I’m headed out for some gear testing this morning, but a few quick things:
If you’re trying to ski all the 14ers in the United States, now is your chance for some that come into condition only once in a while. Head to Hawaii for some turns. Yep, they got some snow up on the volcanoes and it’s time. More here.
As noted in our news scroller, sad news is that Colorado had its first avalanche fatality of the season this past Monday, when Luke Oldenburg died of complications from an avalanche accident December 2. Oldenburg was buried around 6 feet deep, upside-down — it’s hard to even imagine how tough it would be to dig fast enough to save a person in that position. Sadly, this is another example of folks who had beacons and shovels, and used them well, but were up against the sad fact that being buried in an avalanche is like having a plastic bag pulled over your head. One has to wonder if an Avalung could have made the outcome different — but technology can only go so far. The bigger point of this sort of thing is that avoiding such accidents is key. Our avalanche rescue technology is amazing, but it’s still simply too slow and will probably be so until we have common use of more proactive options such as airbags, breathing devices and the like.
If you’re in this area (central Colorado), 14er skier Chris Davenport is having his first book signing tomorrow (Friday) evening in Aspen, at the Ute Mountaineer from 5:00 to 7:00. Davenport is doing a good job of promoting his 14ers book, with kudos in the Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera. We think Davenport’s book is a stunning contribution to North American ski alpinism. Hope to see you there. (To check out his book, see banner link to left.)
Oh, one more thing. Can’t let a blog go by these days without gear. New at HQ, we’ve got Scarpa F3s and Spirit 4’s for some review action over the next week, and the pair of Trab Duo Freerando 07/08 we just received weighs in at a svelte 47.2 ounces per ski (171 cm). I’m thinking of mounting those with the F3s for longer low angled tours, such as hut research trips for HutSki.com. Such a setup will probably ski downhill well, but feel really efficient on the trails due to low overall weight and the metatarsal flex of the F3. Also, we got another pair of Garmont Axons in for a long-term test by a pro skier in Aspen. More soon about all.
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.
