains, which have a snow climate close to that of the Utah Wasatch?
Here comes Riki. First stop was of course a multiple lap day near Redstone, Colorado. I was reluctant to show the place to Tyroleans, as the next thing you know there'll probably be thousands Andreas Hofer revolutionary wannabes swarming our local stash. But perhaps not, since the nearest place to buy beer is a 20 minute drive from the trailhead (not to mention our own revolution being over with more than two centuries ago).
To make it happen, we’re blessed because we have access to a variety of accommodations that easily access the western Elks. Our home is only a 45 minute drive from day trip trailheads, we have a 4 stroke snowmobile to eliminate road slogs, and we have numerous friends with private cabins where you ski from the door and back. So we did all that, including six days at a friend’s deluxe chalet with at least 3,000 vert a day of fine Colorado fluff. Check it out (photos by Fritz and Lou, click most to enlarge).
There goes Riki. She skis fast in a clean minimalist style. Fun to watch, and your skiing always improves when you're out with top notch athletes. Click image to enlarge.
Conditions were perfection. Could have been breakable crust everywhere, which of course these guys carve like it's groom, but nice to shovel up the promised soft stuff.
Fritz liked the clean looking and symmetrical aspen trees, and took lots of vegetation photos. One day, he disappeared for a while. Turned out he was taking pictures of trees -- with 18 inches of untracked fresh waiting. Fritz!
Fritz Barthel on the uptrack. For some reason he's always wearing white. He's even got Lisa and I wearing the white look. What next, pink? Click image to enlarge.
Next stop, friend's chalet. Phenomenal amount of snow was present and accounted for. Austria has not exactly had a deep winter, so to say Fritz and Riki were delighted is like saying a 6-year-old slept late on Christmas morning.
A little speck, a few scrambled eggs. Not sure it looked Tyrolean, but it got eaten.
The heavens opened and we were blessed. But gifts can be faceted. This one included trail breaking. Luckily, a nearby cabin was inhabited by a 7-man group of hormone addled hardcores. Somehow, we kept arriving at their nicely broken trails soon after they'd been there. Interesting how that happens. Thanks Al.
One of our planned US style dinners, ribeye steaks with grilled vegies. Food prep for this trip was a laugh, as we stopped at Costco for supplies, and ended up with about twice as much of everything as we really needed. Like the jumbo box of potato chips that somehow never made it to the cabin, or five pounds of bacon that I'm still trying to finish off two weeks later. Costco's business model, pure genius. Sell cheap food because you know everyone will buy twice as much as they need.
Michael Kennedy, owner of our humble abode. In this photo, MK is auditioning for an artificial knee advertisement. Two of them, as a matter of fact. We'd call him the Terminator, only he's too nice.
MK again. Super tough. He's always got the heaviest pack, due to the full-on SLR and some guide type gear. Appreciated. A super consistent skier, MK got his chops from years of ski photography and endless adventures with his ski goddess wife.
Fritz, classic Austrian style. I told him any farther with the hand and we call it a ball scratcher. That's a PSIA ski instruction technical term overheard at Vail. Click to enlarge, if you dare.
Riki, need I say more? Click to enlarge.
Unlike pampered European accommodations, we had to carry our own wood, and carry more than a cell phone and a shovel in our backpacks. Oh well, sorry guys.
My wife Lisa made this a major stay-cation -- she was there for the whole show. Knowing that Fritz made his living at one time as an Austrian ski instructor, she asked him for a tip as every ski vacation should include tips from a ski teacher with a German accent. 'Move your ass an zee skis will follow,' was the infinite wisdom that resulted. Try it, it works.
The Austrian ski instructor himself. Click to enlarge. If you dare.
Riki, over her jet lag. Look out! Click to enlarge.
After our seven day powder push a rest day was required. Instead of cranking turns I played tour guide and took the innocent Tyroleans on a drive through the Aspen wealth zone. Rubbing up against the patina of money is ok as a spectator sport, but even though surrounded by overpriced mobile homes and overlooked by golden mansions, the Woody Creek Tavern keeps its road house cred and brings you back to reality (however alternate that reality may be, when Hunter Thompson's friends show up). Main thing is, the 'Tav yields reliable burger feeding. Hamburgers are important when you've got Tyrolean tourists in tow. Enjoy those sandos kids, nothing quite like that back where you came from, perhaps a schnitzel in a bun?
A bit of the Lou and Lisa Dawson family origins. When Lisa and I first got together we owned and lived in this trailer in Woody Creek. As a career carpenter at the time, I extensively remodeled the trailer but kept the 1950s 'look' it presented. That was more than 20 years ago, and the funky trailer house is pretty much as we left it, and now one of the oldest remaining mobile homes in the park. Those days in Woody Creek were crazy. When Lisa first visited, the park owners had dug up the endlessly clogged sewer lines to ostensibly do an upgrade. Only they hired some drunks off the Tavern bar stools to do the work, which as a result moved decidedly slow. After a week or so of not being able to use our bathrooms, most park residents just started flushing anyway, resulting in the ditches the drunks had dug becoming open sewers reminiscent of something in a Peruvian barrio. To reach our front doors off the street, each trailer had a plank over the vaporous trench. When my future bride visited, that was her entrance. Amazing she didn't just give up on me right then and there. I guess the flowers I bought her did the trick.
The crew.
In closing, may we offer this photo of Fritz running a rope out to rescue our snowmobile. After seeing Hunter Thompson's photo and quote at the Woody Creek Tav ('At the top of the mountain, we are all snow leopards') Fritz the wag came up with this caption. The joke is of course Dynafit's snow leopard logo on the back of the ever white Dynafit top layer, which we all agree is pretty cool but nonetheless a fun thing to joke about. We figure that's okay, since Hunter started it.
I’m exhausted, but rallying. The Tyroleans are back home, using their altitude enhanced lungs for max vertical. Lisa is moving her *** and skiing better than ever. Excellent!
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.
