
Nick DeVore, Progressive Telemark Skier
Every year at this time the ski areas are closed, and yet the snow keeps coming, leaving pristine, untracked acres of powder. For many, this is the season they wait for, a time to ski in the quiet of their beloved mountains without vying for their line. But spring also brings drastically changing temperatures, and the avalanche danger rises. The papers fill with reports of backcountry accidents.
I once loved skiing in the backcountry, but beacons and shovels, and what they represent, petrify me more now that I have a family, as does the thought of frantically searching for a friend buried in an avalanche. I will never feel equipped enough to save a friend, no matter what gear I’m 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 used to work for Nick’s father, a National Geographic photographer, and I remembered Nick as an energetic young boy with tousled red hair and a whole lot of personality. I’d been hearing a lot about Nick and his friends these past few years, magnetic big-mountain skiers who have been getting after it. With three boys of my own beginning to push their limits, I felt compelled to meet Nick again and better understand the passion that drives these dynamic skiers further and further into the wild.





































































