This is kind of scary, but I’m going for it. Turin chapter of Italian Alpine Club, Ski Touring School, asked me a while ago if I could get there somehow and do a presentation on backcountry skiing in North America. The idea intrigued me, I mean, it would be a hoot to show those guys slides of pickup trucks, snowmobiles and wall-of-death skin tracks.
In truth, I’ve never had much flow with public speaking. Getting up in front of an audience is always difficult. In my early days, I got stage fright so bad I could barely function. I got over that by experience, but tinges of the old anxiety still color the experience and reduce motivation.
So, I hemmed and hawed a bit about doing this, but the opportunity for meeting wonderful backcountry ski people, cultural enlightenment, and blog fodder is too good to pass up. Lord willing, the evening of February 23 I’ll be in Turin, Italy, sharing cowboy skier philosophy. I’ve already gotten some messages from Italian blog readers who are coming. Plan is to do some ski touring out of there for a few days before or after the event. Anyone know the Italian hand gestures for “I ate too much last night, where is the snowmobile?”
The event is at the Monte dei cauppucini. I think that means something like “coffee shop on the mountain with perfect espresso?” Guess I’d better fire up the phrase translator.
Italian info here: http://www.sucai.it/
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.
