The drive from Denver to Crested Butte is not a short one, and I was lucky enough to be off of work last Friday, allowing a leisurely start to the drive after a lengthy period of drinking good coffee and talking bikes with the fine folks at Salvagetti. Lauren and I arrived a few hours before sundown, plenty early to secure a camp site for ourselves and the other eight who would be joining us later.
Photos
Mt. Evans Road Bike Ride
After an already-busy weekend in the mountains spent skiing 14ers, I decided I still needed to get exercise before the Independence Day heat hit. I once again was in bed early, and once again was up at 4:30 without the help of an alarm. Unfortunately, there were no new-to-me 14ers that were close enough to get to and back before going to celebrate with friends in the afternoon. On the other hand, the weather was going to be perfect for riding up Mt. Evans, something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now. I elected to start from Idaho Springs, some 6,700′ below the highpoint of the road, and was rolling by 6:45am.
Grays Peak Ski Descent
After the previous day’s hike and descent of Huron Peak, I found myself at home trying to figure out what to do for the evening. Nothing sounded appealing – not watching a movie, going out, listening to music – except for going to bed. Being one to believe there’s usually a good reason behind it when all you want to do is sleep, I hit the sack early. I was planning on a relaxing day starting with sleeping in, but things didn’t really go according to plan.
My eyes popped open; I was wide awake . It was still dark and I looked over to the clock. 4:27. Before I’d gone to bed, I told myself – knowing that there was no way that it’d actually happen – if I woke up on my own really early, I’d go ski Grays. Knowing that I had plenty of time, I slowly went through my morning routine. Get dressed, deal with Scout, coffee, breakfast. I didn’t unpack my ski gear from the car the night before, figuring I’d be going up at least one more time for the long weekend, so all I needed to grab on my way out the door was a couple Snickers and some water. Continue reading
Huron Peak Ski Descent
After Capitol a few weeks ago, I decided I was hanging up my skis for the year. It just made sense, at least from a timing standpoint – I needed to be at work the next couple weeks, I had the Walker/Konsella wedding to attend the following weekend, and an Ironman the weekend after that. And surely I would require weeks of recovery before I could think about getting back after it in the mountains, right? That, of course, was not intended to be a factual statement. Just a few days later I started going stir crazy, and started planning for the weekend. I had been talking to Kim about conditions on Grays, and we both had Huron in mind, and settled on Saturday.
I started hiking from the lower TH at 6am; Kim, worrying that I was already at the upper TH, had driven up there a few minutes prior (my car doesn’t have sufficient clearance). Two miles later I find her, getting ready to start on the way up.
Ironman Coeur d’Alene
A week ago Thursday I got an early start for Idaho. It was a 4:30am wake-up call followed by a quick breakfast, grabbing last minute items, and heading for the door. Scout and I were headed for Coeur d’Alene for a long weekend of car camping and exhaustion.
Capitol Peak Ski Descent
Just a few short days ago, Marc, Carl, and I were joyously recovering at Fatbelly Burgers in Carbondale. We were there two weeks prior, but with a more somber mood. Maybe it’s because Carl punched a rabbit in the face, but I think the biggest change was that we had just skied Colorado’s hardest 14er, and didn’t have to go back and take our chances there with snow and the weather (unless of course, we want to for some crazy reason).
I know the biggest question you’ve all got – how in the world did Carl end up punching a rabbit in the face? Well, I’ll tell you. We left Golden mid-afternoon on Friday afternoon and made our way to Glenwood Springs for dinner. Dinner #1 was burritos; Marc and I picked up a set of sandwiches for dinner #2 at camp.
Shortly after 7pm, we were on our way in to the Maroon Bells Wilderness once again.
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Longs Peak North Face Climb and Ski Descent
I’ve been trying to get a ski descent of Longs done for a while now. A few years ago an attempt was cut way short by logistical errors. In March of 2009, I made the summit but the mountain was bone dry above the top of the trough. A couple weeks ago it looked like conditions would shape up, but wintery conditions through May kept pushing off any attempts. I’ve been talking for over a month about trying to get Longs skied this year and putting out feelers, and a couple weeks ago got word that Kim was interested.
Continue reading
Completely Shut Down on Capitol
Though I typically don’t put up posts from unsuccessful attempts, this season has been a little different. This one, in addition to the attempt on Pyramid a few weeks ago, were both so enjoyable and educational that I felt it worthwhile. Though making the summits would have been preferable, I at least learned most of the route and have logistics figured out for each, which should make any future attempts much easier. One of the biggest things I’ve learned? Stop trying to pack excessive amounts of stuff in/on my small avalung daypack.
Western Slope Mountain Biking
It’s the winter that won’t stop. It’s been rainy and cool in Denver and dumping snow in the mountains for weeks, I hadn’t seen the sun in a while, and avalanche danger has refused to ease. What better way to spend the weekend than head west to visit friends and ride bikes in the sun?
It rained all Friday night (and was still raining Saturday morning) in the Roaring Fork Valley, so we decided to head West to the desert for some riding, and ended up at Mack Ridge. It was a very late start, not rolling until after 2pm.
It was perfect – sunny but fairly cool, fun singletrack, good riding company, and best of all – no avalanche danger.
Pyramid Peak Attempt
It’s not often that I’ll put up a post about an unsuccessful summit bid, but last Saturday was such an enjoyable and educational day in the mountains that I have to. It was an ambitious plan – drive from Denver, hike all the way in up East Maroon Creek to the base of Pyramid, climb it, and ski back, all in one continuous push. We were moving at 1:45am, covered the first few miles very quickly, and started running in to difficulties involving creek crossings and bushwhacking by 3.
Through Polarized Eyes 