Bob Sloezen has been a fixture of Colorado mountain culture since the 1970s, when he began his career as a climber, ski patroler and eventually an incredibly skilled international guide. “Sloman” reached the pinnacle of alpinism and pro guiding with his Everest ascents (starting in 1991), but never lost his humble smile and glinting eyes when he’d describe a day on a Colorado fourteener.
Sloman has been battling cancer and needs help. So our community is coming together for a classic benefit (party, silent auction, etc.) that’ll take place the evening of October 5 at Bumps restaurant (base of Buttermilk ski area, near Aspen, see below for more details).
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Literally thousands of people know Sloman from climbing, skiing (both backcountry and frontcountry), paragliding and as an integral part of the Western Colorado mountain community. More, even folks who don’t know Bob have have benefited from his work as a ski patroler, guide, and mountain rescue volunteer.
In a word, this is the quintessential mountain man — a guy who chose a path less traveled and has inspired us all with his commitment to the climbing life.
It’s the supreme irony; biology gives us sinew and bone we joyfully engage for a climb — that same chemistry allows something like cancer. When something like this happens only one option exists: We come together as a community and help out however we can. So everyone, if you can make it October 5 you’ll not only contribute to the cause, but it’ll also be the perfect season kickoff party!
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I’ve got to share one other thing about Bob. It was about fifteen years ago, when our son was only about two years old. The young boy had already figured out that climbing was a big thing in our lifestyle, and he knew that Mount Everest was, well, Mount Everest. We saw Sloman somewhere around Aspen and introduced him to the boy. A few weeks later we saw Bob again. “I’ve got something for Louie,” he said as he handed us a funky little screw cap mason jar, “It’s a rock from the top of Everest.” Sure enough, along with an Everest summit photo cut out of a postcard, the jar contained a grey rock the size of a quarter. We’ve still got it. That was one sweet thing to do and it’s always endeared Bob to us.
Benefit details: October 5th, 5-10 pm, $35.00, kids under 12 free. Music, food, silent auction, lots of interesting people to social with, etc….
If you can’t make it to the benefit, you can still help out. To make a contribution, an account has been set up in Bob’s name at Timberline Bank – Aspen.
Account name: Robert Sloezen
Timberline Banks of Colorado
311 West Hopkins Ave.
Aspen, CO 81611
Bank rep: Amy Beidleman 970 319 9785
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.
