catching up on April and this weekend

It's been a few weeks so I'll write up a bit here to catch you, my faithful readers, up. The past 3 weeks have been like a blast from the past of sorts, and a lot of fun to boot. Here are the details...

The weekend of the 19th-20th Janan visited from Columbus. It had been about 5 years since we had seen each other in college, and she flew out to see Ryan (and I). Friday night we went to a Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse game. Holy cow. It was what I imagine a convention of people with Ritalin prescriptions that haven't taken their meds in weeks would look like. I was a little scared to be perfectly honest. The free beer and hot dog helped though. Anyways, Saturday we went up to our old standby, RMNP, to show off the Front Range to Janan. It was good to see it again and to get out for a hike on the snow. We didn't walk very far but had perfect weather for the outing. We saw several interesting blue birds, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, and of course snowy peaks. See the photos here.

The 23rd I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of Boulder and Colorado residency. It's amazing how much things can change in a year... I could write a whole post just on that but I'll just say, "what a difference a year makes" and leave it at that. (That's not to say my life before here was all bad and everything is perfect now, but you get the idea.)

Last Saturday Ryan, Allison and I considered another attempt at Quandary, but passed after reviewing the weather forecast. Snow and low temps in Breckenridge meant even more snow and lower temps 4000 feet higher, so we decided to get some quality time in with our snowshoes back at RMNP. The snow was great and we got in about 9 miles; from Bear Lake trailhead to Emerald Lake and also from Glacier Gorge trailhead to Mills Lake. After making the 1.5 mile trip to Emerald Lake, we headed down to get out of the wind for a snack and discovered a nice hill to trigger mini avalanches on. The snow was interesting to dissect and the layering begged to be experimented with. We climbed and slid several times and then headed back down towards the car. The area between Dream and Nymph lake offered a sustained butt-slide through the trees that was quite fun. After a refuel at the Glacier Gorge trailhead, we ditched the snowshoes and hiked to Mills Lake. The view was fantastic as usual, with the lake still very solidly (mostly) covered with ice. After the 9 miles we decided it was time for Cilantro Mary's in Lyons. [Finally! After driving past several times, Ryan and I finally took the bait, and it was worth it. The food was a tad pricey, but the atmosphere/building and food was worth it. Recommended!] Check out the day's photos here.

This week, on the 29th, was my 27th birthday. Hello late 20s; be good to me. Coincidentally it was also the week Matt flew up from Ft. Worth to do some work in Denver. We got to catch up Wednesday and Thursday night. It had been over a year since we had seen each other, so it was good to swap stories with another ex-Austinite in Denver for a short time.

Finally, this weekend was a super combo ski-climb double-dip! Friday night I decorated the Jeep with my new Yakima rack so that Saturday Ryan, Tony, Shelly and I could go to Loveland to check out the 17 inches of powder that fell during the week. It was Ryan's first day ever on skis, and he did very well. Except for a short venture (read: coaching mistake) into blue/intermediate territory that affected confidence, I have to give him an A for the day. I returned to the ridge for a go at the run I botched so badly earlier in the year (Wild Child?) and did much better. It was windblown and icy, but still enjoyable. It wasn't perfect, but much better than last time. The pitch didn't scare me at all and I was able to enjoy the ride. I have to admit that I wussed out on the 5 ft cornice/drop in, and came in at an angle, but it was still very nice... a confidence booster despite not being the best skiing of my life. The powder once off the ridge was very nice, even if just for a few hundred feet of vertical. My last run, which is to say my last run of the year, was a bump run coming down skiers left of Chair 1 (Cat's Meow). There were still nice freshies in the short tree section before the bumps, and the bumps were a powder/hardpack mix. The snow was really soft at the bottom, so I covered most of the gamut in one fell swoop. I still have a lot of room for growth on bumps, but it felt really good to work my legs for a few runs... it was just nice to be out for the 15th day on my skis this season. We chose to apres at the Dam Brewery.

Today produced a lovely day of rock climbing in Boulder Canyon. M'Linda, another '03 Redhawk, and her boyfriend, Jon, came up from Telluride to help yesterdays crew discover outdoor climbing in Colorado. It had been 5 years almost to the day since I had seen M'Lin (I blame the Peace Corps), so it was great to catch up and see her again. We went to Happy Hour Crag for some 5.6 - 5.8 climbing. We made our way left to right on "I, Robot" followed by "Are We Not Men?" then "Twofers" and "Twofers Gully". I think Twofers was the most challenging and rewarding, with the roof in the middle of the route about 30 feet off the ground. The view from the top was quite nice too. I still have a bit of a "heights thing" but did better today thwarting that than in previous outings. The photos from the day can be seen here.