TRIUMVIRATE: Ted Mahon Becomes 3rd Person To Ski 54 14’ers

On Sunday, April 20, Aspen local Ted Mahon became the third person to climb and ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks. The 35-year-old Mahon joins Lou Dawson and Chris Davenport as the only documented people to have climbed and skied from all 54 peaks. All three, coincidentally, are from the Roaring Fork Valley in Aspen. Dawson completed all 54 from 1978 to 1991, while Davenport achieved his goal of completing all 54 in one calendar year starting January 22, 2006, and finishing January 19, 2007. Needless to say, Mahon joins an elite club of ski mountaineers alongside Dawson and Davenport.

Mahon, who makes his living as a ski instructor during the day and waiting tables at night at Aspen’s Cache Cache restaurant, summited his first 14’er in 1999 and didn’t necessarily commence his quest until 2004. He capped the mission by climbing and skiing 14,130-foot Capitol Peak, considered the most difficult of all 54. Even more remarkable, Mahon and Beyer skied a first descent off Capitol electing to ski the west face rather than the usual southeast-facing route.

POWDER caught up with Mahon a few days after his extraordinary achievement to hear all the details of his day on Capitol. The skiing community salutes you, Ted!

Powder: First off, congratulations. Hope the celebratory hangover is over and you’ve been able to reflect on your achievement.

Ted: Yeah, thank you. It just felt good to finally wrap it up. It feels like this big burden has been lifted now that I finally got it done. The list is just long enough that it’s hard. It’s not like there are just five peaks, then anybody could do it. Now that I finally have it done and completed Capitol, I honestly feel relieved.

Powder: So tell me about Sunday, the day you knocked off Capitol and completed all 54?

Ted: I went with my friend Al Beyer, who was actually a new partner for this but has lived here in town for 25 years or so.

Powder: When did you start the 14’er quest and was it even a quest or did you just start climbing and skiing a few and realize that you could maybe do all of them?

Ted: I guess it all started in 1999. You have this off-season here where the backcountry is really good and you’re not working very much. I originally just started climbing these things ‘cause it’s a big deal out here in Colorado. I had an AT (alpine touring) setup, so I figured it would be more fun to ski down these then walk, so I kinda just started getting a few of the peaks done but never really thinking that I would ski them. And then in ’04, I went out in May and got like 10 or 13 of them done, and I realized I was nearing halfway (of the 54) and kinda decided at that point to do it.