Guess who stole my Black Diamond Verdicts? Had a full day today. Morning dawn patrol on small but fun Williams peak near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The question was, what do I write on the kid’s tardy slip? We raced home, he took off with his car and the slip, and about five minutes later his teacher calls. I just couldn’t bring myself to say something like “sorry, we were out skiing and the roads were a bit more icy than we planned.” So I just kept my mouth shut. Same with the tardy slip, KISS principle applies to such things… Last day of school before Christmas break, finals were over yesterday, so no worries on the parental end. Exhaustion is setting in quickly, however, as I was up at 3:30 A.M, did the DP, then headed up to the 10th Mountain Huts Christmas party, which of course involved hiking up the ski area before eating so we could all stay skinny while consuming mass quantities of excellent catered food washed down by designer water and the occasional brewski. Whew. Thanks 10th Mountain!
What a storm (WS13 by my count). Roads are a mess here in western Colorado but we can still get around. Eastern slope is a different story, a nightmare over there. But silver lining: When Denver gets dumped on, the Sangre de Cristo mountains usually get a coating, and Chris Davenport is heading down there to check a few more fourteeners off his list. I’ll bet things will work out great for him. After Christmas we might head out for a few 14ers ourselves. Stay tuned.
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.
