Chris Davenport, Ski Mountaineer Skis Down New Heights

Chris Davenport, the Aspen based professional skier and alpinist, hasn't been sitting on his laurels since his epic 2006 feat of climbing up and skiing down all of Colorado's fifty-four 14,000-foot mountains - in one calendar year. He did spend some time putting together an awesome book and documentary covering skiing the 14ers. After I read the book - Ski The 14ers; A Visual Tour Of Colorado’s 14,000-foot Peaks From The Eyes Of A Ski Mountaineer, I thought that if Davenport sat in a rocker for the rest of his life he'd still be anybody's hero for skiing the 14ers in a year.

However, not skiing extreme lines seems to be something Chris Davenport just can't do. As he tells it to redbullsking.com, in early 2007 he busied himself skiing the Grand Teton, Mt. Rainier, and many lines on Denali, then later last year he headed off to Europe to plan a ski adventure in the Alps.

Teaming up with a favorite skiing partner Norwegian Stian Hagen, who now conveniently lives in Chamonix, France, the Yankee Stadium of big mountain skiing, Davenport worked out the logistics for an historic, spring '08 attempt to ski the four, most famous and most classic Alps in Europe - the Matterhorn (14,692'), the Eiger (13,025'), Mont Blanc (15, 781'), and Monte Rosa (15,203').

Davenport picked up a documentary deal with Matchstick Productions, which provided a fully equipped production crew to cover the ascents/descents for a first class movie to be called CLAIM and a made-for-TV special. He also enlisted skiing friends photograher Christian Pondella and journalist Jack Shaw, who would document the trip for Powder Magazine, several European Magazines, and for a piece covering the Matterhorn ski day for the LA Times.

This project was originally planned to extend a year. However, as Stian Hagen tells Voelkl.com the logistics, weather, and snow conditions all cooperated and all four were skied and wrapped in 10 days - May 5 to May 14.

We are all going to have to wait for the movie, TV special and, I hope, a book, but, some people are going to be lucky enough to do so some summer 2008 skiing with Chris Davenport and friends. So, if you think you're up for it ratchet up the DIN and check out SKI WITH THE SUPERSTARS week at Ski Portillo, Chile, August 16 - 23.

Or, for the ultimate adventure, head to the bottom of the world for 8-10 days of ski touring, wildlife viewing, and exploration of un-skied peaks with Davenport MountainSport Inc. - October 29 - November 10, 2008 (dates may change by a day or two).

_{Photo of Chris Davenport and Mike Doyle © Mike Doyle}