Introduction - A Video of Inspiration
The Twenty-Two Project
3:30 PM MST – October 2015
It was that time of day. The moment when the late afternoon doldrums begin invading mind and body. Looking out of my office at the students staring into space, I could tell they were falling prey to my same plight. There was only one cure to stop the impending yawns…to find a video of the day. If not occupied by other tasks, meetings, etc., the video of the day moments were a regular around the outdoor center. These little energizers included everything from outrageous clips of the Office to awe-inspiring vignettes of outdoor people doing rad outdoor pursuits. Today’s video would be of the latter type, with Black Diamond TV providing the inspiration.
“Alright, everyone. Wake-up. Into my office. It’s time to get psyched to finish the day strong.” My words snapped the zombies back from their comatose state as they filed into crowd around my monitor. With a single click, “One Seven Eight” began—a short film about Swedish ski mountaineer Henrik Westling and his journey to climb and ski every one of the peaks in his local region, 178 summits in all. As the images of his endeavor accompanied by his voice flowed across the screen, an idea started to emerge from the deep recesses of my adventure mind…
As the closing credits began rolling, I glanced at the faces of those in the room. Everyone’s adventure mind was working. Our collective stupor dissolved to be replaced by active daydreams to find our own “One Seven Eight” project. As everyone departed my office, I was pleased that the video of the day idea was yet another success. We would easily finish the day without just going through the motions. In the midst of my self-congratulations, one of my co-workers came back into my office and said, “BD, we should ski off all of the peaks in our backyard range.” With my smile widening, I replied, “I think you are right, Sam.”
My Backyard…The La Plata Mountains.
A fifteen-minute drive from my doorstep lie the La Plata Mountains, a sub-range of the rugged and mighty San Juan Mountains. Encompassing just over 1000 square miles, the La Platas first became prominent by the hard rockers who drilled, panned, and explored every nook and cranny for the riches of silver of which the range derives its Spanish name. The heart of the range is split in two by the La Plata river. A gravel road follows its descending waters to the river’s origin at a high pass on the northern end of the range. The road is in constant shadow due to the 12,000’ and 13,000’ peaks that rise up abruptly from the river bottom. Using the road as a main thoroughfare, the miners built steep, leg burning and lung busting trails up tributary drainages in order to access the high basins and their potential riches. Along with La Plata Canyon Road, the fringes of the range contain more access points, particularly from the west side where Mt. Hesperus (13,232’), the highest peak in the range, resides. Due to the work of the miners, the La Platas are easily accessible and are a popular recreation area for many types of outdoor enthusiasts.
Hesperus Mountain—the tallest peak in the La Plata’s standing impressively at 13,232’.
In stark contrast to Henrik’s local region that contains 178 peaks, the La Platas contain a mere 21 named peaks plus one other prominent peak, just as tall as the rest, yet unnamed, only to be recognized as Peak 11,870. Upon watching “One Seven Eight,” Sam and I were inspired to take on our own version of the ski adventure, perhaps called “Twenty-Two.” Though this project is far less audacious and committing in terms of time and effort than Henrik’s, it is a great source of challenge and intrigue. Never one to chase firsts, FKT’s (fastest know times), or other accolades, I yearn most to capture the inspiration I gain from others and to forge my own adventure. In doing so, everything will be a first…for me.
Present Day
Text Message
Me: Sam, it looks like the time has come for the 22.
Sam: Get after it BD. Wish I could be there. Be safe.
Me: :)
Several years have gone by since the spark of the idea that is “Twenty-Two.” Life happened and the project was put on hold. Sam left the area in search of greater opportunities for both personal and professional growth. I dreamt of and accomplished other missions. As happens in life, there is a proper time for everything. One just needs to have perseverance and patience with the journey. Going into the spring without any looming commitments, I knew this was the opportune time to make “Twenty-Two” a reality. Through the years I skied a handful of the peaks in the range, as well as summited the majority of them during the warmer seasons. To up the ante, I wanted to climb and ski a line off of them all in a single season—all 22 peaks. Additionally, given my ethos of pursuing human-powered adventures, I wanted to do so by my own power.
Every backcountry ski tour begins with a plan. A plan to get up and a plan to get down. As I thought about this project and all of the factors involved (time from work, weather, avalanche conditions, ski partner availability, equipment, etc.), I knew I needed to simplify and make some adjustments to my adventure mentality. From my driveway it is exactly 18.8 miles with 2600’ in elevation gain to the beginning of the gravel road portion of La Plata Canyon road. When the snow starts piling up, the gravel road beyond becomes inaccessible to wheeled vehicles. My first modification to save time and energy would be to drive to the end of the pavement instead of riding from the house for every mission. Once at the pavement’s end, my partners and I would utilize fat bikes to ride as far as possible on the often snowmobile packed canyon road. My twin Salsa Blackborrows, outfitted with ski mountaineering specific bags from Bedrock Bags, were perfect for the task ahead.
Fortunately, in order to minimize my truck’s carbon footprint from multiple drives to the range, I was offered the opportunity to set up a walled tent on some friends’ property near the mouth of the canyon. This “glamping” tent would become my project headquarters, allowing me to spend multiple days at a time in the canyon without bailing for home each night.
And just like that the plan for tackling my own version of “One Seven Eight” was devised: organize all of my work into three days per week (Tue., Wed. & Thur.); depart the house via my truck on Thursday evening for the end of the pavement and then bike into HQ; early morning wake-up call by getting the wood stove going; load up the big bikes with gear; pedal up canyon to the base of the chosen drainage to access the peak of the day; transition to backcountry ski gear; stash the bikes; climb towards the summit assessing avalanche conditions along the way; summit and snap some photos; transition into ski mode; drop a sweet ski line; return to the bikes and transition for a fast bike ride back to HQ; once back at the tent, get the wood stove going and bask in the glory of the day’s accomplishments. Do it all again the next day and the next. This was going to be fun!
