Nick DeVore Progressive Telemark Skier

Every year at this time the mountains are closed, and yet the snow still comes providing for pristine, untracked acres of powder. For many, this is the season they wait for, a time where they can enjoy skiing in the quiet of their beloved mountains without vying for their line. But with the snow comes drastically changing temperatures and the avalanche danger increases. Newspapers are ridden with reports of casualties occurring in the back country.

I once had a love for skiing in the back country but peeps and shovels and what they represent petrify me more now that I have a family, as does the prospect of searching frantically for a friend buried in an avalanche. I will never feel equipped enough to save a friend, no matter what gear I am carrying.

When I heard that Nick DeVore, one of Aspen’s beloved progressive telemark skiers, had been caught in an avalanche, I gave him a call. I