TRIUMVIRATE: Ted Mahon Becomes 3rd Person To Ski 54 14’ers
Powder: You made it to the top, took a few photos, and now you have to click in and ski. What were the ski conditions like? Did you guys billygoat for awhile or hop right in there?
Ted: Off the top, you ski the south face for a couple hundred vertical before you get over to the west side. It catches a lot of sun there, but, thankfully, it was windy that day and that kinda keeps the corn cool. The snow was actually pretty good for skiing; however, it was so steep, we only felt comfortable doing it on belay. Honestly, it was climbing up to around 60 degrees, and as you go down, it only gets steeper. That’s where the real mind trick is because usually the top of the mountain is the steepest and it mellows out as you go down. But Captiol’s got this weird cliff that runs the circumference of the mountain; on all the routes, you hit this impenetrable granite wall that never skis through. Neil and Chris compared it to skiing off a basketball, ‘cause it gets steeper and steeper until vertical.
It was not a comfortable place to put skis on, because anything could be lurking right below the surface. Some people may have issues from their computer chairs with the style, but it was really committing. On the rope was the way until we got back to the west side.
Powder: And how many vertical feet do you think you skied while on belay?
Ted: We swung leads down the hill, like you would climbing, to about six different anchor points. So we had about 100 feet of rope. Linear distance, it might have been 500 or 600 feet. Vertical? It was probably only 250, because where I came out on the ridge, my watch said 13,900 feet. From the west side, we were back in that comfort zone, so we skied down from there.
Powder: I’m looking at this photo here of your guys’ route. What was that like to be traversing above something so massive and exposed?
Ted: Well the rope is like a mental lifeline, right? Your skills don’t change, but when you know you’re tied in, it’s huge. It’s the same thing when you’re rock climbing. Once we were tied in, it was a huge relief. Basically, you could ski down and sling a big rock with a chord and then clip in, and then pull the next guy in. It made it pretty manageable.
It’s not pretty. And it’s slow. But sometimes that's how it is. Ya know, it was 60 degrees and getting steeper. If it went into the 50s, well then maybe. At the end of the day, in all honesty, it turned into a big alpine climbing day with skis on.
Powder: How does it feel to be in the same club, so to speak, with the legendary Lou Dawson and the modern-day legend in Chris Davenport?
Ted: Lou’s a legend and Chris is almost more of a legend in the way he did it. There are only three documented, ‘cause you never know if some old, quiet bearded guy ran around and skied this stuff and doesn’t have a computer, and we’re all from the valley here. It was a great way to end it because not only was it the hardest one, we did this new way that even guys in the know didn’t think existed. It was a nice final stamp. Done!
