Sunday was a long day; it wasn’t supposed to be. The plan was simple enough – a quick jaunt up Grays to get some exercise, but with plenty of time to get back to Denver for a CX team photo. We left from the highway at 5:45am (the road is drivable with 4WD, we did so for the extra miles) and were at the summer trailhead by 7.
Skiing
Friday Night Slides
After hemming and hawing about bindings for my new lightweight ski setup for a few weeks, I settled on Dynafit Speed Radicals (mainly for price, but also adjustability). After a pretty long week, some cool mountain air and light exercise sounded like just what I needed. I buzzed up to Loveland after work on Friday and was moving right after sunset.
Sophie’s first ski day
Things have been a bit hectic but look to be settling down soon, which is coinciding well with winter finally showing up in Colorado. I got out for an easy skin up the road at Berthoud Pass last weekend (it’s still thinner than I prefer for any real backcountry skiing), mostly to try out our new boots (me in the La Sportiva Spitfire, Lauren in the Dynafit One) and to get Sophie some “practice” playing in the snow.
First Look – La Sporiva Spitfire, Lo5, Ski Crampons, and HiGlide Skins
For a few years now, my ski mountaineering setup has consisted of Black Diamond Kilowatts, Dynafit Verticals, and BD Ascension skins. Boots have changed a couple times, from heavier and less-precise to lighter and tighter. I got my first look at La Sportiva’s new ski mountaineering line at SIA last winter, and was immediately intrigued as they seemed to hit every point on my list of what was lacking with my current equipment. Continue reading
Uncompahgre Peak Ski Descent
After last month’s unsuccessful attempt, Carl, Marc, Eric, Rob, and myself again made the painfully long drive to Lake City to give Uncompahgre another go; a photo posted by climbers who were up the weekend before showed that our one point of concern was no longer an issue. After much deliberation on the drive down, we got started up the road at 2:30am. Unfortunately, our nice smooth skintrack had been wrecked by snowshoers, requiring a bit more effort on the approach. A little over two hours later, we were back at the summer trailhead and took a break to regroup and eat. Before 6am we gained the climber’s-right side of the gully, climbing up the (now bare) spot we dropped in to it last time. This was the first indication of how much had melted since we were here last. I saw some runnels adjacent to our trail, but it was hard to tell the extent of them – later in the day, we saw that it was quite significant. We stopped here briefly before pushing on.
12 Hours of Sunlight
After a couple years of intending to do some rando racing, I finally got started this past Saturday at the 12 hour Sunlight Endurance Challenge. Brian up in Glenwood got me a spot on the Glenwood Insurance team, and at 8am Saturday morning we were off to the sufferfest. My strategy for the race was as cunning as it was daring – start slow, and slow down from there.
FOBP On-Snow Days
This past weekend was a busy one, as it was time for the Friends of Berthoud Pass on-snow days. I was again lucky to have groups full of enthusiastic, competent people who were ready to learn a bit of snow safety.
Things started off with breaking out in to groups and going over gear for an hour, before watching a staged burial scenario put on by a couple more-senior FOBP members.
Attempt on Uncompahgre Peak
I don’t usually post anything for failed summit attempts, but I’m making another exception for this one. Some friends drove down to Lake City on Friday night, nine of us in all with myself, Marc, Baba, Carl, Eric, Rob, Rob, Fritz, and Sarah. After a couple hours of poor-quality sleep, we woke up for a 2:15am start. We knew going in that avalanche conditions were going to be a concern, and it was worse than expected.
We covered the four miles to the summer trailhead in about two and a half hours. The entire way, the snowpack was collapsing, whoomphing, and cracking. Given that, we had to make reroutes even while simply skinning up the road. As we gained more elevation, the failures became less frequent but more intense.
SIA Snow Show – Part 2
Ben with Mystery Ranch was nice enough to talk to a few of us for almost half an hour about their packs, and it was very informative. I’ve always thought of their products as heavy and expensive – which they are, for the most part. But seeing the packs and hearing how 80% of their business is not to recreational users brings that in to perspective. They’re designed to fit well, carry well, and survive in very abusive environments. Mystery Ranch packs are also sewn in the US, which adds some cost over moving production to a factory in China. They had their existing airbag pack (the 42L Blackjack) and a smaller prototype model on hand, and it’s clear that they’re designing a functional pack first, and then figuring out how to add an airbag, rather than designing an airbag pack and trying to add functionality later. Weight (7.8lb) and price ($975) is fairly competitive with other bags on the market, so the “expensive and heavy” stigma isn’t necessarily appropriate. Definitely something I’m considering, as airbags become more pervasive in the market.
Our first stop Saturday morning was at Mammut, who is expanding their line of airbags next year. The system is fully removable and can be swapped between other bags in the line, with several packs ranging from 20L to 45L. The 45L even has back panel access, which makes it the first airbag pack I’ve seen with that feature.
SIA Snow Show – Part 1
This weekend marked the annual SIA Snow Show at the Denver Convention Center, and I was back to check up on the state of next year’s gear. Despite the poor snow year, people were mostly optimistic. Industry sales are decent, and – if nothing else – next year has to be better, right?
Friday started off with a snowstorm of surprising intensity, which didn’t deter Michael Collins, owner of Leadville-based Freeride Systems, manufacturer of some very-well thought-out ski jackets and work pants. He’s too small to run a booth at the show, so he set up across the street, enthusiastically showing off his wares in spite of the weather. Watch for his company to do some great things in the coming years.
Through Polarized Eyes 