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.