While ski descents of Colorado’s 14ers have received a lot of media play, particularly due to the exploits of Chris Davenport, snowboarding ascents and descents have received little attention. Zach Taylor intends to change that.

A Colorado local, Taylor has created the Colorado 14er First Descent Snowboard Project, a website to bring together backcountry snowboarders in the rockies and highlight the mountaineering exploits of snowboarders in the area.From the horse’s mouth:

“The purpose of this project and website is to document the first descents/early descents of Colorado’s 14,000′ peaks by snowboarders. This is an ongoing project. We are gathering this information from riders around Colorado and are looking for more…Specifically we want to hear about any descent you may have done involving steep and remote lines in the San Juans, Elk, and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges. We also want to hear about any snowboard descent on any 14er that happened back in the 80s and early 90s. We want to hear about first descents of new routes as well as the initial first snowboard descent of each peak. This is how we will continue to get a more accurate picture of the snowboarding history of Colorado.”

An admirable project in the works, it is worth checking out Taylor’s website if you want to see where backcountry snowboarders are pushing the boundaries and even get a little history lesson. Indeed, snowboarders have been pushing the boundaries of snowboard mountaineering for some time, and Taylor’s project offers insight into this less-publicized venue of the shred world.

Photo: Mark Rikkers descending the Snake Couloir, Mt. Sneffels, photo by Barrows Worm, 1998