Authors
This chapter lists all of the authors who contributed routes to this book. Because this book roughly follows the opensource software philosophy, we encourage you to contribute routes to this guidebook. Also, by including routes from many writers, rather than from one writer, we think we can create a guidebook with a broader scope and that reflects the thinking of the backcountry community.
For imformation on contributing a route to this guidebook, see A Call for Contributions.
Pat Fortino
I started cross country skiing in Michigan in 1973. Wood skis, bamboo poles and marshmallow boots, more like bowling shoes really. I loved skiing from the very first time. No big surprise. I loved ice skating and sledding and playing in the snow when I was a kid. Cross country skiing was a way for me to enjoy winter as an adult.
In those early days in Michigan, we often skied at night. We would wait for a snowstorm to blanket our town in snow, and then we'd go out skiing, usually after work and in the dark. It was so quiet and peaceful at night, and the skiing was easy because Michigan is like one big golf course, and wax actually worked because it was so flat.
I moved to Colorado in 1976 and began exploring the mountains on skis with the Colorado Mountain Club. It was during that first winter that I saw someone do a telemark turn and thought, "That's exactly what I need to learn; a way to get down the hill." Flat Michigan had not prepared me well for Colorado's big, steep slopes. I practiced the telemark turn from that day on. It was tough going on that early equipment; about a 50/50 chance of falling every turn.
Sometime in the mid '80s, as tele equipment got better, I started skiing in the backcountry just to go down rather than to go on tours. It's been all uphill...and downhill since then. Since my introduction to backcountry downhill skiing, I've skied extensively in the Colorado backcountry: Wolf Creek Pass, Red Mountain Pass, Vail Pass, Rabbit Ears Pass, Monarch Pass, Berthoud Pass, and Loveland Pass. I've also gone further afield: Teton Pass, Wyoming, the Wasatch Mountains, Utah, and the Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia. My motto? Life's to short to ski hardpack!