I’d been wanting to get out for a while. 18 ski days for the season before the end of December, and only 3 of them backcountry – and all on the hut trip. When I saw a vague photo from a condition report on 14ers.com that made it look like Yale went from the top, I started planning. The east face would no doubt have better snow, but from scaling a topo I immediately called it a no-go due to steepness. I decided to take my chances on the standard route up Denny Creek. Hans was going to come along, but couldn’t make it; fortunately, a sizable group from 14ers.com was going the same day. Continue reading
Photos
Let it Snow!
After a long, warm autumn in Denver, a cold front with real snow finally made its way to town yesterday. The morning started off in the low 40s, and temps hit single digits by the end of the day. I’d be out skiing today if it weren’t for the bitter cold – a high temp around 0 at 11,000′ plus 20mph winds led me to take a much-needed rest day lounging around the house and playing with Scout, who may have been even more stoked than I was for this little storm.
I have to take credit for this snow-job – Scout loves the snow but she wasn’t quite rolling around enough to get fully coated.
Eiseman Hut WAGS Trip – Part 2
This is part 2 to yesterday’s part 1. We decided to do another lap (how could we not?), and things just kept getting better.
The snow couldn’t possibly have been better. Continue reading
Eiseman Hut WAGS Trip – Part 1
Let me start by saying that this is one of the best trips to the mountains I’ve ever had. Outstanding times with friends, beautiful scenery, amazing snow, great photos, and countless stories to tell. I organized this trip in August, after a few of us decided that last April’s trip was too much fun to not do again – only this time, it was to be a WAGS (wives and girlfriends) trip.
We got an early start on Friday, heading out from the Spraddle Creek trailhead about 8am with big, heavy packs on our backs.
A few more from…you guessed it, Loveland
11 days into the season and I still haven’t ventured out to the backcountry (though plans to correct that are in place), and have instead been having fun, trying to dial in new boots (Full Tilts, which have already given me four broken buckles in 5 ski days on them), and getting my legs back under me at Loveland. Just a couple photos here from the past week.
Alex is one of the few people on earth who can actually put a 150-flex ski boot to good use. Must have something to do with chasing the never-ending winter for a few years. Continue reading
Week One at Loveland
This ski season started off with a bang the likes that hasn’t been seen in quite a while. An impressively powerful storm rolled in at the end of opening day last Sunday, dropping 30″ of snow in just a few days. Lauren and I pulled in to the parking lot Tuesday morning to snow falling at about 2″ per hour.
Patrol opened some new terrain (Upper Richard’s) and we missed the rope drop, but still got some boot-deep turns that made it feel like mid-winter. Continue reading
Opening Day at Loveland
As you’re no doubt aware, this has been a long, warm and dry late summer/early fall in Colorado. This pushed off the start of ski season by a couple weeks; though some friends were going out of their minds, I tried to enjoy it on the mountain bike, running Scout, hiking, and just generally enjoying the pleasant temperatures. Things finally cooled off enough recently for Loveland to get the snowguns blasting, and today was finally the day. After grabbing our passes we got in line, as the clock ticked down to 9am. And then we were off!
It was great seeing friends I hadn’t seen in a while – that’ll change now that the lifts are turning once again. Continue reading
Hiking Huron
The weather has been extremely conducive to late-season hiking this year, with above average temperatures and a near-total lack of precipitation. With the weather on our side, Lauren and I continued on our quest to hike all of Colorado’s 14ers together yesterday morning with an ascent of Mt. Huron. After an early wake-up call at home, we pulled in to the parking lot shortly before 6:30, finding the 14ers.com “Gurlz Hike” about to get underway (though they were hiking La Plata Peak). The walk along the 4WD road to the trailhead was quick enough, and offered beautiful views of the surrounding peaks under an early-morning alpenglow.
Moon-lit, Midnight Hike of Torreys and Grays
Lauren and I were planning on adding to our (admittedly short, at this point – 6/58 at the time of this writing) list of 14ers that we’ve done together this morning with a hike of Grays and Torreys. I’ve done this a few times before (4 summits of each, 3 times doing them as a combo), and they’re generally packed, easy, and uneventful in the summer and fall. The plan changed last night at about 9:45, when I was thinking about starting to prepare to get ready for bed; I knew I had to if we were going hiking early in the morning, but I really just wanted to stay up and have some coffee. Then it dawned on me – full moon, clear skies, and gentle winds were in the forecast. Why not go NOW? Continue reading
Berthoud Pass Trash Cleanup
A couple weeks ago, Friends of Berthoud Pass announced a trash-cleanup effort for yesterday morning. They did one in June, but I was busy making last-minute preparations for my Alaska trip and couldn’t make it. About 14 of us met up at 8am on the top of the pass, watched a safety video, and got to work.
It was a beautiful morning; the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Continue reading
Through Polarized Eyes 
