It’s been a transformative couple of years for Chris Davenport.
The 44-year-old World Champion skier, filmmaker and father of three sat down at Beyond Talks earlier this month to discuss risk management and lessons from backcountry skiing.
Chris – or ‘Dav’ as he’s also known – is a legend in every sense of the word. He’s notorious for being one of the world’s most accomplished professional skiers, especially in an environment where few have been able to stay at the top of the game for as long as he has. From his epic descent of Everest to skiing all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks within a year, Dav has shifted the paradigm for what is possible in the world of ski mountaineering and it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down any time soon.
Groomer Days
Born and raised on the East Coast, Dav began skiing at a young age. He started out on his home mountain in Attitash, New Hampshire, staying in a family cabin built by his grandfather in 1938. He soon became a downhill race rat, traveling to hills all over the East to compete on the weekends. After graduating from a private prep school where he dominated the racing scene, he moved to Boulder in 1989 to pursue his ski racing career at the University of Colorado.
The Wild West
Dav was introduced to the growing sport of extreme skiing (what is now known as competitive free-skiing) during a trip to Crested Butte. At that point, he was over the monotonous training routine that came with downhill racing and was ready to challenge himself in a different way.
“I discovered a whole new tribe of people when I went free-skiing in Crested Butte. I saw the potential for it to go big,” he said.
He eventually made his way out to Valdez, Alaska where the dawn of the free-skiing era had just begun.
“It was like the Wild West and it was cheap. You could go out on a heli run for like $50,” he said.
The extreme skiing championships of the early 1990’s attracted competitors from across the globe. In 1996, Davenport took home the gold at the World Extreme Skiing Championships. On the plane ride back to Denver, he put together a business plan that would allow him to leverage his new title to create relationships with brands, launching his career as a professional skier. It was only a few years later that he became the first Red Bull ambassador in North America.
Dav spent the later part of the decade conquering the free-skiing scene, picking up titles and sponsorships along the way. In 1998, he became the 24 Hours of Aspen champion, a grueling race that requires competitors to ski continuous laps from one sunrise to the next. He won the 2000 Redbull Snow of Alaska contest and was named the IFSA Freeskiing champion later that year.
Ski Mountaineering
Between January 22, 2006 and January 19, 2007, Dav became the first person to ski all of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains, which requires a distinguished level of expertise in both climbing and skiing. He had to deal with every type of terrain and hazardous weather imaginable. The only person to do this before him was Colorado ski alpinist Lou Dawson, but it took Dawson 13 years to accomplish all 54 peaks. Davenport cataloged anecdotes and photos from his journey in his book, Skiing the 14ers.
Following his 14ers project, Dav went on to ski the Grand Teton, Mount Rainier and many lines on the east and north faces of Denali in the spring of 2007. The following year, he completed the “Alps Quest,” which included the Matterhorn, the Eiger, Mount Blanc and the famous Marinelli Couloir on the Monte Rosa, the longest vertical ski run in the Alps. His project was documented for a Matchstick Productions film with the goal of bringing these classic, iconic peaks to the broader ski audience, as all as progressing the sport of ski alpinism itself.
In 2011, Dav teamed up with Neil Beidelman to ski 2,000 feet of the Lhotse Face on Mount Everest, a feat which only a handful of people in the world have experienced. This was especially sweet for Beidelman, who was guiding on Everest in 1996 when eight climbers were killed in a brutal storm, a tragedy that inspired John Krakauer’s book, Into Thin Air.
Protecting Powder Days
These days, Dav resides in Aspen and takes his job of being an exceptional father just as serious as his skiing career, and his sons are surely following in his footsteps with their love for the mountains. He currently serves on the board of directors for the nonprofit Protect Our Winters.
“We need to ensure that the next generation has as many powder days as we did,” he said. “When I go to my grave I want to make sure I did my part. We have the chance to change it now.”
So how does someone who seems to have it all define winning? For Dav, he’s just psyched to be alive and enjoy the mountains as much as possible.
“I was skinning up Buttermilk yesterday and 95-year-old Klaus Obermeyer came flying past me. That guy is winning.”
The next Beyond Talks event will feature adventure journalist Ryan Van Duzer on Thursday, March 12 at Sanitas Brewery. The event kicks-off at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
