Louis “Lou” Dawson describes “Avalanche Dreams” as “a work of creative nonfiction” and he advises the reader that “while autobiographical in nature,” the book is “an approximation of the author’s lived experience.”
The author, well known to most alpine and sport climbers, has changed some names in his book to protect people’s privacy. He notes that “several pseudonymous individuals are conflated characters,” distilling a character’s function and assigning those traits to another character in the story.
Dawson attributes his early fascination with climbing to reading his father’s collection of mountaineering literature as a young boy. He then joined a Boy Scouts mountaineering troop and later read James Ramsey Ullman’s “Banner in the Sky,” a fictional account of the first ascent of the Matterhorn. From beginning to end, Dawson imagined being the book’s main character. He was just 9 years old when he climbed a 12,000-foot peak in Colorado’s Sawatch Range. Later, while visiting Aspen, Dawson “loved walking the dirt streets, inhaling the flinty dust of mine tailings the town used as a road base.”
It wasn’t long before his father sold their house in Texas to begin building a new one much closer to Aspen. Dawson attended Aspen High School and later Dave Farney’s mountaineering school in Ashcroft. Soon, he was climbing every day.
Dawson’s writing style is imaginative and features some truly creative similes. Describing one backpacking trip, he writes, “Mosquitoes and biting flies honed in on our unwashed boy scent like radar-guided missiles, provoking a constant chorus of hand-slaps and curses.”
A later description of an area on Pyramid Peak reads: “A near vertical rubble pile. Rocks from toaster to refrigerator-sized … as if stacked by a Zen stone gardener in a fit of delirium.”
The writing is entertaining and will hold your interest. But what is most astounding about “Avalanche Dreams” is the breadth of the author’s experiences. Whether on treacherous mountain climbing projects, challenging sport climbing routes, or risky back-country skiing, Dawson’s adventures keep the reader imaginatively engaged. As an added feature, the author has included many photos that serve to enrich the accounts of his many and diverse experiences, adventures and accomplishments.
Jeff Achey of Wolverine Publishing says that Dawson brought “higher and higher standards of difficulty to his local crags in Colorado. As he transitioned away from climbing into backcountry skiing, he became even more renowned and accomplished.”
Dawson’s account of his eventual successful summit of Denali is epic. Denali is the highest peak in North America at 20,310 feet. As such, the author’s accomplishment serves as a fitting capstone for the recounting of many projects across his career. He likens Denali to “a fist punched from the planet’s core.” In fact, I doubt that any fist would be capable of stopping Dawson.
“Avalanche Dreams” provides a fascinating look at Aspen’s past in addition to the author’s many climbing and back-country skiing experiences. Thus, the book offers a window into both Dawson’s life and the wonders of the natural world.
Michael Kennedy, formerly of Climbing Magazine, says, “Lou has given us a wonderful account of his time on the heights and in the valley, rich in its exploration of the complexity, uncertainty and absurdity of a life dedicated to adventure, family and spiritual growth.”