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In an event two years in the making, renowned American mountaineer Ed Viesturs and ski mountaineer Chris Davenport will co-host a multimedia presentation tonight detailing their exploits.

As published authors, Viesturs and Davenport have made a name scaling and descending some of the world's highest mountains. In "No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks," Viesturs compiles 18 years worth of journal entries from the project that has consumed much of his life. In "Ski the 14ers," Davenport uses photos to illustrate his ski trips down each of Colorado's 54 mountains over 14,000 feet.

Viesturs said he plans to talk about what he did, how he did it and why he did it in his 25-minute presentation.

"Once I climbed three or four of the highest peaks, I decided why not do all of them, and I chose to do it without supplemental oxygen," he said. "For me it was kind of this long-term project that I knew I could sink my teeth into. I knew it wouldn't happen overnight, but it was a great, rewarding project."

The program is at 6:30 p.m. today at the Steamboat Springs Community Center. The event is sponsored by One Steamboat Place.

"I just set out to do it, and from my own kind of reference and remembrance, I kept a small journal on every single expedition. Thankfully, I had the journals and it helped a lot in reconstructing all the events and all the moments that occurred on those climbs," Viesturs said of his book and lectures about his adventures.

Davenport said the event offers a unique combination of presentation styles, with stories from an alpinist and a ski mountaineer. He hopes his book offers a similarly uncommon point of view.

"There's dozens of books out there about the 14ers, and every single one of them is what I would call nature porn; they're all wildflowers and rocks and meadows and lakes," he said. "No one's ever gone and photographed the 14ers in the winter from the perspective of the skier, and there's actually some great skiing to be done on those mountains."

Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Everything Outdoor Steamboat, a program through Steamboat Springs Middle School that focuses on providing outdoor education and recreation opportunities to youths.