Colorado backcountry enthusiasts have been turning to the guidance of Carbondale-based Lou Dawson for over 40 years, ever since his first book, “Colorado High Routes,” was released. Dawson, a Colorado native, spent the first two decades of adulthood working in outdoor education and carpentry, while climbing and skiing mountains in his free time.
That latter hobby gradually became his main profession, and then he began writing more and more about those experiences. He expanded into outdoor media, all the while pursuing an ambitious goal that eventually landed him in the Colorado Snowsports Museum Hall of Fame as the first person to climb and ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks.
In late September, Dawson’s most recent book was released, honoring that milestone. “Fourteener Snow” was originally intended as a sort of update to Dawson’s 1998 chronicle of his North American ski mountaineering pursuits, “Wild Snow.” The new book, however, focuses on Colorado.
Dawson has long drawn on his background in outdoor education to carefully describe both routes and hazards in snowy backcountry. “Fourteener Snow” also contains a meta-analysis of how much ski mountaineering has changed in the past few decades. Technology has evolved significantly, and one of Dawson’s reflections is how much easier it is to create maps now than when he was chipping away at skiing the fourteeners.
“Fourteener Snow” is much more than routes and recommendations for backcountry safety. Dawson has leveraged his position as an active member of the Colorado ski mountaineering community to pepper the text with interviews from other groundbreaking Colorado wintertime mountaineers — from Christy Mahon and Brittany Walker Konsella to Chris Davenport and Jarrett Luttrell. Dawson also shares stories from his original fourteeners endeavor, offering a glimpse into more rugged mountaineering than even today’s hardened athletes encounter.
Dawson started skiing 14,000-foot peaks in the late 1970s. He had been working in outdoor education since he was 17 years old, and had already tallied recognition for rock climbing pursuits in Colorado, Utah and California. Combining his love for the backcountry with skiing on “easier” mountains, like Mount Elbert, Mount Massive and Castle Peak, gave him some breadth to grow his affection for the high country, as well as the sport.
It wasn’t until a decade later, when Dawson led a friend on a springtime backcountry excursion in 1987, that he formalized the goal to ski all of Colorado’s fourteeners. He had already done many of them, and the challenge became checking off the less aesthetic, more technical stragglers.
By 1991, he completed the project on Kit Carson Peak in the Sangre de Cristo range. Along the way, Dawson notched six first ski descents, including on Elk Range peaks South Maroon, Capitol and Snowmass Mountain.
Despite Dawson’s wealth of experience, he prefers to direct the spotlight toward other mountaineers and their accomplishments, something that comes through in his interviews in “Fourteener Snow.”
The stories about his own mountaineering expeditions are in turn breathtaking and laugh-out-loud funny, from describing less-than-desirable snow conditions and tricky group dynamics on excursions.
The actual routes described are comprehensive, with 88 total spanning 56 peaks — not just the United States Geological Survey-recognized 54. Dawson has drawn from his network of mountaineering friends to include photos of himself and ski partners in addition to the marked route photos and maps throughout the book.
Dawson will be speaking about “Fourteener Snow” and backcountry safety practices this coming Saturday, Oct. 17, during the Backcountry Symposium at The Arts Campus at Willits. Copies of the book will be available in addition to Dawson’s 2024 memoir, “Avalanche Dreams,” as well as another more novice ski-touring guidebook, “Light Tours of Colorado.” For tickets and details, visit tacaw.org
You can learn more about Dawson at his website, loudawson.com