Dolores & Ed Lachapelle

figured i'd give this a post here too, though the news has been going around a number of ski-related sites for a number of days now:

Dolores LaChapelle died last monday jan 22.

Dolores LaChapelle and her husband Ed LaChapelle are major figures in alta's skiing history. dolores was skiing powder before most people had a clue what skiing was. much of early modern powder skiing was pioneered at alta and dolores was part of that legacy. when i first read her book deep powder snow about 10 years ago, i was mesmerized by her ability to express with words the character of her experience, and i can only begin to fathom the depth and significance of her experiences during the nascence of powder skiing.

while their history is too great to sum t here, it's worth mentioning that while while modern powder skiing was being pioneered at alta, at the same time, american avalanche and snow science was being pioneered at alta as well. ed lachapelle was a physicist who had studied avalanches in switzerland ... combined with Monty Atwater, alta's second snow ranger who had a background in artillery ... the avalanche control research these guys did in the early 50s became the basis for control work around the world. and ed lachapelle has contributed volumes to avalanche and snow science.

many folks have great things to say about dolores which can be found all over the web if you're interested ... i thought i would post links to two articles here.


she has my utmost respect. :gents:



Dolores - Lou Dawson

Dolores :: Half a century on skis- the durango telegraph 2002

http://www.wildsnow.com/images/backc...og/dolores.jpg

Dolores LaChapelle skiing at Alta in the early 1960s. Her trademark braid is visible on her right shoulder.
Photo, Ed LaChapelle and WildSnow historical archive.
image linked from lou dawson's page

sadly ... ed lachapelle died today, after falling ill while skiing.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/liv...~1_Gallery.jpg
Ed LaChapelle in Alta circa the 1940s.
(Courtesy of J. Willard Marriott Library )

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5155364

Renowned avalanche researcher dies
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune

ALTA - A world-recognized pioneer in avalanche research died Thursday while doing what he loved best - skiing.

Edward R. LaChapelle, long considered the grandfather of American avalanche science, spent his final morning powder skiing at Monarch Mountain in Silverton, Colo. Within an hour of reporting chest pains, the 80-year-old died.

Yet LaChapelle's legacy will long outlive him, experts say. His decades of research on the slopes of Alta ski resort laid the groundwork for avalanche control in Utah. He wrote the U.S. Forest Service's first avalanche handbook and developed a beacon to locate buried skiers.

"If you talk about avalanche researchers in the United States, he definitely is on the top of the pile," said Bruce Tremper, director of the Forest Service's Utah Avalanche Center. "He has figured out most of everything we know about avalanches these days."

LaChapelle plunged into avalanche research in the early 1950s after attending the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, Switzerland. His studies brought him to Alta, a 9,000-foot ski resort at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, about 20 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

There, photo albums still contain black-and-white images of the scientist preparing explosives for avalanche control and skiing through a massive slide that rumbled unexpectedly down the resort's Baldy Shoulder area.

LaChapelle's research spanned 20 years as a U.S. Forest Service snow ranger, beginning in 1952. His colleagues say he strung wires all over the mountainside during those years as he conducted experiments using everything from old bike tires to record players.

But his genius earned him a national and international reputation, Tremper said. His pocket-sized text, The ABCs of Avalanche Safety, remains a must-read for backcountry travelers.

"He would be the Michael Jordan of avalanche guys," said avalanche forecaster Craig Gordon, standing at the base of an avalanche rescue operation Saturday in Little Cottonwood Canyon. "He was a rock star."

LaChapelle left Alta in 1972, but continued his research for the next 10 years with the University of Washington and Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder, according to a taped interview with the Alpenglow Ski Mountaineering History Project.

He later retired to McCarthy, Alaska, but returned religiously to Utah to ski and visit his colleagues in the avalanche community.

Onno Wieringa, general manager of Alta, choked back tears Saturday as he reflected on a man he described as his mentor when he was a young director of snow safety at the resort.

"We're missing him," he said.

Wieringa said LaChapelle stayed abreast of new backcountry technologies and never tired of the slopes. He said the man's death after a morning of skiing seemed only fitting.

"He skied powder all morning before he died, which is how we all ought to go," he said.

LaChapelle's death comes two weeks after the death of his former wife, Dolores LaChapelle. He had visited Silverton for her memorial service.

Tremper said news of LaChapelle's death will rumble through the avalanche community worldwide.

"It is definitely an end to an era," he said.