On the way from his home in Carbondale to Denver last week to be introduced as one of the 2005 inductees of the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame, Lou Dawson did the sort of thing that made him a logical choice.
He stopped on Vail Pass, climbed Uneva Peak and skied it.
“I had to show up as a skier, you know?” Dawson said with a mischievous grin. “I had to feel my identity to the fullest.”
Dawson, 53, could have been selected simply for his signature achievement: He is the only man who has climbed and skied from the summit of all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks.
Dawson also has written guidebooks indispensable to ski mountaineers and hut skiers, and he wrote the definitive history of ski mountaineering in North America, “Wild Snow.”
Dawson will be inducted at an October banquet, along with former Vail owner George Gillett, Crested Butte pioneer Dick Elfin, Vail pioneer Dick Hauserman and Ed Lucks, who devoted his life to teaching disabled skiers.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Dawson said. “Mountaineering is more than a sport for me; it is a way of life. I started when I was young, I got involved in the mountain culture, and it’s a lot of what produced meaning in my life in terms of self-actualization and my own identity.”
Dawson made his first fourteener ski descent (Castle Peak) in 1978, but skiing them all didn’t become a quest until after he reeled off 19 in a four-month period in 1987.
“I realized it was something that would be a great life goal,” Dawson said. “As it progressed, I met some other guys who were working on a similar project. Initially I experienced a little angst about it. I thought, ‘Oh, no, somebody’s going to beat me to it.”‘
Nobody did, but Dawson didn’t knock off the last one until May 1991 when he finally nailed Kit Carson Peak after four or five tries.
“A lot of times you get up there and there’s not enough snow, the trailhead is closed or there is a storm,” Dawson said. “You’ve got to have the weather right, you’ve got to have your gear right, you’ve got to know how to ski well enough to be safe, you have to find a partner you can depend on.”
Dawson has been an inspiration for Colorado ski mountaineers for his achievements and the passion with which he pursued them.
“I love the backcountry, and I think there’s a lot to be had from it in terms of developing maturity when you’re young and having a touchstone throughout your life,” Dawson said. “Climbing a mountain is hard, but other things in life are tougher. It’s neat to have something in your life you can go back to and experience a feeling of mastery and self-worth. Then you can come back, and you’re a better person for it.”
John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
