welcome 2011

This is my 3rd year of writing about the year ahead. Last year's post was fairly short. To summarize, here were the 2010 goals...

1. Conversational fluency in Spanish. I have a tutor for this and so far I'm headed in the right direction.
   • Huge progress made. I'm by no means a native speaker, but I'm getting a lot better in my Spanish every month.
2. Working fewer nights and weekends. This must happen.
   • This was accomplished in a big way as well; maybe too much so. More on that later...
3. More regular reading of the Bible. 2008 definitely saw a dip in my time in the Word and memorization of scriptures. I need to change that trend this year.
   • Very little progress made. This goal extends into 2011 for sure.
4. In 2007 I made it to Vail for some lift-assisted downhill riding one day. In 2008 I logged zero days. In 2009 I want to increase that number... if I could also get a few days in around Crested Butte that would just be the cat's freaking meow.
   • No progress made, although I did make huge strides in cycling. I might have to tweak this goal a bit.
5. Avalanche certification and snow climb classes leading to couloir climbs and backcountry skiing (in the Indian Peaks in particular). No questions or excuses. This must happen. Specific objectives include Skywalker Couloir, Quandary Couloir, Mt. Toll and the Brainard Lakes area. This should plant the seed to set Mt. Rainier as an objective in years to come. [30th birthday? It does me no good to have named my cat after a mountain without having climbed it, right?]
   • Some progress made. Hopefully this will continue into 2011.
6. More 14er ascents. We'll inevitably explore new ranges this year, which I'm looking forward to. I'd like to start the season early this year and extend it as late as we did this year. Hopefully without sounding like a snob, I'd like to take the most pleasing (and attainable) line to the top and not just the standard route if the standard route would be considered less interesting. I want each ascent to be as inspiring as Huron was for me, and more about the experience in the mountains than just ticking a peak off a list.
   • Progress made.... I'm 1/3 finished with the 54 14ers. Hopefully there will be more outings to write about next year.
7. Phish is back on the road. I will attend at least 1 show!
• Cross this one off the list. I saw 2 shows this year and couldn't have been happier with both. I've now seen them 8 times. If I can see more, great.

The 2011 version of the list is basically:

1. Spanish
   • I'm probably heading to Peru in May, so Spanish improvement will need to continue. Having specific dates and trips has helped me in the past, so it should this year too.
2. Excel at work
   • The work goal is a bit of a weird one for me right now. 2010 on the job was good for me, with a project that effectively lasted the entire year. I think, however, it was a bit vague and at times I lost focus. I found myself floundering. I found myself in a major lull towards the middle/end of the year and actually questioned how much longer I would be a software developer. I'm really not sure what to think about that, but I hope whatever direction this year takes me, I aspire with vigor in that direction. I know that I am a project person; I am at my best and most passionate at work when I am working on a project I don't necessarily know how to complete when I start but am curious about how to complete. Maybe I need a new problem to solve. I really like who I work with and what I do, so who knows what this means. Time will tell.
3. Time in The Bible
4. Improve my running, cycling/riding, climbing, and skiing
   • I want to be better at climbing hills on my bike. Here are two ride goals: Jamestown/Ward and Copper Triangle.
   • I want to run a half marathon or at least a couple 10k's, and improve my 5k time of 25:04 from last summer.
   • I want to ski expert runs on my tele's and have 2 great days at Silverton before the end of the season.
   • I want to climb outside more than 2010, which is to say, zero days...
5. maintain zero credit card debt
   • I will be at 3 years in the condo as of March 9, 2012, so if I want to either sell the condo or move to a different place with the condo as a secondary property I will need to be in a good spot financially early in 2012.
6. bonus: keep a better bedtime/wake-up schedule
7. bonus: go extended periods of time without eating meat or drinking alcohol
8. bonus: see Ohio State football in person again

This list probably seems ridiculous, because it essentially asks me to simultaneously work on physical and spiritual health, as well as do my best on the job and my primary hobbies while managing my finances. That is nearly everyone's ultimate goal, and attained by almost nobody. Eliminating distractions and staying focused will be key.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 9

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/31/2010 Sunday

Happy Halloween from above what I would guess is Caribbean water owned by Honduras. Delta is once again carrying me back to native soil. The day started with a power outage at the hotel. Thankfully the coffee was already made. Breakfast was good, with toast, banana, pineapple and watermelon. After that my first hot water shower in probably 10 days. Brilliant!! Simple pleasures, I guess... After a slight cockroach incident I walked from 29th to 15th along Paseo Colon and caught the bus to the airport. The owner of the hotel gave me directions to the station on a map, and I said, "Ok, just just turn right at 15th street?" to which he replied, "Well, you won't find 15th street. The numbers are just for the maps... we don't use them. You'll know because the road gets narrow." No joke... my gringo brain still has trouble with the addresses here. For example, the official address of the Colombian restaurant I ate at last night is, seriously, San Jose de Costa Rica, 100 metros norte de KFC del paseo colon. What?!?! Anyways, the bus cost 450 colones (about 80 cents)... public transit is so cheap here it's unbelievable. A taxi would have been almost $20. In the airport I bought a chorreador... amazingly, it was a better price in the airport than anywhere else I traveled. A Canadian girl from Luna Llena (Montezuma) recognized me and we chatted for a bit. [I didn't remember much about her other than getting an ATV stuck in a river and a very personal conversation she was having with her friend rather openly. They were discussing very private psychological and sexual freedoms her and her boyfriend had talked about or done. It surprised me they didn't mind mind other people hearing them... I definitely wasn't eavesdropping; we couldn't help hearing them from our card game. I also remember this starting a conversation about how easy it is for an American to recognize a Canadian, but how difficult it is for the rest of the world to distinguish between American and Canadian English.] I also recognized several people from the ATL airport from the flight down... small world. Shopping for Cuban cigars I talked to a Tica who was working, dressed up as a witch and handing out candy. [We're now flying over a chain of islands surrounded by water so turquoise it looks fake. My guess is San Andrés, Colombia but who knows. That place is on my list... Also, the best part of flying Delta is still the Biscoff cookies.] She is apparently finishing college and then hopes to travel in the US; has a friend living in Colorado. She told me her favorite language is English, especially how it sounds when spoken by native speakers. That surprised me, given how so many people like the sound of Spanish more than English. Apparently along with electronics, it is also cheaper to buy running shoes (she was a runner) from online stores in the US and have them shipped to Costa Rica. Bizarre. This girl was so nice. All Ticos, really, are. Easy to talk to, genuine, with big and authentic smiles.

Overall, this was a good trip. I honestly wish it had rained less but regardless I got to see more of Costa Rica and relax. I don't think there were many major epiphanies but I think I proved to myself that I'm capable of travelling in other parts of Latin America where English is less prolific. Up next could be Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile or Argentina. I obviously couldn't hide the fact that I wasn't local, so I was greeted with "hi" as often as "hola" but feel like I did well with Spanish. The exception to that rule is San José. Josefinos don't seem to speak much English and don't seem to care whether you speak Spanish (but typically not in a rude way). I also learned my next trip needs to be 2 weeks at a bare minimum. 1 is simply not enough. I learned some things about Tico Spanish:

• It is much more formal (usted) on the Pacific side than the Caribbean (tú)
• Conversationally, they end a large percentage of sentences with, ", ¿verdad?" or ", ¿cierto?"
• Young guys start and end sentences with "mae" (i.e. Dude, that wave was great dude!)
• They use vos / sos but it seems fairly rare... maybe mostly non-locals

I know a year ago I wouldn't have noticed these things. Progress. And speaking of, it seems now I'm ready for winter. I need to really crush it on the skis and keep up the cycling through the winter. I have a lot of goals... time to write 'em down and get crackin.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 8

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/30/2010 Saturday

I am in about as different a position as is possible to be in after just 24 hours. No beach 100 meters down a gravel path... paved highway instead. Closed windows, a cool temperature, hot water readily available. Cable TV even. No bugs in the room to bite during the night. You get the idea.

For the 2nd time this trip I woke up to catch a 6am bus. Last night after the movie ("Silence of the Lambs") I decided it was time and packed up. Ara gave me a hug and wished me safe travels. Then I walked into my room and saw a big spider... probably 1" x 2" with eyes reflecting green. I turned the lights on and the fan all the way up so she left. I kept the fan on just in case. Gabby also caught the San José bus to go back to school after visiting her dad, so we sat next to each other on the ferry. She's going through college 2 classes at a time while working about 60 hrs / week. Incredible. Once back on land, the bus stopped at the Coca Cola station. What a zoo! I will avoid that in the future if possible. I was so exhausted from riding in a bus for 6 hours that I took a cab all of 5 blocks (₡500 ~ 95 cents), checked in and laid down for a nap. I discovered college football on ABC from a Denver channel. (The same horrible political ads from home on TV all the way down here... uggh) After almost 3 hours of drifting in and out of sleep I got up and walked out for dinner. I had planned on going to Machu Picchu like last year (nearby, delicious, accepts credit cards...) but it was before 5pm so they weren't open. No problem; right across the street was a Colombian restaurant, Mi Parrilla Colombiana. Jackpot :) My waiter was Colombian and even showed me on a map where my aguardiente came from. My dinner was the bandeja paisa; rice, beans, a fried egg, ground beef, sausage, plantains and a platano tortilla, avacado and chicharrón (pork belly... when in Rome, don't ask, just eat) on all one plate. I also had a beer and a shot of aguardiente plus café con leche and vanilla flan for dessert, all for $17 with tip and tax. Very reasonable. My budding Colombia fascination was spurred on by this meal, so I think I have to go there next. The restaurant was very nice; Colombian MTV in the background (not over the top), with paintings, maps and photos celebrating the owner's homeland. [sidenote: based on the musicians on the TV, I have to say, Colombia has an immense wealth of talented musicians] I think I need to improve my aguardiente skills though; I overdid the salt. There were several kinds so I just told him to pick whichever he liked the most. I got a plate of limes, a pile of salt, and 1 chilled shot. My waiter told me to shoot, not sip, and watched with anticipation. That stuff goes down really easy. He seemed proud of his selection for me and was happy to hear I liked it.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 7

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/29/2010 Friday

Finally a day without rain! It wasn't exactly clear skies all day but still, no torrential downpours. I did some reading in the morning and then surfed a bit. The tide was low and going out, so the waves were small, but that was good for me. It was my first time without an instructor so I was happy enough to be able to pick the right wave, stand up, and ride it all the way in. I did that several times. I was on a shorter board and it was very noticeable, but still not impossible.

Afterwards I walked the shops a bit and bought a painting of a scarlet macaw on banana paper... my 1 souvenir from the trip. The girl who owned the shop was born here and has lived in Santa Teresa all her life. She said her owning of the store was coming on 2 years next week. Hers, like all the others, had a pile of muddy flip flops outside. The road is so bad you honestly would just be mopping up mud all day long unless you made people go barefoot in your store. I would guess 30% of the road is potholes full of mud. It was re-done last December, brand new, but needs re-done again already. I have mud all up my legs and the back of my shorts just from walking on the road. After surfing yesterday my instructor and I were picked up by an ATV for a lift to the shop. I rode facing backwards, legs hanging off the back, behind the driver. When we got back, no more than 1/2 mile on the road, my legs looked like I had taken a mud bath. In the dry season it's dust instead.

There's a 6:30 and a 2:30 bus to San José from here. I'm not sure how long it takes. I don't want to get in really late but if I can spend more time on the coast, I will. Just doing nothing but watching the waves and listening to the palms sway is fine by me.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 6

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/28/2010 Thursday

I slept pretty well but the room was really hot. Or humid. Both. I'll probably use the fan tonight. Shortly after waking up the power went out for several hours. Marta was quite upset in a joking way. She cracks me up. I went to the bank and they had power. I got really upset at myself for the bank teller having to use English to tell me where the pharmacy was. Our entire conversation had been in Spanish until I could not understand her saying, "frente de la calle" through the glass. She didn't speak English so she had to ask somebody how to say it in English. I was mad my mental ear didn't pick up on what she was saying. At any rate, the pharmacy did not have power, but I picked up some after-bite aloe stuff but actually now think my right hand has some kind of poison ivy. I was careful not to touch plants I didn't recognize on this trip so I don't know what happened. That and the bug bites seem to be improving. I read for a bit and decided to take the road north instead of the beach... walked almost to Manzanillo without rain. I walked the beach back to Casa Zen and walked up to check on surf lessons / rentals. I decided to do the lesson right then. The guy who I setup the lesson from was Israeli and thought I was too, so I had no idea what in the world he was saying until he switched to English. After about 90 minutes I had caught several waves, and I was exhausted. My instructor was from Santiago, Chile and was funny. We kept swapping back and forth between Spanish and English in the conversation, but his instructions were always in Spanish. ¡Eso, eso! I have the board for 24 hours so I should be able to surf again in the morning for a few hours.

A few people showed up to stay here today, to the staff are happy about that. Speaking of the staff, they're hilarious, probably the most animated talkers and story tellers I've ever seen. I think Aracely takes the cake... she's tiny (about 5'2" and thin) but works tirelessly. Even if you put her on mute her stories would still make you laugh. She has a huge smile and talks with her whole body. Her voice sounds very young. I've heard she has 3 kids, 2 of them in Nicaragua. They must have been 3 lbs coming out... I'm not sure how she did it otherwise. Somebody keeps calling here and she's dealing with that... wrong number over and over.

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Tonight's movie was "Invasion" and the power went out. Afterwards I checked my email over the wifi at the cafe on the corner. The girl I ordered my chai from was Argentine... holy crap. Jaw meet floor. She had dark skin and dark hair, but very contrasting hazel eyes, skinny legs in designer jeans. Mi. a. freaking. mor. Did I mention that an Argentine accent with English is my favorite version of English? I only talked to her and her friend (an Israeli girl with some of the longest hair I've ever seen) for a minute but she used "vos" instead of "tú" with me and I was able to follow despite being a thrown off momentarily. My Spanish listening is definitely improving, despite the bank incident.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 5

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/27/2010 Wednesday

Speaking of doing things alone, I have discovered that I am the only one with reservations at Casa Zen for the 3 nights I'll be here. This is bizarre considering this same week last year they were turning people away. It will just be the sound of the rain and me here tonight... a bit of a weird feeling about that. I should make progress on another book, to say the least. Me and the staff watched "Nightmare Before Christmas" tonight. (Also, several of the staff here recognized me when I got here, which surprised me.) But before that... I came by bus from Montezuma. The bus "stop" there is a gravel lot. Luckily there were buses and people standing around, or I would have walked right by it. I had to ask the driver which bus to get on... they weren't marked. On the 2nd bus (Cóbano > Santa Teresa) I talked to an Argentine guy for a while. He showed me photos of Chile and Argentina on his camera; one of Aconcagua (climbing it is a life goal) from what must have been near the first base camp. I showed him photos from the top of Mt. Democrat. When I got to Casa Zen it started raining. After a while it cleared so I walked the beach north a mile or so. I really hope it's sunny tomorrow. The beach was nice but a lot of wood and trees down. The storm that brought the tornado to Manuel Antonio must have torn apart a lot of the coast. I don't know if it's La Niña here as well or not. Either way, it seems everyone is tired of it. Tomorrow I'll get busy one was or another... feeling inactive and idle. Surfing should fix that. That reminds me, the only other person getting a ride to Montezuma on the speed boat was surfing here today. I guess the waves in Montezuma weren't ideal. [I thought they looked great, but all breaks seemed to have major consequences if you fell. Not so here.] He was from Israel, spoke pretty good English.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 4

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/26/2010 Tuesday

The rain started last night (around 10pm, I would guess based on the moon... I put my watch away on purpose). The canopy is still ingesting this morning. The sky yawns and goes from emitting mist to (only barely more coagulated) rain, and back. It's going to rain a lot today. A big bushy-tailed red squirrel lazily eats berries in the treetop next to me. On the ground a raccoon / anteater mix thing walked by. In the distance I cannot distinguish the horizon. It was obvious yesterday. I didn't have a plan for today, and the weather has ensured I catch up on reading in wicker chairs from a second-floor balcony. It's a nice day for a hammock, which is fine because the book I'm reading is quite good. His descriptions of skiing epic days at Wolf Creek, and skiing in general, have me really excited for ski season. I know exactly what the dude is describing. It's one of the best feelings on earth. So is this... Costa Rica. I feel really spoiled that I can enjoy both. I'm not exactly sure what I should (or have to) do to get that feeling to go away. For starters, I'm going to walk into town when the rain stops.

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Night. It turned out a fairly uneventful day. I ended up going for a bit of a hike, though, when the sky cleared. The beaches north of Montezuma are beautiful ...but full of trash. Very disappointing. Pretty but in need of cleaning. I bought some groceries and stayed in, chatting with a newly married couple (an English guy learning Spanish from his Spanish wife) and then playing rummy with a girl from New York, a Canadian, and a Westminster, CO native. Later a German guy joined. He told stories of hiking snow-free 6,000m peaks in Bolivia. It sounds like a trip to Bolivia and Peru for mountaineering is in order. I also finished the book... a good read. The author reminded me of Darren, which made me think of traveling alone. I know that's looked down upon a bit, but then again I do a lot of things alone. More than I should. I'll get that figured out soon enough.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 3

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/25/2010 Monday
Yesterday was quite a day. It's hard to believe it was just my first full day in the country... an extreme variety of experiences, starting at 6am. I woke up at first light even with all the curtains closed. I believe the temperature also played a role there. At any rate, I was met at the hotel at 8am by a guide for Manuel Antonio National Park and was paired with a Canadian couple for a "3 hour tour." Our guide's English was very good. He encouraged me in my Spanish while we walked ("and, Brett, how do you say that in Spanish?..."). Right out of the gate, we saw lots of lizards, monkeys, sloths, etc. The beaches were also beautiful. At the end of the tour my guide walked me back to the hotel.
I already had decent photos of Capuchin and 3-toed sloths but wanted to try to find some Howlers and go for a swim, so I went back to the park in the afternoon. I had some great luck and ended up finding some Howlers and a 2-toed sloth, which I took a ton of photos of. After the sloth sighting I spotted a big lizard on a volcanic rock a bit further down the beach. It looked like a great photo so I walked closer. I got within 20 feet and mistakenly walked into a swarm of big black flies that seemed to have stingers. They didn't seem to notice for a minute, but once they decided I was worth paying attention to it was as if I had kicked a hornet's nest. I didn't get stung but dozens landed on my shirt, legs, backpack, in my hair... I must have been quite a sight for everybody else on Third Beach, flailing and running away. Humbled and confused as to what just happened, I decided some beach time was necessary. I stayed at Third Beach for a while but ended up swimming at Second Beach. Not for long though... After diving into/under several sets of waves I got caught off guard and made a fool for the second time in as many hours. I dove under a head high wave which had a twin right behind it. The first one lifted me directly into the second one (I didn't dive deep enough) so I literally got put through the wash, extreme rinse cycle... First a full back flip under water then thrown around to the point where I didn't know which way was up, honestly. It was about the same experience as getting flipped in a tiny kayak in class 3 rapids, from my recollection, but the kayak memory seems less chaotic. At least nobody saw the beach disaster, but still, I decided 2 strikes was enough and I didn't need a third.
For dinner I walked next door to Backpacker Hostel Costa Linda, the same place I saw people feeding a group of Squirrel Monkeys earlier... bananas. Better than french fries, but still not good. I had the chicken curry, which was awesome. Pineapple, paprika, chicken, rice - I need to try to reproduce when I get home. The 3 brothers from the van to Manuel Antonio walked up to my table and ate dinner with me. A girl from Georgia (Elizabeth) joined. I recognized her from the beach / park earlier in the day. She has an interesting story, traveling from farm to farm as an organic farmer (in the WWOOF program), hoping to learn Spanish. A Dutch girl (Mareshka from Amsterdam) joined us. She had come up from Corcovado where she was the only person stay at her hotel... apparently saw jaguar prints on the beach frequently. I must visit there. We got a deck of cards and started playing drinking games. Long story short, we lined up a row up empty bottles about 7 feet long, and Elizabeth wasn't even drinking. We actually drank the bar out of Pilsen so we switched to Imperial. Amazingly my bill was $21. That's a lot for Costa Rica, but not bad for a huge plate of food and about 7 beers. After beer 4 or 5 I switched to coffee (free all the time there). As if mixing depressants and stimulants wasn't bad enough, I actually got a craving for a cigarette (?!) and acted on it. Twice. Mareshka was smoking and it smelled really good. Considering I have only smoked maybe 2 cigarettes in my life before, this was bizarre. The wheels pretty much came off.
Needless to say, I was shocked that I got up and caught the 6:30 bus to Quepos > Jacó. Jacó does not seem like my kind of town. I caught a van to Playa Herradura and the speed boat to Montezuma from there. (The speed boat is not for the faint of heart.) I'm at Luna Llena now. I think I could stay here for a long time. It's a steep hill up from town and basically build into the canopy. Howler and Capuchin monkeys are in the trees literally 5 steps out my door. The capuchins in particular jump with reckless abandon from the roof into the almond, palm and banana trees. Pura vida. There are tons of wildflowers in bloom, butterflies, etc. A bizarre reddish rodent just walked by. The tide comes in, the tide goes out. There's not a lot going on here.
I just learned the use of the deep gutters/ditches next to all the roads are. Not only would it be impossible to lay pipes in the ground where landslides obliterate roads on a consistent basis, but also, and this is fairly common, the drains from the sinks run directly into the ground. I feel kinda bad for the soil for all that, and hope that improves in the future. All the frogs drowning in soap are probably not happy... but with all the rain we're having now, it probably isn't their biggest concern.
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I forgot to mention where we got the cards for drinking games last night. A British guy at the table next to us loaned them. He and his girlfriend were on their way back to San José for surgery follow-up. He had stitches that day from a surfing accident. Apparently he had (used to have?) a deviated (until today?) septum and was able to finally breathe out of both nostrils for the first time in years after getting whacked right between the eyes by his board.
The moon is coming up now. It's really dark here so the stars should be great if the clouds break. I've noticed a few things... This is a very different crowd than everywhere else I've ever stayed in Costa Rica. People are making dinners from scratch with groceries from the super down the hill. I think I'm the only American - the Europeans are all (most, not all) chain smoking and drinking wine. It's a more mature crowd... mostly older too. More independent. Nag Champa has been burning a long time and seems to help with the mosquitoes. I've never seen this kind before... it's burning in a coil that looks like it belongs on a stove top. A very slow burn (about 1/2 a rotation - 180 degrees in an hour). The radio is on, blaring 20 year old American music. It's horrible. The van driver to Manuel Antonio was playing similar stuff on Saturday, by choice. All the worst USA break-up songs of all time. I pray everybody knows this isn't actually what we listen to anymore. I have a strange desire to apologize at a yell for Richard Marx, Hall & Oates, and the Bengals. We've moved on. I admit to owning a Richard Marx CD. I sold it 20 years ago. I also just realized the Asian theme here; Nepalese prayer flags, Buddha statues and paintings, incense.
Even after the hour-long speed boat and multiple showers I still have sand in my hair from yesterday's disaster in the waves. I need another shower now. In need of a cleansing after last night. I had a vegetarian dinner, without alcohol (500ml of Gatorade and several liters of water instead today), right on the beach. I just watched the bats fly around and the sun set. I might run some hills tomorrow. The hill down to the beach probably averages 15% and would be nice on a bike. Yep, a cleansing is in order.

Pasajes de Costa Rica, viaje 2, día 1

This is part of 8 posts where I will, with minor edits and omissions, put my journal from days in Costa Rica online. There is no real grammar structure, but hopefully it makes sense...

10/23/2010 Saturday
This trip caught me off guard. Two weeks ago I had no reservations. Ideas but no plans set. I thought about winging the whole thing but now am happy I have the plans I do. I'm not sure what I'm expecting from the trip, but I'm excited. On the flight from DIA to ATL I sat next to the lady who read and crunched sunflower seeds all flight... no sleep. From ATL to SJO I read 1/3 of a biography about a ski bum from Wolf Creek. It was a bit confusing flying through a tropical storm reading about neck-deep powder. I think this trip signifies the end of fall for me. A little bit of summer before winter in November. My Spanish is definitely better. On the SJO flight I talked to a Tico in Spanish. He was returning from Boston... loaded up on electronics. Apparently it's much cheaper to buy that stuff in the US. Good chat with the taxi driver too. I'm not en route to Manuel Antonio. I'm really pumped for the park tomorrow. I got a text that OSU beat Purdue (49-0, exactly as I like to see) so now the phone is off.

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8pm. Just wrapped up a funny dinner that has me wishing I had a whole week booked at Vela Bar. My room is awesome. A fridge, A/C, fan, attached bathroom, tons of windows. I booked a guide for tomorrow and discovered with WiFi during dinner... not to mention experienced probably the hardest sustained rainfall of my life. Horrific waves of clouds are sweeping in off the Pacific. We're in a lull right now. But seriously, on the drive in, it was raining so hard that the windshield wipers on full blast weren't really helping visibility. Streams gushed across the road. Every trough/lane of the Spanish tile roof here seems as if somebody has turned a faucet on at the top of it... curtains of rain. It's a refreshing change from Boulder. And speaking of small worlds, on the bus ride in, one group was from Austin and the other were from San Diego with ties to Active and RegOnline.
Once I was established, I ate. The theme of dinner became, "well, I've never had that before..." Rainy season is 2 for 1 happy hour, so I got 2 blackberry coladas (I thought it would just be half price but actually was given 2). The sailfish casado was excellent. My waitor was extremely nice; asked me where I'd been already, where I was going, commented on my Spanish and asked how I had learned, etc. The room and staff here are great. I hope tomorrow is too. This trip went from backburner to "pick up right where we left off last Halloween" in about 6 hours.

how does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?

Yesterday I was at the Mile High Music Festival watching Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi be their typical amazing selves when I noticed some people (a girl and a guy) dancing to my left. They really struck me... I can't describe it other than to say they were some of the happiest people I'd ever seen. The expressions on their faces in turn made me so happy I wanted to go up and hug them. Not a single care in the world between them... Naturally, we were at a music festival, so you're probably thinking they were just completely stoned or hammered drunk, and not likely to make it home safely. If you guessed the former, you would be partially correct. They were dancing barefoot, guy shirtless with thick dreadlocks halfway down his back, girl in hippie skirt and simple fabric top, hemp necklaces, using a hula-hoop, etc. But that's not the point. You could see in their faces a simple joy. And they weren't weekend hippies like most of the people there (you know, the ones obviously wearing their token tie-dyed shirt or patchouli dress, the one that mom doesn't know about). This was the real thing. To make this couple even more amazing was the fact that both of them could have been models of some kind. The girl was drop dead gorgeous (no make-up, no need for that) and the dude would probably have made more than his fair share of billboards. But by the looks of them, you would know that they gave that stuff up long ago. I felt like there was something to learn from them. They had figured out how to let go and be content. Maybe they were from around Denver, but I didn't get that impression. It made me wonder what it would take for me to completely let go and just take off. To wander but not be lost. To learn to let the wind carry me wherever. How different would the US be if people didn't have such permanent things; jobs, houses, 401(k)'s, routines...? People sometimes say that they had plans to do X or become Y but then life got in the way. I think that's crap; worry and fear got in the way. It made me wonder what it would be like to travel until I ran out of money, then get a job there to fund the next adventure, repeat. There are a lot of different professions I think it would be interesting to try out for a few months and then move on. I guess that's not how it works these days. But maybe it should in some places. It made me think about some of my happier moments. In general (and maybe it was just the atmosphere my mind was wandering in but...) some of the funnest times of my life have been at music festivals or concerts. It's a toss-up right now, but the anticipation for a show is about the same as the anticipation for a perfect powder day on skis. If Phish books a summer tour next year, I'm going to try my hardest to be there for as many shows as possible. On the surface it might sound selfish or hedonistic to drop out of society or something like that, but it just seems like the right thing to do. There's a time and a place for things, and maybe next summer will be that for a road trip for me.

Pushing beyond the beyond

The last couple weeks I've been trying to push myself beyond physical limits. There are a few reasons for this.

1. I have a 100km / 62 mi bike ride coming up in September for charity. I've ridden most of the pieces of the ride in the past but haven't put them all together in one sitting before, so I want to be ready for that.
   
2. (more compelling) Ski season is coming back around soon. Seriously, there's a cold rain outside right now. Snow was in the forecast for Chicago Basin this weekend. It'll be here soon.

After the Massive run, I've been wondering how far I could push beyond what I thought my limit was in various physical activities. To that end, I started this little run by riding NCAR two days in a row. Last year it would take my legs a day or two to recover from riding NCAR, but I actually felt like I rode better on Friday than I did on Thursday. Noted improvement from last year #1.

After taking the weekend off, I remembered that I had a 5k race to run on Wednesday. Having never previously run a 5k competitively, I wasn't sure what kind of time I could finish in. Last year I recorded runs at a consistent 10 min/mile pace in preparation for my 10k portion of the Boulder marathon, but this was a shorter distance, so I hoped to keep it under 30 minutes. My run on Monday night (as a warm up for the race) was a comfortable 9 min/mile pace. With that in mind I hoped to finish sub-27 minutes but wasn't sure what I could do beyond that. As it turns out I came in at just above an 8 min/mile, 25:04. [Despite this time, which I was proud of, I still ran the slowest of the 8 of us from my office. My coworkers are freaking thoroughbreds.] Noted improvement from last year #2.

Thursday, the day after the race, instead of taking a rest day we decided to make an attack on Flagstaff during our weekly lunch ride. For those of you not living in Boulder, Flagstaff Road is one of the steepest roads in town and is noted for being as extremely difficult ride. I believe it is the steepest paved road in Boulder... certain portions of it, at least. Our climb from the office gained nearly 2,000' in 7 miles. I honestly didn't think I would make it, given the shape of my calves and shins after the race, but after the first overlook things get a lot easier and we all did very well. I've ridden to the first overlook before but this was my first time continuing towards the top. Although we didn't go all the way to the top, it was still a great ride, and much more than I thought I was going to be able to do. In my head I moved my hypothetical cycling limit a little further into the distance beyond the previous marker I crossed with that ride.

After Friday morning's 6:15 lifting session it was more or less decided that since I hadn't completely obliterated my legs so far, I should take on another challenge during lunch. NCAR became the objective with Darren riding his single speed. My legs were pretty worn out from the previous two days, but I still put in a decent enough ride and had some left in the tank for a sprint-like finish. [Darren still beat Trey, Denis and I on his damned single speed, which I'm taking as proof he has a 3rd lung or is some kind of outer-space cardio experiment.]

I had to take yesterday off but decided to test my new cycling limit today with Trey. After riding to Jamestown on Memorial Day we thought it was time to give Lefthand Canyon a try... all the way to Ward. Given this is a ride professional triathletes and cycling teams use for training, I honestly did not think I would make it to the top, but wanted to see just where the breaking point was. We knew the 16th mile was going to be brutal, but as we passed mile marker 10, 11, 12, etc. it seemed we would both have enough left to finish. Climbing 3,000' from the mouth of the canyon was definitely tough (especially that half mile beyond Sawmill road!), but as we stood on the shoulder of the Peak to Peak highway above Ward we both could have continued further. I was shocked and proud as hell. For the second time this week I moved my hypothetical cycling limit a little further into the distance. That has become a fun little game :) We discussed heading up to Brainard Lake from there and having the option to ascend 8000' in total, completely self-propelled from our doorsteps, to the summit of a 13er like Mount Audubon. That really got the mental wheels spinning... I think this is just going to have to happen. Considering a huge majority of North America lies below 8000', climbing 8000' in one day from my doorstep would be completely bad ass. Boulder County is truly a special place. I feel like I'm finally getting to the point where I can take advantage of all it has to offer.

I'm not sure what's on the agenda this week, but I hope to continue testing limits and blowing past them. All of this has been recorded on my trailguru page... which I might soon be replacing with a Garmin watch due to consistent inaccuracies... time will tell.

Mt. Massive physical challenge becomes 17th 14er

Last Friday Tim, Brian, Trey and I headed south from Boulder towards Leadville after work with hopes of hiking Mt. Massive's standard trail, the East Slopes route. Massive is the 3rd highest peak in the lower 48, below only Mt. Whitney in CA and CO's highpoint, Elbert (Massive's neighbor to the south). Given our time constraints, logistics, etc. Massive seemed like a good choice. On the drive down we worked our way backwards from a hard deadline of 4pm return to Boulder after hiking to determine we needed to be back to the trailhead by 1pm at the very latest. With 7 miles of hiking each way to cover, we needed to start as early as possible and run whatever portions of the trail that we could. With that in mind, I left the boots in the car and opted to go as light as possible, with trail running shoes at the ready. Having never run a long distance at 10,000' or 13,000' of elevation, I was curious to see what my legs and lungs were capable of. I have been running/riding/training much more this year than previous summers, so my legs and lungs are probably in the best shape of my life, which gave me a glimmer of hope. I thought it would be possible, but still realized this was not going to be like any other 14er I had attempted before. A new spin on the same old thing, if you will... making class I and class II hiking a bit more interesting... It was going to be a physical challenge and a race against the clock. We found a nice campsight within a mile of the trailhead and set the alarm for 5am.

At 6:05 we set out from the trailhead on the Colorado Trail at approx. 10,100' of elevation. I had to stop almost immediately for my morning ritual... bummer. I guess it's good that I have a body you could just about set your watch to for certain biological actions, but this was a bit annoying to say the least. Once I caught up to the group again, we began trail running. In hindsight, I think the first mile is the steepest of the 7 miles, which is bizarre given the Colorado Trail is usually gentle and flat. This did not bode well for my chances of keeping up with the group. Luckily, however, after the first mile the trail flattens or even descends, so I took advantage of that wherever possible. Despite the downhill/flat, those first 3 miles gain roughly 1,000' of elevation. I was very relieved to come upon creek crossings which ostensibly mark miles 2 and 3, and made it to mile 3 in about 55 minutes, apparently only just a few minutes behind the rest of the group. It generally takes my body much longer to get warmed up than Trey, Tim and Brian, so I was happy to have not slowed them down too much at that point.

We took a quick break for breakfast and then continued another minute or two to the split where we left the Colorado Trail. From there the trail becomes a soft dirt/pine needle mix for a few minutes until you reach treeline and find a soft muddy trail weaving through willows up to Point 12,466' that marks the final shelf, beyond which the Massive trail becomes a fairly steady grade up to the saddle at 14,000'. We took breaks every once in a while to eat and apply sunscreen, but we were all happy to find the trail fairly soft and consistent - i.e. able to be run on the way down. I was also happy to discover what time it was every time we stopped... I kept thinking it would be an hour or more later than what Trey told me, so I was happy to hear we were on pace to make our 1pm cutoff. At roughly 13,500' I began to feel the effects of altitude in the way of slightly sore legs (from the trail running) and typical shortness of breath. The sight of the other 3 guys ahead of me pushed me on, quicker than I would have normally gone without time constraints or faster party members. Altitude didn't slow me down too badly, and I was on the summit at 9:30. That was definitely my earliest 14er summit yet. I was happy to have done the first 7 miles in 3:30 including all breaks, and felt very confident we could make it down in time even if only walking.

I didn't stay on the summit very long despite perfect weather. At 9:45 we turned around towards the saddle, where we hoped to start running from. I don't know exactly what happened, but I stopped to tie my shoe in preparation for running and all of the sudden could not see anybody else in the group. Eager to catch up, I took off, discovering that perhaps trail running 14er descents is the best way to do them... my knees felt great, and it was simply a matter of letting my legs do what they wanted to do without halting momentum. I had only to spot my next foot plant, and the rest was fairly natural. My legs and lungs felt great when I finally caught up to Trey and Tim, who had stopped to wait for me at treeline. We all commented that the trail was really good for running, and noted that although there were some uphill stretches in the trees below us, the soft trail would be very manageable for the last 3 miles. With 11 miles on my legs already, I definitely began to tire, and was forced to walk some sections - even downhill - in the last two miles. I knew Brian was way ahead of me, though, and would be ready to hit the road as soon as possible to prevent arriving at DIA late. I kept this in my mind, and walked as little as possible. There came a point where walking hurt as bad or worse than running, so I just kept running. By that point it was as much of a mental challenge to push on, so I was happy (in a slightly sadistic way) to get to the point where my mind forced my body to go beyond typical limits... good practice for the future, I think.

After being flagged down by a guy who had questions about the trail (hoping to make my same trip on his own tomorrow) just a few hundred yards short of the trailhead, I made it back from the summit in 2 hours flat. All told, I had gone 14 miles in 5 hours and 45 minutes, including bathroom/food/summit/blister maintenance breaks. For comparison, it took me 11 and a half hours to hike the 15 miles that Longs Peak required a few summers ago. Needless to say, I was happy with the performance. We dunked our feet in the river by the trailhead and were on the road before noon, a full hour ahead of schedule. While I still don't consider myself a good runner, I feel like my legs are getting stronger and know for certain that my lungs are continuing to get into better shape. Here's hoping that trend continues in preparation for the next physical challenge...

The few pictures I did get are available at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157624417086953. Enjoy.

July 3rd Blanca / Ellingwood attempt

On Friday myself, Brian and Trey headed south to start the long Independence Day weekend by heading to the Blanca massif to climb two of the Sangre de Cristo range's 14ers; Ellingwood and Blanca. Driving into the town of Blanca (and for miles before/after), the Blanca massif looms enormously and intimidatingly above the dry valley floor. I really can't say enough how different it is to approach a mountain like Blanca or even Princeton (where the entire massif has such great relief) than a mountain like Bierstadt, for example. After some slight confusion around whether we made the turn onto the correct dirt road, and honking to move cows, we started up the infamous "road" with a few hours of sunlight remaining. Ultimately I was not up to the challenge and stopped the Jeep well short of where we probably could have made it before the road would have been too much for El Jefe. Regardless, with only about 90 minutes of light remaining, we hoped we would make it the remaining 3 miles to Lake Como... After locking the Jeep and actually hiking to a campsight for the first time since moving to Colorado, we shouldered our backpacks and made it about half way, stopping at a vacant campground in an aspen grove at the final crest of the road before it becomes more than something a stock 4WD SUV could handle. I was fairly spent. It's amazing what simply adding a tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad will feel like on your back.... not as bad as skis, but still heavy. I also hadn't really planned on hiking very far, and hadn't eaten/drank anything in preparation for the hike. [Note to self, don't take approaches for granted.]

After dinner and a fire with clouds rolling in, we went to bed. We got rained on fairly hard in the night and woke up at 5am for a 6:05 departure time. It was almost funny hiking the first mile or so beyond our campsight. If we had known the road was flat or even downhill from where we stayed, we might have continued the night before, but nowhere we passed was as good as where we stayed for two tents, and the light was running out on us, so I think it was best that we stopped where we did. Lake Como road is historically interesting. Along the way you pass sections of road where people have died trying to drive over one rock form or another (including old Jeep parts downhill from said accident site) and old mining homesteads along the creek. We made it to the lake in 80 minutes; I was last to make it after having stopped several times for photos along the road. The setting at Lake Como is really awe-inspiring... Little Bear Peak looms above Lake Como, with trout in it and bear nearby. At some point I wouldn't mind just hanging out by that lake for a whole weekend. It was also the setting for a Jeep commercial; no other vehicles made it to the lake while we were there. You can't just drive up to Lake Como in your 4Runner, take a few photos, and drive on like you can with Mt. Evans. I like the Blanca massif for the same reason I liked hiking Longs Peak; you have to earn it in just about every way.

Beyond the lake, the road dissipates into a trail near a waterfall. By the time you climb above the waterfall, you're surrounded on all sides by ramparts defending nearby peaks and you hike past lakes full of ice... in July. The scenery evoked a sense of seclusion and challenge, and the hike changed to a climb, much like Castle last September. This was more than simply following a trail up a big mound. I really liked it. It was actually somewhat daunting, and the photos do not do justice to what you see there. By that point, I was super excited about the day and being able to prove to myself that I could take on harder and more remote peaks, as well as the possibility of achieving 1/3 completion (this would make 18/54) of Colorado's 14ers... it seemed merely a matter of time before post-climb beers were in order. However, looking above us and down the valley back to the desert, it became obvious that our weather window was rapidly shrinking. At 9am, after stopping and debating several times about course of action, we turned around. We were at 13,000' right below the Crater Lake ledges/waterfall, with several hours before noon... but clouds had built up in the valley and rolled up to right above us. Literally no more than 300' above us another party was surrounded by clouds. I believe if there had not been clouds, we would have made great time and made it to the top of both Blanca and Ellingwood, but it simply wasn't in the cards for us. To be honest, it was very frustrating and difficult to accept turning around. I've had to turn around or not attempt before due to vehicle issues or another person in the party being unable to continue... both those times were easier to accept. It was nothing we did to ourselves; it was beyond our control. We knew there was rain in the forecast, had been rained on the night before, and did not see any possibility of the clouds burning off. By the time we made it back to Lake Como, the peaks were relatively free of clouds, and it seemed like a nice clear day above us. That being said, however, it was a good lesson learned, and I would make the same decision again. When it comes to lightning, I would rather make the wrong safe decision than the wrong dangerous one. But still...

We made our way back down to the previous night's campsight, packed up wet tents and hiked back to the Jeep. It was a much less stressful drive out... something about gravity, I think.

Given the long weekend and the opportunity to reflect on recent events, I've started to wonder and/or realize a few things about myself.

• It was good to know that I can make myself turn around due to weather. It was pretty ominous when we made the call, and it cleared up quickly, but it was good to have been able to do it rather than pushed on only to regret it later.
  
• I will (hopefully?) never stop enjoying merely hiking in the mountains, but it seems lately that I am curious to try more difficult routes up 14ers. For example, I want to ascend the Bell Cord when I make it to the Bells. I want to take routes that require more thinking than "follow the obvious foot path..." to the top. Don't get me wrong; even merely hiking a 14er takes a great deal of energy, preparation, mental stamina, etc... but after having done that 15 times, I want to push myself a little bit more. Even if it just means hiking outside of the easier summer months, I think I'm finally ready both physically and mentally. I also think that it has something to do with getting away from crowds. The view from Lake Como and beyond on Saturday was truly incredible, and seems more so because it must be earned.
• My greatest physical passion of any that I pursue is skiing. I do several things better than skiing, but nothing gives me greater satisfaction. I could ski every day for more days than I care to consider before it became mundane. A lot of my summer activities (especially running... 99% of the time I really hate running, as in, definitely hate, hate with italics) are solely to improve my potential to ski better. I'm not ready physically yet, but similar to the above point, I'd like to ski some 14ers when I am.
• I don't really desire to hike all 54 of Colorado's 14ers just to say that I have hiked them all. I don't really understand that motivation, or at least don't want to associate myself with it. If I am just hiking to be able to add another notch to my brag belt, I'm out there for the wrong reason. I want to climb them in a way that's challenging to me. (Obviously in the first part of the season after having not been at altitude, even the standard routes can be challenging enough, so this does not always exclude standard class 1 or 2 routes.) To that end, I have started to wonder if I shouldn't spend more time in the Indian Peaks nearby, where there are plenty of challenging 12ers or 13er peaks which are more challenging than most 14ers.
  

Spring 2010 recap

Spring began with Darren, Brian and I somewhere in central CO heading east on I-70 from Silverton by the skin of my teeth... err, Jeep. Tomorrow is the first day of summer. Let's recap some of the in-between.

• In April and May I got a few more ski days in... notably my first day on my tele's at Ski Cooper, went to Winter Park on my tele's for their closing day, and one last in-bounds day on Loveland's closing day, which turned out to be a decent powder day.
• In April I put my skins on my new tele setup and got completely worked (we made it to the trailhead.... no further), but regardless, I learned a bit about skinning in my would-be attempt to ski the Angel of Shavano.
  
• In May I spent two Saturdays playing in the Brainard Lakes area; one snowshoeing and one skiing. I have already talked about that here.
  
• On Memorial Day weekend, dad came out from Ohio to see more of Colorado and get some reprieve from work. We had a very nice weekend together with great weather. I took him on a few of Boulder County's finest back roads, and we both enjoyed. It was a pleasant reminder of how much Boulder County has to offer. After dad flew home, Trey and I put in a great ride at a very moderate pace to Jamestown and back. This was my longest outing on my road bike so far, and really has me looking forward to more long hills on the bike.
• On the first weekend in June, Ryan, Allison and I made it to the top of our first 14er of the year; Mt. Princeton. We camped just above the radio towers on one of the windiest nights I've ever spent in a tent, but luckily had very mild weather for the hike. There was a little snow to cross, but not enough to travel with winter gear. It was a slightly confusing descent, but overall a very nice day. With my first southern Sawatch peak in the books, I was happy to have the season underway. Photos from the outing are available here. I have to admit that I was a bit under-prepared in terms of clothing... I forgot my gloves, which were sorely missed for several stretches during the hike. It's always good to aim low for the first outing of the year to prevent simple mistakes from creating epics.
  
• Last weekend I flew back to Ohio to see my parents, some friends from high school and college, and to see Phish again at Blossom. I hadn't seen them in 10 years, since before their multi-year hiatus and semi-meltdowns. I had read positive reviews and heard a few of their shows from 2009, and all I can say is WOW. That was my 7th Phish show, and the best one I've seen in person. Show review: http://phishthoughts.com/2010/06/13/blossoming/.
  
• Yesterday Trey, Brian and I hiked Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache Peak. I think this was probably my most efficient 14er hike yet, and was very rewarding. We camped exactly where County Road 254 intersects the Colorado Trail in one of the most ideal campsights I've ever stayed in, at 9,850'. [Note to self: the Colorado Trail in this part seems like a perfect mountain bike path!] We were awake at 6am and on the trail at exactly 7am. The initial hike to treeline felt fairly strenuous, but was not impossible. I believe we hiked at roughly 1200' of elevation gain per hour, passing everyone we saw except the lady and dog that were training for the Pikes Peak marathon. I'll be the first to say that it is NOT a race, but I felt good being able to sustain the pace that we did, considering Trey and Brian are generally in much better cardio shape than I am. I felt really good the whole day and did not struggle with altitude until ~13,500, and even then it was largely due to my needing lunch that I slowed. Only until we had already summited both Shav+Tab already, and were re-summiting Shav did mental fatigue begin to set in for me. The weather was absolutely ideal until a stiff breeze formed clouds above us on our descent back to the Angel col from Shavano's summit. Happy to be off the ridge, it was a knee-killing descent back to the Colorado trail, but a very beautiful one at that. 10 miles and 5500' of elevation gain doesn't go down easy, but my body feels good today, so hopefully that's a sign I am in good enough shape to handle just about any challenge that comes my way this summer. Photos from the day are here.
  --
  This time I remembered gloves, but I brought two left gloves! [I have two pairs of the same Black Diamond glove, which I currently cannot remember the name of, but they're lightweight and bomber. I use them year-round for ski gloves, even though they're really just a simple Gore-Tex shell with a fleece liner. People always assume my hands are cold, but the gloves are just amazing.] To fix the problem, I pulled out the liner and turned it inside-out for my right hand. Not ideal, but a perfect fit when needed. Hopefully my next outing I'll have my glove situation all worked out.
  

It has already been a very nice year in the mountains. Who knows what the summer and fall will bring...

on motivation and traits to avoid

First, a few quotes to get the wheels turning...

The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
-Socrates

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-Martin Luther King, Jr

The most violent element in society is ignorance.
-Emma Goldman

By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction.
-William Osler

So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Secondly, my motivation for writing this: I did some reading on a blog from a respected outdoor sports Boulderite; initially, his writing about why he skydives, highlines, etc. I was compelled to comment that his justification for doing "crazy" things seemed a bit selfish, especially since his argument was based on eliminating the concept of self. I then came across a startling later post of his where he effectively announced he was stopping outdoor sports because his motivation was all wrong. If you've never read anything like this before, you should read it as a cautionary tale to hopefully avoid pursuing peer recognition or glory over the real reason to pursue the freedom of the hills.

This post honestly scared me, and made my think about the reason I ski, climb, hike, ride my bikes, etc. I thought about the traits which could take root in me and cloud my motivation to the point of ruining a sport for me. I think the four traits below are the most critical to avoid in order to keep motivation pure.

1. a hearty appetite for peer acceptance, praise and recognition: wanting to hear that what you did was awesome is blatant proof that you're doing something for the wrong reason
   
2. complacency: feeling like the level of accomplishment you currently stand at is good enough is a surefire way to guarantee you won't be the best at your folly of choice
   
3. apathy: simply not caring or lacking the desire to improve is a definite sign that you have lost the true reason you started to pursue something
   
4. apathy towards ignorance: not caring that you don't know either how to improve or that you have all the information to make a good decision is probably the most egregious and concerning trait here, and is probably one of the biggest problems in the United States today.
   

It's obvious but worth noting that avoiding these four traits applies to everything you do and not just outdoor sports. I might have to re-read this to myself in the future whenever I feel I'm veering off the correct course.

May brings a corn harvest in the Indian Peaks

I haven't really written anything new on here in a few months, so I guess it's time. I'm currently taking a break from reading In Search of Captain Zero, which, even though I'm only 60 pages in, is probably one of the top 10 best books I've ever read. Let's hope the next 300 pages keep the momentum. He is an excellent writer, funny, introspective, honest, and able to describe nuances of fact in ways that are obvious once conveyed but for some reason I hadn't seen before. I think reading both of Allan Weisbecker's other books will soon by on my to-do list. I first heard of him while researching destinations for my first trip to Costa Rica. Pavones caught my attention (although I didn't make it down that far that time), and Weisbecker showed up in Google results. For reasons honestly unknown, I stopped into a bookstore after a Spanish tutoring session last week and bought a Weisbecker book.

Why I'm telling you this, my loyal reader, is because I think In Search of Captain Zero has some very interesting insights into Weisbecker that I believe ring true for me as well. He talks about a lifelong and singularly true love affair with a wholly separate She, more alluring than any woman he's ever known. This She is surfing. He writes passionately about how surfing changed his life, his perception and understanding of oceanic processes, and his perspective on basically everything in his life.

I guess what I might be getting at is, somewhere in between when I first moved to Boulder three years ago and right now, I'm fairly certain I too started falling in love with a separate She. A demanding She named snow. (I only hope that I might possibly also be able to eventually find that non-separate and original She... but perhaps only insofar as she doesn't get in the way of the separate She... uggh.) I haven't yet quit my job to spend the rest of my days in her hauntingly dangerous, unforgiving yet perfect and loving arms, but I think the stage has been set, even if only to the smallest degree so far. Something similar to "I would ski every day if I could" escaped my lips today above Brainard lake after skiing a small section of Mount Audubon. There you go.

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And now with the backstory told, we can get on to something actually relevant to the title of this post. I've been up to the Brainard Lake area twice in May, and have loved every minute. The Blue Lake trail is seriously one of the most spectacular settings in of the Front Range that I've spent time in. The first outing was a snowshoe to Blue Lake, which turned out to be 10 miles (2 bonus miles each way due to road closure).
Two weeks later (today), we rode those 4 miles on bike instead. After meeting in Boulder at 5am, we headed beyond Ward with 4 pairs of snowshoes, 1 pair of skis+skins, 3 snowboards, and 5 bikes. The two miles of road from winter closure to Mitchell trail parking area were a non-issue on the bikes... highly recommended! The winds were fierce, and in the end the sun proved stronger than predicted, so we had to cut the expedition short due to deteriorating snow conditions. Because of that, we didn't quite get the ski descent vertical I had hoped for, but now I know to get an earlier start and be in better shape next time. There was no let down though... I got my first backcountry turns in on my tele skis (I wouldn't call them tele turns, but it was only my 4th day on teles if memory serves... I need to be patient) after getting skunked on The Angel of Shavano in April. Regardless of how beautiful my turns were, there is just something about skiing that resonates with me and is continually becoming more necessary in my diet. The photos from today are here.

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As a very lengthy tangent, if there's one piece of advice I can give would-be Coloradans, it would be to prepare yourself for regularly getting punched in the face by hops if you drink local beer, and - far less facetiously - to prepare yourself for falling in love with a separate She, as so many others here have. One thing you cannot call most people living under the banner of red, white, blue and gold is apathetic or passionless; Weisbecker's words ring true for so many Coloradans. Whatever the folly, it's fascinating and exciting to see so many She's being loved in this state.... whether your name is Tony Krupika, Chris Davenport, or Joe Notfamous. The people of Colorado continue to fascinate me, and likely will for the duration of my stay. Case in point: It was mentioned while having a beer on my 29th birthday to our server at Twisted Pine that I had come down with Peter Pan-itis for want of youth. Her reply was something to the effect of "you and every last bachelor in this town..." She knows exactly (... and apparently all too well) what Allan Weisbecker is talking about in In Search of Captain Zero, and I'm trying to convey here.

Smokies June 2006

2006-06-11 - 2006-06-15

Summary

This is a 5 day hike through eastern Great Smoky Mountains National Park, primarily on the North Carolina side of the park. The 54 mile loop starts and ends at the Cosby Ranger station. Highlights include 9 miles of Appalachian Trail including some of the highest points in the park, dramatic elevation changes, and some of the most secluded trails in the park. Overall I would rate this as moderate to strenuous with patches of easy. Those with bad knees may want to reconsider, and those wishing to test their uphill endurance should make reservations immediately. So let's dive right in...

I'll remember this little adventure as the one where I checked the topographic lines but didn't really… and made a fool of myself in the process. The graphs will prove I clearly didn't have luck finding a five day version of the classic Smokies "up and back" triangle route (where you drive into the park late Friday night, hike up to the AT Saturday, take in as much of the AT as possible on Sunday, descend Monday morning to the car on a different trail than you took up, and get home Monday night). Despite my mishap, however, this route was a diamond in disguise.

The day charts are not drawn to the same scale. They are the same width but not the same number of data points, thus making days with fewer data points seem more gradual. The final graph is to scale, with each tick on the X-axis representing 1 mile. Follow along at http://home.nps.gov/applications/parks/grsm/ppMaps/GRSM_Trail%20Map%202005.pdf.

Day 1

We camped in the Cosby campground and headed out in the morning, so getting to the trailhead was easy. There were surprisingly few vehicles at the Gabes Mountain Trail trailhead parking for a summer weekend. This was clearly not going to be like a walk through Cades Cove or up to Clingmans Dome. The seclusion, the news that campground #34 was closed due to bear activity, and Albright old growth trail I'd read about had me excited for day 1, not to mention the whole trip. Since I was out of shape and knew it, these 13 miles were the ones I was concerned about. I had correctly detected the 2000 foot elevation gain coming after lunch. The trail started out easy on me, though, and that was welcomed. A Boy Scout group joined us at Hen Wallow falls but didn't follow us any further. I honestly cannot remember much about the morning except that campground #34 looked like a great site. Despite failing to produce a bear for us, it made a good lunch stop. We strolled over 4 easy miles to Maddron Bald Trail and then the fun began. It was early afternoon when we made it to Albright Grove Loop Trail. I had definitely worked up a good sweat already and still had more than half the elevation gain ahead of me. I think I was focused on that too much to appreciate the old growth, but I would still recommend taking the side trail over staying on Maddron Bald Trail. The march to campground #29 (Otter Creek) wore my lazy butt out. #29 is small and not very flat but a good water source. By the time I got there the skies had commenced a sprinkle which became a downpour as soon as we had the tent up. The rain made for a quick dinner and early bedtime.

Day 2

We woke up pleased to be dry and foolishly expecting a shorter, relatively flat day (my fault). Just checking beginning and ending elevation yields a net gain of 500 ft, but a closer look yields another 1700 ft climb before lunch. Lesson learned... somebody needs to steal the map from Brett. [Side note: This actually is the flattest day of the trip if you sum the absolute elevation deltas for each day (see chart below).] The sky was overcast, but right at Maddron Bald the clouds cleared up and I took a minute to enjoy the view. After that, it was a head's down mission to get to the AT - easier said than done for an out-of-shaper like me. When we made it to the AT we celebrated, snacked (but decided to eat lunch somewhere further down the trail), and rediscovered the "smoky" AT. Apparently everyone else got the memo about bad weather, because the AT was surprisingly low in traffic. It's a good thing, though, because I would have looked like a train wreck. The group split up due to non-agreement about whether to take the primitive trail to Mt. Guyot (the 4th highest point in the Southern Appalachians, 2nd highest point in GSMNP, and the highest point on this trip) and agreed to reconvene for lunch at Tricorner Knob. I never saw the primitive trail and was stumbling through the pines beginning to welcome my newfound empty-stomach induced delirium (the temperature is much lower in dense pines without the sun... it's kind of like a nice buzz after a while… learn to enjoy it like Hunter S. Thompson would have... but where the hell is Mt. Guyot... did I just say that out loud?) when I (still believing Tricorner Knob was miles away) eventually broke down and started gorging on lunch (my excuse for stopping was shivering and needing a fleece). Ryan backtracked for a few minutes to find me and bring good news about our progress. Tricorner Knob was close by. I packed up and finished lunch down the hill. The sun broke the clouds up past Mount Sequoyah and revealed great views. The Eagle Rocks area is definitely a site to see. Overall, this is a very pretty stretch of AT, and I was a little bit sad to see it go when we headed down to the Peck's Corner shelter on Hughes Ridge Trail. That night we woke up to strange noises which we eventually concluded were a wild hog. I didn't even know there were wild hogs in the Smokies, but it definitely didn't sound like a bear, so there you have it.

Day 3

Day 3 came easy after finally being forced into shape (or at least enough so) by the trail itself. Or was it that day 3 actually was flat? After all, it's just a 10 mile cruise down to 5040 ft. from 5280. Wrong again... almost all the elevation lost before lunch is quickly made up getting to campground #44 [Somebody needs to club me for lack of topo reading skills. Lesson learned a second time. Oh well…at least we're used to the elevation changes by now]. The first several miles were a very gentle descent of Hughes Ridge. Although not dramatic and exposed like AT ridges, I thought Hughes Ridge was interesting because it was very narrow. Vistas to both right and left are revealed when the leaves aren't too thick. Turning left onto Enloe Creek Trail brings a steeper descent and lesser maintained trail (as in not being able to see your boots when standing in the middle of the trail). Somewhere on this trail before we bottomed out at Enloe Creek campground (#47) we realized we had seen nobody since leaving Peck's Corner. An older couple did join us for lunch at (the now replenished and roaring, due to the past few nights of rain) Enloe Creek – thank God for the foot bridge. Those were the only people we saw on the trail that day. After filling up our water bottles, we ascended Hyatt Ridge to McGee Spring. The final mile follows the edge of the ridge and is a good chance to look out over the valley Jones Creek flows through. Eventually the trail leads to a large, flat opening with soft ground to put a tent on. We arrived fairly early in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to hang wet clothes, build a fire, get water and take in the quiet. The solitude and silence at camp that night was almost overwhelming. I convinced myself this must be one of the least used campgrounds in the park (although apparently horse traffic is high in the summer). Although there is a gravel road a few miles away, it's a long hike from a ranger station or paved parking. If I'm back in this part of the country on a new moon again, I now know where to head to catch the stars.

Day 4

After a relaxing night's rest, I was curious to know if we'd see anybody on day 4. I checked the map and discovered that I had yet again underestimated the afternoon's climb. By this point the running joke was old and I decided to let the mountains do their worst on this shortest day of the hike. I don't remember much about hiking Beech Gap Trail except that the Round Bottom bridge construction (look – people!) forced us to wade through Straight Fork at the bottom. We filled water bottles and prepared for the steepest (consecutive gain) two miles of the trip. Balsam Mountain Trail was a mixture of vegetation with several good vantage points. Before arriving at Laurel Gap shelter we came through a seemingly out of place stretch of spruce-fir (ahh yes, back to this elevation again...), and then arrived well ahead of anticipated schedule even with the “1700 ft drop followed by a 2400 ft gain over 8 miles” elevation ride. All told I don't think we saw more than a half dozen people on day 4, including 3 guys that stayed in the shelter with us. Day 3 and 4 combined were much less physically demanding than the first two days for me, and I felt like I was finally catching my stride only to realize tomorrow would be the last day of the trip. I'm tempted to suggest that more avid groups could combine day 3 and 4 together (from Pecks Corner to Laurel Gap in one day), but that would be a fairly challenging 17 mile day with much elevation gain and loss for most folks. The time saved from going shelter to shelter (i.e. no tent teardown or setup) and carrying one less day's worth of food would help make that possible.

Day 5

Day 5 was actually just a half-day even though we packed in 11 miles before lunch. The rationale for that was to get to Carver's Applehouse Restaurant in Cosby. In my opinion, it was well worth it. In order to do this, I highly advise filling up water bottles to the brim and having a solid breakfast before leaving Laurel Gap (use the time you would have spent taking down your tent). All told that morning, we lost 2400 ft, gained 1100 back, and then lost the final 1800 ft over the course of 11 miles. [Side note: I'm thankful this was not day 1 for me. If we had decided to do our trip in reverse I probably wouldn't have made it to Low Gap without my ceremonial overexertion vomit... yes, I'm an idiot. Apparently this reverse direction is rated moderate, but it seemed fairly steep hiking down it.] From Laurel Gap, it's basically a steady drop all the way down to 3000 feet. The Gunter Fork cascade is a nice landmark to stop and rest your knees. We were delayed a bit by having to wade across the creek near campground #36. The water was very high due to several days of rain so we could not find a good dry crossing. I imagine this is frequently the case, so bring sandals and be prepared to wade here. At #37, we had a quick snack before the final push to get us up and over the AT. I have to say that I didn't take the time to stop and appreciate the Low Gap trail, but it was very pretty. It's quiet, heavily wooded and well maintained. It also provided the two steepest miles (1100 gain, 1100 loss) of the trip, so I was more focused on lunch than the trail's aesthetics. It was a short hike down to the car once we made it back to the AT. We drove to the laundromat / shower (they probably would not have fed us at Carver's without the shower) and had a fantastic lunch in a beautiful setting. Out of the Smokies and on to Bonnaroo. What a great week!

Total trip data

Topographic data are rough estimates from Trails Illustrated / National Geographic Great Smoky Mountains National Park Map and
latitude / longitude data comes from Google Earth.

day	mile	elevation	elevation delta	latitude, longitude	point of interest
1	0	2400		lat=35.7494659424, lon=-83.204208374	Cosby Ranger Station
	1	2650	250
	2	2800	150		Hen Wallow Falls
	3	3250	450
	4	3240	-10	lat=35.7485733032, lon=-83.2490234375	Sugar Cove #34
	5	3100	-140
	6	2750	-350
	7	2500	-250		Maddron Bald Trail
	8	2750	250
	9	3100	350		Albright Grove Loop Trail
	10	3500	400
	11	4000	500
	12	4500	500
	13	4562	62	lat=35.732131958, lon=-83.2557373047	Otter Creek #29
2	14	4800	238		Maddron Bald
	15	5100	300
	16	5800	700		Appalachain Trail
	17	6200	400
	18	6250	50		Mt Guyot
	19	5920	-330	lat=35.6940422058, lon=-83.2563781738	Tricorner Knob
	20	6100	180		Mount Seqouyah
	21	5900	-200
	22	5600	-300
	23	5400	-200
	24	5280	-120	lat=35.6508712769, lon=-83.3084030151	Pecks Corner
3	25	5200	-80
	26	5300	100
	27	4850	-450		Hughes Ridge Trail
	28	5000	150
	29	4800	-200
	30	4800	0
	31	4000	-800
	32	3620	-380	lat=35.6111373901, lon=-83.2546463013	Enloe Creek #47
	33	4500	880
	34	4900	400
	35	5040	140	lat=35.6397361755, lon=-83.2401046753	McGee Spring #44
4	36	4900	-140
	37	4250	-650
	38	3400	-850
	39	3200	-200		Round Bottom
	40	4250	1050
	41	5070	820		Balsam Mtn Trail
	42	5500	430
	43	5600	100	lat=35.6654701233, lon=-83.1875610352	Laurel Gap
5	44	5400	-200
	45	4750	-650		Gunter Fork Trail
	46	4000	-750		Gunter Fork Falls
	47	3500	-500
	48	3100	-400
	49	3000	-100	lat=35.7180099487, lon=-83.1658630371	Lower Walnut Bottom #37
	50	3100	100
	51	4200	1100		Low Gap (AT)
	52	3200	-1000
	53	2600	-600
	54	2400	-200	lat=35.7494659424, lon=-83.204208374	Cosby Ranger Station

ski season update

This year has actually been a great year for powder for me, despite a really slow snowfall pattern. Here are a few stories from the year...

Brian, Ryan, Allison and I went to Winter Park in what turned out to be Mary Jane's opening day. I've heard it is basically a great powder day when that happens, so we were really stoked at the opportunity. Overall, things were open far before they should have been, with stumps and branches knocking people over left and right. With caution, there was great powder to be had though. A great start to the season! I returned on Christmas Eve for more terrific snow. That was the first day I can recall being able to chain tight tree turns in at least boot-deep fresh... I was exhausted afterwards. I also went back a week later and had a nice day on better-but-still-thin snowpack... the moguls were coming in nicely, and the season was off to a great start.

I made it to Copper a couple times this year as well. I never had a bad day at Copper when I had the same season pass 2 year ago, and this year continued that trend. I've only been up there twice, but it's been nice both days.

In January I demo'd a tele setup and had my very first tele lesson at Loveland. I'm hooked, and will be focusing on tele next year, for backcountry purposes if nothing else. I also had a great powder day at Loveland in February. The Ridge was closed due to wind, but the snow in the trees was terrific. With Silverton in my sights, I felt like my powder skiing was developing well. A few weeks later, I returned with my Silverton partners for some practice on the Ridge. We found mixed conditions, but had a great day nonetheless. I felt ready to test myself at Silverton.

I took part in a long weekend trip to Breckenridge with a group of friends from college. It was a terrific reunion that also provided 2 days of great snow. We drove up Thursday night, and it snowed steadily until we left Sunday morning. Note to self: stay at the Gondola House again!

Ryan and I made our way to Wolf Creek in the last week of January for a truly epic day. The 3 day total for the mountain was somewhere in the neighborhood of 65" so it was nothing short of amazing. I had never skied anything like that before, or been skiing in the San Juans, so this trip was monumental. I got my first powder face shots, and will be returning next year if another monster storm heads that direction. (Who am I kidding, that happens every year down there... I'll see you next winter, Wolfie!)

Last weekend I was fully pushed to my limits and tested by the weird vibes of Silverton. Let me be the first to tell you that everything people say about that place is true. There is no reason to ski Alaska with Silverton within a day's drive. You can't compare it to any other resort in Colorado. I was honestly really nervous about whether I was worthy of Silverton. It gave me all I wanted and more. Let's just say that I had an issue with a creek crossing and was done skiing on day one after my first run... my boot liners are still wet. Oh, and my Jeep broke down on the way out of town, and my camera died in the creek. That mountain shows no mercy. But......... it snowed 20" Friday night, so we skied amazing powder on Saturday. Those 5 runs will live on in infamy for me, and I wish badly that I could be there again next Saturday.

Overall, my steeps and moguls still have a long way to go, but I've definitely improved as a skier this season. I have 12.1 days in so far, which is probably double last year's total. I really don't think I improved last season, so I'm happy with that change. Even people I skied with in December claim to have seen an improvement in my skiing, and I attribute that at least in part to my tele lesson. I plan on skiing Monarch on Saturday, and get a few more Front Range days in before the backcountry season starts.

Next year's wish list:

• Follow the snow like this year... Silverton and Wolf Creek are musts!
• I've never skied anywhere in Aspen, so I'd like to get in a weekend at Snowmass, Highlands, or anywhere that will have me.
  
• Crested Butte is a stretch goal, but would be great to add to the list. Same goes for Telluride.
  
• dramatic tele improvement

I think it's fair to say that skiing is my favorite activity... is it snowing yet?