Dawes Wilson is proof that persistence — along with several orthopedic surgeries and physical therapy — can keep you active for a lifetime. The 71-year-old has skied more than 65 seasons, averaging over 100 days each year and has won multiple national titles.

Though he doesn’t consider himself a true professional athlete because he never had a coach and only “won some money here and there,” he says. Wilson’s accolades include winning: 24 Hours of Moab solo division three times, Mountain Man winter triathlon twice, Colorado Coureur Des Bois 105k, Owl Creek Chase, XTERRA North American Championships and Fat Bike World Championships in his age categories. He also has competed in Alaska’s Iditabike Extreme and set a 45-hour nonstop record for skiing from Aspen to Vail.

“It was always for the fun and fitness and challenge,” he says.

Wilson grew up in Massachusetts skinning up mountains and skiing down with his family; his father had trained at Colorado’s Camp Hale and skied on the East Coast when the sport demanded mostly climbing up terrain rather than riding a chairlift. They spent spring, summer and fall weekends hiking around their Vermont homestead, which their family has owned since 1789.

Though Wilson liked playing baseball and soccer as a kid, weekends away precluded organized sports.

“I made the soccer team at St. Lawrence [University] mostly by refusing to give up to punishing running practices, and I practiced very hard to catch up to kids who had been playing soccer since they were 5,” he says. “It was mostly stubbornness, which I think is part of my life as an athlete — working hard and not giving up rather than having a vast reservoir of talent.”

He began mountain biking on a three-speed bike in high school and undertook his first 100 mile ride by age 15 without a support team.

“I liked to camp, so I would camp and ride — I would just put my stuff in my metal basket,” he says.

He started riding his bike to school in second grade, and since then, he’s pretty much commuted by bicycle. Based in Eagle County, Colorado, Wilson has ridden his bike, using lights, studded tires and fenders, to teach skiing at Vail Mountain for over 45 years. He rode to his summer job at Pedal Power in Eagle-Vail for 26 seasons. He also bikes to skin in the backcountry and has toured France, England, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and the United States on two wheels. He’s even ridden his bike to weddings.

As Wilson points out, the stereotypic ski instructor heads to the bar after a day on the slopes, but he heads to the Nordic tracks, backcountry or gym. In the past, he competed in about 20 cross-country races a season, from local 5Ks to ultramarathons, and has participated in two national and world master championships, plus snowshoe, winter mountain bike and winter multi-sport races.

He snatched his 15 minutes of fame when ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” covered the Mountain Man winter triathlon, and Sports Illustrated printed his photo in its “Faces in the Crowd.”

In summers, he “dabbled” in triathlons but primarily focused on mountain bike racing. His highlight involved making the national veteran’s (35 and older) team for the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1990, where he placed in the top 10 — behind nine Europeans. He competed on the national team three times after that.

When 24-hour racing debuted, he discovered he had a talent for such perseverance, earning top finishes in one of the toughest 24-hour mountain bike races in the world: Montezuma’s Revenge.

Last year, he stopped entering triathlons, after realizing that as he ages, he needs to fade out running “so that I can walk when I am 85,” as he says.

He continues to focus on his skiing technique and races in ski mountaineering, known as skimo. About 20 years ago, he began organizing informal, grassroots skimo events around Vail with a small group of racers. It appeals to his passion for physical challenges while enjoying nature.

“I haven’t been driven by results. I’ve had some success, mostly because I’ve found fun things to do that I can do for hours and hours and hours,” he says. “I still compete, but nowhere near as I used to. My body has a lot of miles on it, and my performance has diminished. I call it, now, rather than racing, participating with a number. Results are not the emphasis.”

He’s also still doing trail work, a pastime he began in Vermont at age 12 and then brought to Eagle County, working on one of the first mountain biking trails in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, he started Trails Action Group, the predecessor to Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance, both volunteer trail maintenance groups.

For 30 years, he also has been coaching kids’ mountain biking through Vail Mountain Bike Camp.

His latest pursuit involves teaching line and partner dance adapted to different music genres at Avon Recreation Center; in college, he took ballet, jazz and modern dance for physical education credits.

“I rely more on my skill as a teacher than I rely on my skill as a dancer,” he says, humbly.

Whether he’s competing, teaching or simply enjoying the backcountry, he’s been an inspirational asset to the community.

“Dawes is a [local] legend in the valley as an athlete, but it goes beyond that,” says Stephen White — who has been a training partner, team member and 24-hour-race support — as he lists Wilson’s awards, trail advocacy and coaching. “It just goes on and on.”

Originally published in the Spring 2025 issue of Spoke+Blossom.

Athlete Dawes Wilson Is A Trail-Blazing Legend