To my
family and friends who are always bugging me to send them pics from my
weekend (or longer) adventures. Here's a few of them: A little of everything on Saturday, including touring under a full moonlight
night, with the bonus of a lunar eclipse at sunset. The last weekend of February was the
Rockies Ruck at the Leadville Hostel - A
gathering of individuals who share a passion for long distance trails. Most in
attendance have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, Pacific Trail, or
Continental Divide Trails (or all of them, known as the Triple Crown). The
days were spent ski touring areas near Tennessee Pass, and the evenings brought oohs and aahs watching videos of thru-hikers
slog their way across America. Mt. Colombia climb. We could take the easy route, but why? Up the
Colorado Trail to the ridgeline, skin up unconsolidated snow (you know... slide
back two steps for every one you try to take forward), wade through waist deep
snow (now we're making good time—about ½ mph. Ugh), walk over sharp, pointy rocks,
and feel the 30-50mph winds screaming across our faces. By the time we
reached 13,200ft it was 4pm, and we decided to head down. That was an
adventure in itself, but I won't get into that right now. We reached the
truck at 9pm and hit the only restaurant still open in Buena Vista: Pizza Hut. Just another pathetic, dull, boring weekend at the huts. Bad friends,
lousy food, awful skiing. Life sucks, doesn't it? I wish I spent my
free time in front of the TV. Last minute trip to the Emma
and Kate Yurts in Leadville. Taking a break at sunset from snowcave reconstruction (the roof sank three
feet), and skiing Baldy bowl later Sunday. Mt. Elbert 14,433ft. This weekend is supposed to be cold. -15 to
-25 degrees in fact. What to do this weekend... Ski crowded slopes?
No thanks. Why not climb the state's highest peak? What a
great idea! The weather was still pre frontal and mild (5 degrees
Sunday morning and an inch of new snow), and I only used about a third of my
cold weather gear. I thought my -40° sleeping
bag was going to give me heat stroke!
We started from the parking lot in 20 degree temps, and
arrived at 11,500 camp with some ominous clouds swirling above. Near the
summit the next day, the light snow slowly disappeared, and we even had some
peeks of the sun near the summit. XC skiing at the Beav'. In other news this weekend:
The big
slide at Berthoud Pass Skiing the CDT and Tennessee Lakes area Course Maintenance - Beaver Creek Birds of Prey World Cup The storm that closed Vail Pass only dumped 4-8" in the last day, but that's
a good enough excuse to skin up to the top of Beaver Creek Wednesday night,
camp, get up at 6am, pack up, ski down completely untracked runs (the Beav
doesn't open for another week), take the shuttle bus to the West Lot, cross the
street and go home, shower, and be at work by 9am. 2½ day Vail Pass
to Blue Sky to Vail Village adventure Winter 2005 - Fall 2006 Early November flying at Point of the Mountain, Utah. My first paragliding solo--Sep 30 off of Bellyache Ridge near Wolcott
Two day adventure from East Lake Creek again! We didn't make it to our
original goal of Gold Dust Peak or Gold Dust Lakes, but at least we made it to
what was probably the water powered (via several mile long flume) rock crusher. Two day adventure from East Lake Creek TrailHead
to peaks Eagle and UnNamed 13,100
(aka South Eagle). Get back to the TH at 1am on Monday. Ugh. An evening of bowling from *@$! Nothing like a little snow in August. Alamosa has received almost 8 times the normal rainfall this summer, and
winter will be here soon... After volunteering at the Minturn Rummage Sale, I needed to see what kind of
stuff was left.
I found a Li-Ion battery charger and decided to buy it for a buck. I
figured the 5 megapixel camera I found on the Mt. Jackson ski
was dead from sitting in the snow and rain for several months (after dinner one
evening, I popped it in the oven overnight once it cooled to below 120°F
to dry it out). When I arrived home, I bent the pins on the charger
so they would strike the contacts on the battery. I held my breath, hoping
to see the charger glow red with joy. It did! Cool. The next
morning, I popped it in the camera, hit the power button, and expected nothing.
To my great surprise, I heard the motor roar to life, the zoom lens rotated to
full length, and a set time/date screen blinked to life on the LCD display.
WOW! Avon to Beaver Creek PHQ to Grouse Mtn to Cross Creek to Fancy Pass to Holy Cross City
to Fall Creek Pass to Tuhare Lakes to Lake Constantine to 12,500 feet on
Notch Mountain (thunderstorms turned me around) to Tigiwon
Rd.
Hitched a ride back home in less than five minutes (ran into some
friends who just hiked the Halo Ridge Route!). Had to settle for the
camera phone for these shots. Click here
for last year's Holy Cross Ridge loop. Family in town... No major adventures this weekend. Ground school in
the morning, sailboard in the afternoon, more ground school in the late
afternoon, and top it off with dinner and live music, and some fun in
Wolcott. The weekend was going to be hot. A strong,
upper-level ridge was
heading our way, bringing with it, stagnant hot air (as I write this, I found
out it was 106° in Denver this weekend). On Thursday, July
13, I was getting a Bachelor Gulch permit for my company vehicle and ran into a
former classmate from my EMT course a couple years back. He lives off of Homestake road and was
planning on canoeing at the
reservoir
the next couple of days. VMRG fundraising: volunteering for the famous
Minturn
Rummage
Sale. Erecting the furniture / auction tent.
Swiftwater Rescue training on Gore Creek First backpack of the summer. Avon to Buck Creek to Nottingham Ridge
Trail to Metcalf Creek Rd. to Moniger Road to Flagstone Park to Piney River to
Meadow Creek Trail to Elliott Ridge. Camp on the summit of Meridian Peak.
Upper Cataract Trail to Lower Cataract Lake / Green Mountain Reservoir.
Hitch a ride to Avon in less than an hour. Whew. Bike to 11,440ft, hike to 11,700ft(pass my old snowcave sites), camp under a full moon,
and hear nothing but the sounds of silence (except for a noisy
Ptarmigan) Gunnison River / Dominguez Canyon
Wilderness Study Area
three day paddle and hike. My first snowless weekend in almost seven months My first paragliding tandem - stayed up and ridge soared
for an hour (Mt Jackson in the background of both pics) Mt. Jackson - Memorial Day Weekend Biking the "Quadruple" bypass: Avon to Vail, to Vail Pass, to Copper Mountain,
to Fremont Pass, to Leadville, to Tennessee Pass, to Redcliff, to Hwy 24 over
Battle Mtn (no, that technically isn't a pass), to Minturn, and back to Avon.
1Meet two friends from Denver to ski French Mtn. 2Arrive
at trailhead to find their truck stuck on a snowdrift covering the road.
They then proceed to tell me that one of them had their pack stolen out of the back of the truck last
night in Leadville. 3Free truck by 11am. After giving it
some thought, they decide to throw in the towel and head home. 4My plan B: Do anything but go home! Bivy at 13,000 ft. on the south
side of Massive (build camp at 11pm under a full moon) and summit the next
morning.
Commando Run–Vail Pass to Lionshead
Volunteered for The Community Pride I-70 Trash Clean-up Saturday, and blown off Breck's Peak 10 by 40mph winds Sunday
Closing day at Vail. Off the mountain by 11pm—fifteen minutes earlier than
last year
Closing weekend at the Beav 20-50mph winds. What a great night build a shelter and sleep under the
snow! Wake up at 6am, ski home, shower, and get to work by 9. VMRG High angle rescue training
in the morning, and ... Snowcave reconstruction in the evening.
BURIED! - had to dig 7 feet down to get to the old entrance 3 days at the Waunita Hot Springs Lodge - Monarch Pass to Waunita Hot Springs
side trip
Enjoying our secret stashes with a new foot of fresh on one of the busiest Saturdays of the year.
We only had to wait in one lift line all day. Two day Mt Elbert climb to 14,433ft While skiing with some friends on Saturday, one
(who works for Guest Services) mentioned that someone skied from Beaver Creek to
Edwards a while back. What a great idea!
Snowcave camp Sat. night, ski past the Edwards water tank, and down the recreation path to
the Edwards Ambi Building. Snowcave camping for the first time this season Sunday night (well, since
skiing Chile in September). Course Maintenance - Beaver Creek Birds of Prey Race Weekend Course Maintenance - Beaver Creek Birds of Prey World Cup Course
- Removing snow the weekend before the race (well, trying to) 2½ day Vail Pass to Blue Sky to Vail
Village adventure Just playing with the Google Earth software and my new laptop... A view
from 5729 feet above my condo.
Contact me 07/12/15 |