Ah, the night racing. Fritz registered us as Team Slowtech, himself and friend Ricki, and me. Without the high heartrate sprint fitness and specialized gear, along with older and slower Lou, the idea was to simply have fun. Which we did. That is, it was fun other than the terrifying skins-on ice downhills, using skins that were like Brillo on the low angled track but still seemed to fly on the downhills like they were possessed. But hey, adrenaline is balm to the soul.
In the video, listen closely to the soundtrack when it goes black. You’ll hear eloquent audio expression produced by the sound of screaming skins — along with my own terrified yelps. Also listen for the announcer saying “Shloe Tech, American!” The goal was of course not to finish last, which was accomplished, no matter that the winner’s time was 39 minutes and ours was just under an hour. Oh well, perhaps I need more pastries.
Sadly, the video format we used doesn’t seem to be converting well to latest file formats. We leave this post up for historical continuity.
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.
