Realistically, if you ski a quarter of the mountains featured in the new large-format compilation “Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America” (Capital Peak Publishing, $60) — heck, if you manage to ski only the five lines featured from Colorado — your name is probably Chris Davenport. Take one glance at the 208-page, 12-inch-by-13-inch hardback and you’ll understand why Colorado’s king of ski mountaineering gets top billing among the all-star cast consulted to create this book. Davenport is among the few Americans capable of climbing and skiing all the selected lines.
Co-authors Art Burrows and Penn New- hard, accomplished ski mountaineers also from the Roaring Fork Valley, are among the few capable of compiling and condensing the information into an artistic package with the appropriate perspective and insight. Joined with the written contributions of Andrew McLean, Glen Plake, Lou Dawson and Hilaree O’Neill and photographs by more than 50 dedicated visionaries, the authors have gathered a sterling collection of the continent’s most inspired ski mountaineering routes.
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