NEW WEST BOOK REVIEW & INTERVIEW

‘Ski the 14ers’: Photo Book Reaches New Heights

By David Frey, 3-12-08

Skier Chris Davenport set out on an epic adventure. An Aspen, Colo., resident, Davenport dedicated himself to skiing all of Colorado’s Fourteeners – the 54 peaks topping out at over 14,000 feet – within a year. He would do it from their summits, or close to it, with free-skiing style.

For many, just climbing the Fourteeners in the comparatively balmy summer months is a long-term commitment. Others have skied them, but only one other has skied them all. Davenport did it in a year, and with aplomb.

He documents his journey photographically in his striking book Ski the 14ers. Just as Davenport pushed backcountry skiing to a new level, his work takes coffee table books dedicated to Colorado’s peaks to a new extreme. As he notes in his introduction, there’s nothing new about beautiful picture books of mountain landscapes. Davenport’s book, filled with photos shot by himself and his backcountry companions, exposes the mountains in their winter glory, or fury.

More notably, though, the book documents the mountains with the adventurer in perspective. Here are images of tiny humans and skinny skis amid gusting squalls and precipitous couloirs. Some images could be money shots from Warren Miller ski-porn flicks. Some are images of pure mountain majesty – the sort of views that are earned only by hard sweat trudging up snowy gullies when the rest of us are rolling over in bed.

That’s what really sets Ski the 14ers apart. It is a photographic book not just for mountain lovers, but for mountaineers and armchair mountaineers. For them, it will be hard to look at those victorious summit shots and powder-sprayed descents without a little envy.

The images are interspersed with Davenport’s journals chronicling his journey. They come off as a little procedural for non-ski geeks: heavy on route choices and gear, short on the sort of inspiring imagery readers might look for in a mountain book. The geeks may be disappointed, too, that the journal entries are as brief as they are. To get a real feel for the adventure, the dedicated will have to turn to Davenport’s online chronicle on skithe14ers.com.

Coffee table books are about photos, though, and Ski the 14ers delivers with images most of us would never see on our own.

“In our over-regulated and sometimes stifling culture, ski mountaineering brings you to a place of freedom that blows off the mist of civilization for at least a few moments …” writes mountaineer Lou Dawson, the only other to ski all the peaks, in his foreword.

Even few of the most adventurous among us will see Colorado’s Fourteeners the way Davenport has. Ski the 14ers brings us along for the ride.

New West: Others have skied Colorado’s Fourteeners. What was unique about your quest?

Chris Davenport: Well, yes, Lou Dawson is the only other to ski them all and he took thirteen season to pull it off, so my project is unique in its time frame.

NW: In his foreword, Dawson hints at some of the unique parameters you set for yourself to do this in freeskiing style. What were they, and why was that important to you?

CD: I wanted not just to ski the peaks but ski the most difficult line possible on each one, which wasn’t always possible, but we also skied these mountains fast and with big turns, a much more modern style.

NW: Was there ever a point where you doubted you’d be able to accomplish this in a year?

CD: No, I never really thought about the final date and whether I would make it in time. I just took the mountains one step at a time, which helped keep me focused on the task at hand.

NW: What was your most harrowing experience?

CD: I never had any really harrowing experiences, but on Mount of The Holy Cross I came very close to being struck by a big boulder in the Cross Couloir that probably would have killed me, so I breathed a big sigh of relief when it passes me by, for sure.

NW: For most of us, these are nice pictures. They must trigger some special memories for you, though. What’s your favorite image in this book?

CD: I like the shot on the cover by Christian Pondella. It’s of Blanca Peak, just below the summit, on Jan. 15th, 2007.  The air temperature on that day was –29 F when we started and probably –15 in that photo, which was really brutal.  But we skied great powder snow on the way down, which is rare for the Sangre De Cristo Range.

NW: This book is partly about your adventure, but it’s largely about the mountains themselves. What is it about the mountains that draw you?

CD: The mountains are where I feel most at home (outside of being home with my family of course).  I just feel so comfortable out there and at peace.  I really wanted this book to be a tribute to the beauty and power of our Colorado Fourteeners because no one has explored this in book form before, except when the peaks have no snow on them.

NW: Each mountain must have its own personality, especially when you climb them under different conditions. Did you find yourself having to learn the mountains as you climbed them?

CD: It is true that each mountain has a different personality, which is why we take it slow and learn the mountain as we go, especially the complex ones.  It’s a lot like meeting a new girl.

NW: Did your attitude toward these peaks change after this adventure? Do you look differently at the mountains in Colorado now?

CD: I think my attitude and respect for these mountains is the same, but I do look at them with a much greater appreciation of the possibilities now, knowing that a lot can be done with the right motivation.

NW: When I called you the other day, you were changing diapers. How does the adventure of fatherhood compare to the adventure of ski mountaineering?

CD: I think it can be said that they have a lot of similarities.  Both are a big responsibility and commitment, and both offer easy days and challenging ones.  Families, like peaks, are very rewarding and inspire you to bring out your best each and every day.

NW: This book will land on lots of coffee tables of people who would never think of doing what you did. What do you hope they come away with?

CD: More than anything I hope people will come away a little more inspired to get out there and set goals for themselves and try to reach them, whether it’s on a Fourteener or not.  I also believe that this book sheds a lot of light on what is possible in the mountains, and I’m sure we wills see many more people out skiing the Fourteeners this spring.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.