He has authored numerous books and articles about ski touring and is known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the Fourteeners.Īll material on this website is copyrighted, the name Lou Dawson as used here for authorship and content creation is trademarked, permission required for reproduction (electronic or otherwise) and display on other websites. Lou's passion for the past 50 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing - along with all manner of outdoor recreation. Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's personal website. We are at 12,000 feet elevation in the middle of the Rocky Mountains - we could have been on smooth asphalt in Miami. Shucking my skis, I realize this hunk of granite forms what is perhaps the best campsite I’ve ever had in 30 years of mountaineering. This has to be the place, otherwise we’ll be climbing over 13,000-foot ridges in the dark. Panting like wrung out dogs, we follow the track Chris has made through the slush. Brian and I wonder where he’ll stop, we need to camp soon. Chris takes the lead and disappears behind a spur. He did not come home.Īfter a long rest in the valley, we climb in hot sun and slushy snow, the Continental Divide looms above us like the ramparts of a distant castle. A few months later Bud Winter shipped to Italy. By all accounts, young Private Winter was one of the strongest on the trip, breaking much of the trail in deep February snow. One in particular, Burdell “Bud” Winter, joined the 10th when he was 18 years old, trained at Camp Hale in 1944, and must have stood near this exact spot, looking back up at his tracks, perhaps laughing in joy with his friends. While resting in the valley below, I think again of the troopers. Private Bud Winter died fighting in Italy. The troopers carried 75-pound steel framed rucksacks or 90 pounds if you were the guy who hauled one of the group tents. We camp where the soldiers spent their first night, in the last trees beneath Mount Elbert.Ĭompared with the soldiers, we are wimps. The first six miles of uncertain travel goes quickly. His friend Chris Clark, a man of few words and plentiful smiles, is super fit and psyched for something special.
Brian Litz, photographer and backcountry ski journalist, is the perfect companion–positive, skilled, and passionate about Colorado backcountry skiing. I meet my partners on a warm day in May of 2001, near Leadville, Colorado. In the photos, I was able to identify much of the route based on my own experiences in the region. I did a day of detective work at the Denver library, where I found a page of traverse photos taken by one of the soldier participants, along with a fairly detailed account of the trip. 10th Mountain trooper Ralph Ball hiking into Aspen during 1944 traverse.
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