by Jason Blevins, May 16, 2010
On Sunday, under a clear blue sky atop Capitol Peak and Longs Peak, the upper echelon of Colorado’s ski mountaineering clan grew by two.
Christy Mahon’s ski descent of the east face of the terrifically steep and technical Capitol Peak in the Elk Range made the 34-year-old Aspen local the first woman to ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks. Crested Butte athlete Jarrett Luttrell’s descent of Longs Peak on the same day made him the first snowboarder to ride all of Colorado’s fourteeners.
Mahon’s conclusion of an injury-and-incident-free, six-year mission wasn’t just a win for women. She added yet another first-ever medal to the Roaring Fork Valley’s enviable mountaineering trophy case. Carbondale’s Lou Dawson started the valley’s run in 1991 by completing his 13-year quest to ski all 54 Colorado fourteeners. Snowmass’ Chris Davenport skied them all in a year in 2006-07, and Christy’s husband, Aspen athlete Ted Mahon, became the third person to ski them all in 2008.
“It’s fun to bring it home for Aspen,” Christy said Monday, still riding a high from her momentous descent of 14,130-foot Capitol Peak a day earlier. “This project, it taught me something that has spread out into all parts of my life. You can do anything you set your mind to. Anyone can do this. It’s helped me in my running, moving from marathons to ultras to 100-milers. It’s helped me in believing in myself just by knowing I can set these really high goals and achieve them.”
Luttrell could not be reached for comment.
Mahon’s descent of Capitol ended a three- way race to become the first woman to ski Colorado’s highest peaks.
Brittany Walker of Crested Butte began chasing fourteener descents in 2006 and was poised to finish in spring 2009 until she blew out her knee. Unexpected thyroid surgery last fall led to a one-year gap in her quest. This spring she’s knocked off Capitol — her April descent is considered the first ever by a woman — and is planning to climb and ski Pyramid Peak today. If the weather cooperates, she’ll ski three more peaks and be done with her project in a couple of weeks.
“Being first I always thought would be the icing on the cake, but it’s not why I was doing this,” said Walker, 33. “It’s been such a long time, I just want to be done with it. So much of my life has been dedicated to finishing this goal. It’s one of the largest goals I’ve ever taken in my life.”
While Walker and Boulder’s Pam Rice sometimes shared their adventures toward becoming the first woman to ski Colorado’s fourteeners, Mahon moved silently. She didn’t post pictures or trip reports on the Internet. Stories of her alpine work rarely ventured beyond a core group of pals. But she was motivated by Walker and Rice, who were just as able to secure the first-ever honor.
“I knew a couple girls were close to finishing, and that was my motivation to finish this year rather than let it go,” Mahon said. “I didn’t really publicize the project. It was something I wanted to attempt and talk about later.”
Mahon, along with her husband and ski partner Ted, showed that the mountaineering feat wasn’t just the domain of professional athletes. While undeniably strong and physically gifted, both Mahons hold down full-time jobs and squeeze in demanding descents on weekends. Ted is a waiter. Between her mountaineering exploits, Christy works 40 hours a week as an assistant development director for the Aspen Art Museum.
“It’s attainable, and it’s approachable,” said Davenport, who set a new standard for ski alpinism by logging descents of 54 14,000-foot peaks in a single year and has since moved on to skiing the highest peaks in the lower 48. “It’s about determination and dedication and hard work.”
Davenport did more than shuttle the prevalent “climb them all” fourteeners ethos into the world of skiing. Following Dawson’s lead, he skied all 54 peaks from the very summit, setting a demanding standard for fourteeners descents.
Mahon admits to cursing Davenport and his from-the- summit mandate a couple of times.
“It was so hard to ski some of those from the top. Some of those peaks just weren’t meant to be skied from the top. I had to wait for better conditions and turned back a couple times. That fourteener code is now out there,” she said.
