Gnarch Radness – Part 2

~ Mike ~ Leave a comment

And now, the rest of the photos.

Nate felt like getting aggressive.

But it didn’t last.

Getting back after it:


Andrew, stylie as always:

Sends it! Smoove…We didn’t see anyone else all day except for one dirt bike as we were almost back to the car. Ace found that he lost all but one bolt holding his bash guard on about a mile from the car. After a little tightening, he was good to go.

After that, it was back to Fruita proper for a lap up 18 Road. I didn’t join, and drove the shuttle, as I was too beat from 16+ miles of biking (on my first time MTBing). At the parking lot, a couple guys and several dogs went out for a lap or two…

…while I took in the scenery. Andrew, Katy, and Nate rolled in a few minutes later. The minor issue with the bash guard turned major as one bolt wasn’t enough to hold everything together. He sheared off the big chainring on the way down, requiring a trip to the shop the next day.

We took off for dinner and a soak in the Glenwood Hot Springs, which were awesome. I’m envious of everyone who lives there and gets to drop in for a soak after a long day of skiing, hiking, climbing, biking, or any one of the many things that are so close to Glenwood Springs.

After a good night’s sleep, it was off to Beaver Creek the next morning. The conditions were horrible – cold, windy, dumping graupel and rime, all on top of a incredible ice crust resulting from weeks of sun, heat, and no snow. Visibility was nil. It was a struggle to make out two chairs ahead of you on the lift. Andrew forgot his boots at home, and I think he probably had a better day as a result.

Despite the crappy skiing, it was an awesome weekend in Colorado, and a great sendoff to the handlebars (which are now gone).

Gnarch Radness – Part 1

~ Mike ~ 1 Comment

This report has 25 photos to go with it, so it’ll be spread across two posts. Look for the second one tomorrow morning.

This trip was in the works for months. Bike in Fruita on Friday and Moab on Saturday and Sunday, camping and bbqing and drinking and all the fun that goes along with that sort of trip. A week prior to leaving, the forecast called for a 20% chance of rain. As the days passed, the forecast was increasingly calling for an end to the weeks of sun and heat, on the day we were to arrive in Moab. Mere hours before we were to leave, plan B was put into effect. Camping was to be scrapped, we would bike Fruita on Friday, and ski Beaver Creek on Saturday. What a way to spend a March weekend in Colorado!

Thursday night Nate and I left Denver for Glenwood Springs. It was nearly 7pm by the time we were on the road. Fortunately the weather was good and the roads were clear, so we were at Andrew’s before 10pm. After some unloading and hanging out with Ace and his girlfriend Katy, Nate dug out this photo, circa 1969.


The next morning we were up around 8, and loaded up the bikes. It was dumping snow, though we were hopeful it would be dry and sunny where we were headed.


After a stop for breakfast and spare tubes, we arrived in Rabbit Valley to a perfect 55 degree, bluebird day. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. After some screwing around at the car with tubes, sunscreen, layers, cameras, food, and etc., we were off to the Western Rim trail. Most of the photos are of Andrew, as he was the most adventurous. None of me as I was behind the lens, and none of Katy because she wasn’t feeling well and turned back pretty early.
Just before the following photos, I had my first crash of the day. I was too far back pedaling up a steep hill, pulled up the front wheel, and flipped backwards, completely uninjured.

Nate decided to go for this little drop. As you can see, he didn’t quite commit to it.

Ace sending it!


Taking in the view (of which there are no pictures, as all I had was my telephoto lens).

Andrew pretty much killed it all day long.

That’s it for today. 10 or 12 more photos tomorrow, finishing up the day of cycling and a couple shots from Beaver Creek.

Bike to Work Status Update

~ Mike ~ Leave a comment

Slow week on the blog front here as work has been running late and I’ve been preparing for a trip. I was looking at my bike/drive spreadsheet and plugging in some numbers to see what it would take to get to certain percentages.

As of today, I have biked in 34 times in 2009, and driven in 3 times. One drive was caused by 6″ of snow, one by having to go straight to the dentist after work, and the final was a result of dropping my bike off in the shop and not borrowing a replacement from anyone. This puts me at 92%, which is pretty darn good. I’m shooting for 95% now though, and to get to that level, I have to ride in another 23 days without a single drive day. If I drive once, I’m back into the 80s.

Accounting for estimated number of days off from work for the rest of 2009, I’ll likely have a grand total of approximately 230 work days this year, and 95% would require 219 biking days – not even one drive in per month. If I bump up to 240 work days (unlikely) I’ll be able to drive once a month. This could get tough, although thanks to recent upgrades to my bike, my ride takes less time than driving does – just a little more effort, especially in the wind. Summer will be easy, next fall could be a little more difficult. I guess I’ll just need to get some tires with a more aggressive tread (if I don’t have a mountain bike by then).

Hopefully I’ll have additional photos from skiing last weekend soon. Coming early next week: a Moab trip report.

Bluebird at Berthoud Pass

~ Mike ~ 1 Comment

This has been an exciting week. Last weekend I found a bargain on a pair of skis I’d been eyeing for ski mountaineering season, and ordered them. On Monday, I ordered a pair of Dynafits – reportedly the most amazing backcountry bindings ever made. It all arrived Wednesday, and was in the shop that afternoon. Friday night the skis were ready. Saturday I got a pair of new skins trimmed for the new skis. And today, I was blown away by their performance. My skis with bindings are half the weight of my old setup, the touring performance is spectacular, and they ski better than any other binding I’ve ever been on (including the Dukes). It’s simply amazing.

Today was another fun day up on Berthoud Pass. The drive up was quicker than expected, and I was up at the pass ready to go about 7:45. Franz was running late, so I tagged along with a couple guys in the parking lot most of the way up Russel. At 9 they turned to head to the top, and I dropped into the trees to get back to the road, so that I could meet up with Franz. They were getting ready as I got back to the top of the pass, and we headed out.

Cast of Characters:

Hans
Brandon, and Hans’ girlfriend Mel in the background
We leisurely skinned up to Russel, enjoying the incredibly warm weather. It was so warm that I dropped two base layers at the car after the first lap, opened the vents on my pants, and strapped my jacket to my pack. Once we made the top of the ridge, we poked around and found a fun north-facing line off the bench. Just before we dropped, we saw two guys skiing down in the cirque together, ripping under the cornice and hucking a couple small rocks. We all thought out loud “wow that looks like fun!” immediately followed by “…that’s not a smart way down.” Keep in mind that the CAIC warned specifically to beware anything near cornices today.

Brandon ripping:
Mel enjoying the soft snow:
Hans at the top of the line, with Volkswagen-sized chunks of cornice debris in the foreground. I’m glad I wasn’t underneath when that fell:
And Hans tearing it up:
Immediately to the north from there is XYZ Chutes. We went down Z, a fun line to get to the trees in the 80s. Hans led off with style:
Then Mel threw some snow around:
From here it’s into the trees of Current Creek and eventually out to the road. I had a blast on my freshly waxed/scraped/brushed skis. It turns out Hans had never waxed his skis, and the warm snow did something I’ve never seen before – it stuck to his bases, and got thicker as he kept moving. He had a few inches of snow on his base when Brandon and I turned and made our way to the road.
It was nearly 1pm at this point, so we called it a day. I was absolutely amazed by the performance of the skis and bindings today. I can’t wait to take them out again.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

~ Mike ~ Leave a comment

Last night, I went to see the Banff Mountain Film Festival’s world tour showing at the Paramount Theater in downtown Denver. Unfortunately I had to leave before the final film to get Amy to the airport, but what I saw was pretty enjoyable. The films for tonight’s showing are different, but I doubt I’ll make it, especially since I’m dropping off my bike for some work tonight and parking downtown is a bit of a disaster.

It started off with The Red Helmet, which was a short (6 minute) film of various action sports, with a loose story of a young kid overcoming his fears by finding a red helmet in the film, and putting the helmet on results in an awesome blast of climbing, kayaking, jumping, and mountain biking. Great start to get amped up for the rest of the set of films.

Immediately following was “Silent Snow,” a snooze-fest about how all the pesticides in the world flow to Greenland, melt the ice, and poison people. The only information was provided by two teenage girls who I had a hard time finding credible. Yawn.

There was also a film about a cool caving and kayaking expedition to find the underground source of a huge river in Papua New Guinea. Very interesting.

Another film was about traveling to The Heavenly Pit, a HUDGE cave/pit in central China, and BASE jumping from a cable that stretches across the center of it. Very cool story of the travel, and an incredibly intense jump.

The last film I saw was a short about the patrol director and the park coordinator for Aspen (different people). Interesting and enjoyable. Sadly I had to leave afterwards, but the next film about climbing sounded awesome.

A great show, I’ll definitely be seeing it next year.

Rainier officially postponed

~ Mike ~ Leave a comment

After learning some things about one prospective partner for the planned March climb of Rainier, I have decided to cancel. Certain specifics: he attempted to ski an extremely committing line, in February, under considerable avalanche danger, on his own. He triggered a 300′ wide avalanche that ran 1,400′. This isn’t the first time SAR has been called for him either. It was a no-brainer.

I will be departing on Friday, May 1 with a competent partner, and I can’t wait.

Bluebird at Beaver Creek

~ Mike ~ Leave a comment

This past weekend, I went to Beaver Creek with Nate and Andrew for a little bit of bluebird skiing, despite it having been dry for a few days (although BC had 9″ in the past week). We pulled into the lot at the same time, geared up, and took the shuttle to the first lift. The views in the Gore are amazing.



Ace proceeded to take us through a shortcut that he said was NFS land and thus no problem to ski through. A patroller at the bottom disagreed, but was nice enough to simply inform us rather than pull our passes for the week, as it was an honest mistake (which won’t be repeated). Feeling lucky, we headed towards Stone Creek so Andrew could steeze it up off some small cliffs.

Count it! Oh wait, no, don’t. Picture of the day:

Air to double-eject.

Sick!

After a couple laps there, we made our way out one of the backcountry gates at the top of a lift (which is right next to a patrol shack) for a short hike. As we turned on our beacons, a couple patrollers commended us for having all the proper gear, saying that most who head out the gates go without any of it. I’ve never been chastised or commended by patrol before, and to have both in the same day was a little ironic.

Nate:
Andrew:
The elusive point, captured in the wild (I missed a simultaneous double-point while still inbounds. It was amazing!):

Ace, contemplating his next drop:
Here we go!
Count it!
No, don’t count it. My buffer filled before the landing (due to shooting in RAW at 5fps) but like the first one, it was not successfully landed. A couple runs later and it was off to the bar for a couple beers:
Where this little guy was hanging out and being photogenic for me:
All in all, a great day. I can’t wait to do it again.