It has, yet again, been a while since I've updated this. This post will hopefully catch us up through May.
The weekend before Ben and Danielle's wedding I went mountain bike riding in Golden Gate Canyon State Park outside of Golden. Joe, his neighbor Dave and I rode the Mountain Lion trail, renowned as one of the best in the area. I felt very good the entire ride and was pleased with my climbing as well as downhilling... my lungs have come a long way since Walker Ranch last fall! At one point I saw what I still believe to be a mountain lion paw print in the mud/snow. It was either a mountain lion or the biggest dog I've ever seen... I'm still not 100% sure, but have a renewed appreciation for my secretive feline neighbors after seeing a print as big as I did. I'm looking forward to getting back on the trail and keeping my lungs and legs in shape this summer!
A few days later I hit the dusty trail eastward for Nashville. I took 3 days off of work (and wished I could have taken 3 more) for what turned out to be a fantastic family reunion/wedding/meet & greet with new friends/etc. To start, I was blown away by how green Tennessee and Kentucky were! I forgot how lush that part of the US is, and found I missed it. The flora and fauna seem somewhat plain in Boulder compared to that of the Appalachian foothills. Secondly, I've always loved traveling and that rejuvenated feeling which hitting the road provides. Solo road trips seem to work wonders in this way, stripping away all the debris that has collected since the last solo road trip, until I feel exactly like myself again. [Is that some sort of a warning sign that I enjoy being alone too much?] The drive from Nashville to Owensboro was no exception. [... except for the lack of bluegrass on the radio. How does one drive past the boyhood home of Bill Monroe and not find a bluegrass song on the radio??? Disappointing... but I got over it.]
I found Owensboro to be a quaint town; an ideal setting for a May wedding. It was almost as if you could see the memories of growing up there, or conjure new ones, when driving through town. Owensboro seemed old but not out of date, simple yet profound in its message to overly-complicated urban America. I also found the time spent with grandparents, siblings, parents, etc to be much needed and well received. These things I was prepared for. What I was not prepared for was the instant camaraderie found between me and the rest of Ben's friends. It was as if they had known me for years. To a certain extent, I suppose they had known a portion of me for years, and that was enough. We had a fun yet clean bachelor party, a smooth rehearsal and a perfect wedding. I can only hope that the support I surround myself with on my wedding weekend is as solid as what Ben had.
It would be impossible for me to summarize the wedding weekend here, but let's just say that I came away from it with a profound appreciation for what I had before misunderstood as my brother's misguided and lax tour through college, and a better appreciation for the way in which Ben and Danielle compliment each other. I was also unprepared for realizing in those few days that my little brother had grown up without me noticing, and discovering that he is in many respects more wise and mature than I am. While on the plane back to Denver I decided to not be the same person as I was before that trip. [Baby steps!]
To close, I'll report on the weekend after the wedding. On Sunday the 25th Tim, Darren and I attempted to boulder on Flagstaff just west of Boulder. Wow... I've climbed outside before (even in Boulder) but never bouldered. This was humbling. V0 problems felt like V∞. Having climbed around Boulder for years in a previous life, Darren gave us the official Flagstaff tour. After a few minutes my fingertips felt like they'd been scraped by a cheese grater. This, friends, was nothing like the Spot. It was humbling, yet definitely motivating. I hope to be able to traverse some of those problems with ease in the future (just don't tell my fingers). Afterwards I felt I hadn't pushed my body enough so I decided to go riding at Walker Ranch. When I got there I decided on the Meyers Homestead trail instead due to rain, since it's much easier to turn around on the Meyers trail. I had a nice ride, and did not see anyone else the entire time. Solitude proved the theme of Memorial Day weekend. All in all, my second May in Boulder was very good to me. Here's hoping June is more of the same!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
catching up on April and this weekend
It's been a few weeks so I'll write up a bit here to catch you, my faithful readers, up. The past 3 weeks have been like a blast from the past of sorts, and a lot of fun to boot. Here are the details...
The weekend of the 19th-20th Janan visited from Columbus. It had been about 5 years since we had seen each other in college, and she flew out to see Ryan (and I). Friday night we went to a Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse game. Holy cow. It was what I imagine a convention of people with Ritalin prescriptions that haven't taken their meds in weeks would look like. I was a little scared to be perfectly honest. The free beer and hot dog helped though. Anyways, Saturday we went up to our old standby, RMNP, to show off the Front Range to Janan. It was good to see it again and to get out for a hike on the snow. We didn't walk very far but had perfect weather for the outing. We saw several interesting blue birds, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, and of course snowy peaks. See the photos here.
The 23rd I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of Boulder and Colorado residency. It's amazing how much things can change in a year... I could write a whole post just on that but I'll just say, "what a difference a year makes" and leave it at that. (That's not to say my life before here was all bad and everything is perfect now, but you get the idea.)
Last Saturday Ryan, Allison and I considered another attempt at Quandary, but passed after reviewing the weather forecast. Snow and low temps in Breckenridge meant even more snow and lower temps 4000 feet higher, so we decided to get some quality time in with our snowshoes back at RMNP. The snow was great and we got in about 9 miles; from Bear Lake trailhead to Emerald Lake and also from Glacier Gorge trailhead to Mills Lake. After making the 1.5 mile trip to Emerald Lake, we headed down to get out of the wind for a snack and discovered a nice hill to trigger mini avalanches on. The snow was interesting to dissect and the layering begged to be experimented with. We climbed and slid several times and then headed back down towards the car. The area between Dream and Nymph lake offered a sustained butt-slide through the trees that was quite fun. After a refuel at the Glacier Gorge trailhead, we ditched the snowshoes and hiked to Mills Lake. The view was fantastic as usual, with the lake still very solidly (mostly) covered with ice. After the 9 miles we decided it was time for Cilantro Mary's in Lyons. [Finally! After driving past several times, Ryan and I finally took the bait, and it was worth it. The food was a tad pricey, but the atmosphere/building and food was worth it. Recommended!] Check out the day's photos here.
This week, on the 29th, was my 27th birthday. Hello late 20s; be good to me. Coincidentally it was also the week Matt flew up from Ft. Worth to do some work in Denver. We got to catch up Wednesday and Thursday night. It had been over a year since we had seen each other, so it was good to swap stories with another ex-Austinite in Denver for a short time.
Finally, this weekend was a super combo ski-climb double-dip! Friday night I decorated the Jeep with my new Yakima rack so that Saturday Ryan, Tony, Shelly and I could go to Loveland to check out the 17 inches of powder that fell during the week. It was Ryan's first day ever on skis, and he did very well. Except for a short venture (read: coaching mistake) into blue/intermediate territory that affected confidence, I have to give him an A for the day. I returned to the ridge for a go at the run I botched so badly earlier in the year (Wild Child?) and did much better. It was windblown and icy, but still enjoyable. It wasn't perfect, but much better than last time. The pitch didn't scare me at all and I was able to enjoy the ride. I have to admit that I wussed out on the 5 ft cornice/drop in, and came in at an angle, but it was still very nice... a confidence booster despite not being the best skiing of my life. The powder once off the ridge was very nice, even if just for a few hundred feet of vertical. My last run, which is to say my last run of the year, was a bump run coming down skiers left of Chair 1 (Cat's Meow). There were still nice freshies in the short tree section before the bumps, and the bumps were a powder/hardpack mix. The snow was really soft at the bottom, so I covered most of the gamut in one fell swoop. I still have a lot of room for growth on bumps, but it felt really good to work my legs for a few runs... it was just nice to be out for the 15th day on my skis this season. We chose to apres at the Dam Brewery.
Today produced a lovely day of rock climbing in Boulder Canyon. M'Linda, another '03 Redhawk, and her boyfriend, Jon, came up from Telluride to help yesterdays crew discover outdoor climbing in Colorado. It had been 5 years almost to the day since I had seen M'Lin (I blame the Peace Corps), so it was great to catch up and see her again. We went to Happy Hour Crag for some 5.6 - 5.8 climbing. We made our way left to right on "I, Robot" followed by "Are We Not Men?" then "Twofers" and "Twofers Gully". I think Twofers was the most challenging and rewarding, with the roof in the middle of the route about 30 feet off the ground. The view from the top was quite nice too. I still have a bit of a "heights thing" but did better today thwarting that than in previous outings. The photos from the day can be seen here.
The weekend of the 19th-20th Janan visited from Columbus. It had been about 5 years since we had seen each other in college, and she flew out to see Ryan (and I). Friday night we went to a Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse game. Holy cow. It was what I imagine a convention of people with Ritalin prescriptions that haven't taken their meds in weeks would look like. I was a little scared to be perfectly honest. The free beer and hot dog helped though. Anyways, Saturday we went up to our old standby, RMNP, to show off the Front Range to Janan. It was good to see it again and to get out for a hike on the snow. We didn't walk very far but had perfect weather for the outing. We saw several interesting blue birds, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, and of course snowy peaks. See the photos here.
The 23rd I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of Boulder and Colorado residency. It's amazing how much things can change in a year... I could write a whole post just on that but I'll just say, "what a difference a year makes" and leave it at that. (That's not to say my life before here was all bad and everything is perfect now, but you get the idea.)
Last Saturday Ryan, Allison and I considered another attempt at Quandary, but passed after reviewing the weather forecast. Snow and low temps in Breckenridge meant even more snow and lower temps 4000 feet higher, so we decided to get some quality time in with our snowshoes back at RMNP. The snow was great and we got in about 9 miles; from Bear Lake trailhead to Emerald Lake and also from Glacier Gorge trailhead to Mills Lake. After making the 1.5 mile trip to Emerald Lake, we headed down to get out of the wind for a snack and discovered a nice hill to trigger mini avalanches on. The snow was interesting to dissect and the layering begged to be experimented with. We climbed and slid several times and then headed back down towards the car. The area between Dream and Nymph lake offered a sustained butt-slide through the trees that was quite fun. After a refuel at the Glacier Gorge trailhead, we ditched the snowshoes and hiked to Mills Lake. The view was fantastic as usual, with the lake still very solidly (mostly) covered with ice. After the 9 miles we decided it was time for Cilantro Mary's in Lyons. [Finally! After driving past several times, Ryan and I finally took the bait, and it was worth it. The food was a tad pricey, but the atmosphere/building and food was worth it. Recommended!] Check out the day's photos here.
This week, on the 29th, was my 27th birthday. Hello late 20s; be good to me. Coincidentally it was also the week Matt flew up from Ft. Worth to do some work in Denver. We got to catch up Wednesday and Thursday night. It had been over a year since we had seen each other, so it was good to swap stories with another ex-Austinite in Denver for a short time.
Finally, this weekend was a super combo ski-climb double-dip! Friday night I decorated the Jeep with my new Yakima rack so that Saturday Ryan, Tony, Shelly and I could go to Loveland to check out the 17 inches of powder that fell during the week. It was Ryan's first day ever on skis, and he did very well. Except for a short venture (read: coaching mistake) into blue/intermediate territory that affected confidence, I have to give him an A for the day. I returned to the ridge for a go at the run I botched so badly earlier in the year (Wild Child?) and did much better. It was windblown and icy, but still enjoyable. It wasn't perfect, but much better than last time. The pitch didn't scare me at all and I was able to enjoy the ride. I have to admit that I wussed out on the 5 ft cornice/drop in, and came in at an angle, but it was still very nice... a confidence booster despite not being the best skiing of my life. The powder once off the ridge was very nice, even if just for a few hundred feet of vertical. My last run, which is to say my last run of the year, was a bump run coming down skiers left of Chair 1 (Cat's Meow). There were still nice freshies in the short tree section before the bumps, and the bumps were a powder/hardpack mix. The snow was really soft at the bottom, so I covered most of the gamut in one fell swoop. I still have a lot of room for growth on bumps, but it felt really good to work my legs for a few runs... it was just nice to be out for the 15th day on my skis this season. We chose to apres at the Dam Brewery.
Today produced a lovely day of rock climbing in Boulder Canyon. M'Linda, another '03 Redhawk, and her boyfriend, Jon, came up from Telluride to help yesterdays crew discover outdoor climbing in Colorado. It had been 5 years almost to the day since I had seen M'Lin (I blame the Peace Corps), so it was great to catch up and see her again. We went to Happy Hour Crag for some 5.6 - 5.8 climbing. We made our way left to right on "I, Robot" followed by "Are We Not Men?" then "Twofers" and "Twofers Gully". I think Twofers was the most challenging and rewarding, with the roof in the middle of the route about 30 feet off the ground. The view from the top was quite nice too. I still have a bit of a "heights thing" but did better today thwarting that than in previous outings. The photos from the day can be seen here.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Quandary Peak attempt
In an effort to kick off the 2008 14ers season early, today Ryan, Allison and I attempted Quandary Peak's East Ridge. We camped amount a mile from the trailhead (note to self, bring valid mallet if actually hoping to stake the rain fly into ice) and got an ~8:30 start. At about 12:30 (yep, 4 hours to go 4 miles!!!) and roughly 400 feet shy of the summit we turned around. I started out really needing to go to the bathroom, which I'm going to blame for not allowing me to focus and therefore slowing me down. I thought I could suppress the urge, but I'm glad the urge took over before we got above treeline! After the bathroom incident, however, I felt better and hoped I would be able to make good time... I was curious to see how my skiing had improved my physical condition and whether it would help my 14ers hiking. As it turns out, from about 12,000' to 13,000', despite working hard and feeling like I was making fine time considering the situation, I continually lost ground on Ryan and Allison. [I don't know why this is, but that seems to be my pattern... once I get above 13,000 I finally catch my stride and tend to do much better.] I kept pace with or passed everyone else near me, so I'm going to suggest that Ryan and Allison are in great shape and are complete 14er rockstars with lungs and hearts of steel. My legs are in noticeably better shape (I'm not sore despite a MUCH more difficult slog probably requiring more leg effort than any other 14er I've tried including Longs, even if it was "just" a 3 mile class 1 route), but I still need to work on my cardio so I'm not playing catch-up all summer long... it sucks. Either that or I need to find slower 14er hiking partners to enjoy the mountains with :) Seriously, though, Allison was an amazing hiker/snowshoer. Even if I hiked Quandary again this summer in warm weather I don't know that I could keep her snowshoe pace. As it turns out, though, I believe this had the negative side effect of creating altitude sickness. After a certain amount of time Ryan started to wait for me and Allison kept going. Since we were so far behind her she apparently thought that we were not following her. Once I caught up to Ryan we noticed her sitting in the snow on the final summit ridge just about 1/4 mile from the summit... for a long time... and then that she started to descend. We began to think something very bad was happening. By the time we reached her (which at 13,800' means 10 steps followed by 3 deep breaths, repeat) she was shivering a lot and not thinking clearly. We made the quick decision to add layers to her (extra hat, hand warmers, down jacket replacing her shell, etc) and more importantly to turn around in an effort to never violate our rule #1; everyone that starts the hike finishes the hike safely whether we make it to the top or not. We took the straight shot right down the mountain (who needs trails in snow when you know the way?) and made it to the Jeep safely. Not making it to the summit after getting so close was a tough pill to swallow, but I think it was good in a way. If nothing else, it's a great excuse to head back when the snow melts :)
I think what I'll remember most about this trip was that it was chalk full of firsts. So here are a handful of them...
As an aside, this trip brought back a lot of Breckenridge memories from vacations past. For example, the road for Quandary is just past the Skiers Edge, which my family vacationed at in the summer many years ago. I distinctly remember watching a beaver collect twigs in the pond in front of the lodge, and also being a complete teenage jerk to my parents on nearby Hoosier Pass. In addition to that vacation, 10 years almost to the day on a separate trip my dad and I got a white Camaro (sweet upgrade!) stuck in the Skiers Edge lot snow while taking the day off from touring CU and CSU for my college search. I created a new memory this time by making it to the Breckenridge Brewery and enjoying the Pandora's Bock... highly recommended!!! Drink up, and happy 14ers season.
I think what I'll remember most about this trip was that it was chalk full of firsts. So here are a handful of them...
- First 14er of 2008 and April
- First 14er since Ryan's ACL surgery
- My first time ever hiking in snowshoes
- First attempt on continuous snow and with snowshoes
- Allison's first 14er attempt
- First failed summit attempt
- As gross as this probably is, first #2 in the snow and first #2 on a 14er. I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about. Boy, was I glad that I remembered those pocket Kleenex packs.
As an aside, this trip brought back a lot of Breckenridge memories from vacations past. For example, the road for Quandary is just past the Skiers Edge, which my family vacationed at in the summer many years ago. I distinctly remember watching a beaver collect twigs in the pond in front of the lodge, and also being a complete teenage jerk to my parents on nearby Hoosier Pass. In addition to that vacation, 10 years almost to the day on a separate trip my dad and I got a white Camaro (sweet upgrade!) stuck in the Skiers Edge lot snow while taking the day off from touring CU and CSU for my college search. I created a new memory this time by making it to the Breckenridge Brewery and enjoying the Pandora's Bock... highly recommended!!! Drink up, and happy 14ers season.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Steamboat weekend
I'm back from 3 days of skiing at Steamboat. Wow, what an adventure. Here's the scoop...
I left Boulder Thursday night after picking up groceries. The drive up was very calm until Rabbit Ears pass, where 40 became snowy/icy. After sliding around a bit and driving past a flipped Jeep Wrangler and decided it was time to put El Jefe into 4x4. From what little I could see out my windshield, it looked like the snowbanks were higher than the top of mi Cherokee... once I saw that I couldn't get to Steamboat fast enough! I got checked in to our Yampa View condo just fine and crashed as fast as I could for an early start on Friday.
Friday
I got up early and was in line for the gondola before it started running Friday morning. I had been checking the weather all week and was nervous to see RAIN in the forecast. There may have been rain in town, but what I discovered Friday on the mountain was certainly not rain! I wanted to get as high as possible on the mountain, so I headed straight for the back (Morningside) lift. I found a good 6" of fresh snow and played around over there for a while. Then I decided to take the short hike to East Face and North St. Pats. Both double black diamond runs, they were steep for a short section (maybe 200 ft of vertical) and then headed into a flatter treed area. The snow was a bit choppy but deep... probably a foot of heavy snow that hadn't been tracked out much. At one point I lost a ski and reminded myself to set my DIN setting at a 6 from a 5 when I got home. It wasn't my best skiing, but a lot of fun nonetheless. Because it took a while to do laps on those, I decided to check out DeSo's Descent. Apparently I didn't make it over far enough to skiers left because I found myself at the Chute 2 gate... which meant I was in the trees between Chute 1 and 2. I took my time and decided to just go for it, but at one moment I had to laugh... which was better than wetting myself. My route choices were limited to climbing a tree down (slight exaggeration) or navigating via jump turns down tight sections. After a few 4-letter words out loud, I convinced myself to just do my best... and made it through the steep and narrow tree sections. After some packed runs from Storm Peak > Cyclone > Drop Out, I was beat. It wasn't my best day of skiing, and I wanted to save some for Sunday, so I decided to call it a day at 2:00. I rode the slush to the bottom, had an apres beverage, and headed to Yampa for the Longhorns game. No sooner had the Horns taken care of Stanford than Tony, Shelly, Ryan and Allison arrived. After a bit of unpacking (and a taste test where I proved to Ryan that I CAN tell the difference between a Whole Foods pineapple and a Wal-Mart pineapple) we headed into town and joined the party at Rio Grande for Tex-Mex. I was running on empty, so the margarita and enchiladas hit the spot.
Saturday brought good skiing and riding for Tony, Shelly and me, and tubing and snowshoeing for Ryan and Allison. Apparently Rabbit Ears pass didn't disappoint for Ryan and Allison. The mountain surely didn't disappoint us either. You can see the video recap on youtube. We spent the morning doing laps on the Sunshine Express lift area, with a nice selection of blue runs. I skied better than Friday, and was mainly focusing on fundamentals. Feeling sufficiently warmed up and a little beaten up by the wind, after lunch we ventured back over to Morningside where Shelly completed her first black run. There was still good snow through the trees, so we spent the next couple of hours doing laps there. The Morningside lift is only 542' of vertical gain, so the runs are very quick. After probably 8 runs through the trees and a bit of fresh snow I suggested we head to North St. Pats. Tony and Shelly were great sports and obliged. We made the short hike then strapped in towards the steep section. I decided to pick a slightly steeper line than yesterday, and, if I do say so myself, really skied it well. 2 guys blew past me while I watched Tony ride down, but I was able to follow their line right behind them. I was extremely pumped, and would have been happy to call it a trip right then and there. It was getting late, so we got to the bottom as fast as possible... ski patrol was cleaning the slopes by the time we made it to mid-mountain.
We made it home safe, had a great dinner, and headed to Strawberry Hot Springs to work out the kinks. The road wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard, and the water was really nice. It was a strange feeling to be soaking in a natural springs while getting snowed on. I highly recommend jumping in the freezing river and then getting back in the springs! After about an hour we decided we had had enough of the old people nudity and co-ed banter. When we discovered our stuff had been dusted with 1/4" of snow, I decided to change out of my swim trunks. In a bit of a hurry to get to the Jeep and daydreaming about how much snow the mountain was getting, I walked off without picking them up... that is guaranteed to be the most boring way anyone has ever lost a swimsuit there, but at least I didn't get an STD...
Sunday we woke up to several inches of fresh snow at the condo!!! I was pretty tired but couldn't wait to see what conditions were like on the mountain. Shelly was pretty beat from Saturday so she went snowshoeing with Ryan and Allison. Tony and I headed for the gondola and rode up with a local dude that was the perfect combination between John Wayne and Bode Miller. He warned us it was wet (not the true champagne) but I nearly lost it when he said he had heard it had snowed a foot at the top. When we got to the top, we confirmed the rumor! Check out the youtube footage. The snow was very wet, and Morningside was closed for avalanche danger, but we had a great time on the front side. It was probably the most fresh snow I have skied all season... not just the top but the whole mountain had been hit, and there was NOBODY there :) It was definitely the most I had skied where I couldn't see my skis through the snow. It was so much work, and was hilarious to see everybody stopping and resting on the slopes. As the snow continued to fall, the clouds made it very quiet, so all you could hear was the shouts for joy in the powder. I was happy I had increased my DIN setting... I probably would have lost a ski or two otherwise. It really didn't matter what run we took, but once they opened Morningside that's where we headed. What a difference a day makes! It was fun to ski the same terrain in varied conditions. At first we couldn't go through the trees because the fresh snow slowed us down too much. Once the top had been tracked out a bit you could get enough momentum to get into the trees, and we had a lot of fun back there. We were both exhausted, but couldn't stop... so we kept going until about 2:30 and finally decided it was time to call it a weekend. We headed into town to meet the snowshoers and swapped stories over ice cream. Feeling like a zombie, I changed out of my 3-days-of-sweat ski clothes and hit the road for Boulder. As I drove into Silverthorne I waved to the Gore Range, which was getting a bit of snow... I really love that range and hope to explore it a bit this summer.
Overall I was surprised at how short the double black runs were compared to Copper, Loveland and Winter Park. I didn't really get into the Chutes, No Names or Christmas Tree Bowl at all, so maybe those are the real stashes. I will certainly be hitting those next time. It was cool to ski somewhere that had nothing above tree line, and was very good glade practice. I am definitely going back for the real champagne next winter, and I'm bringing my snorkel! I built upon last weekend's bump lesson and was turning fairly well on Saturday and Sunday. I definitely got more confident on steeper terrain, and can only hope I pick up from here next winter. I have a lot to improve on, but once I can chain my turns together better on faster and steeper terrain I'll feel confident to ski just about anything inbounds. I wasn't sure how my legs would hold up for 3 full days, but my form has improved so much that I was just fine... that would not have been the case even 2 months ago. I have 13 days on my skis so far this year, and may get one or two more, but even if I don't I have had a great winter and can't believe how lucky I am to have such great snow within a few hours of my home.
I left Boulder Thursday night after picking up groceries. The drive up was very calm until Rabbit Ears pass, where 40 became snowy/icy. After sliding around a bit and driving past a flipped Jeep Wrangler and decided it was time to put El Jefe into 4x4. From what little I could see out my windshield, it looked like the snowbanks were higher than the top of mi Cherokee... once I saw that I couldn't get to Steamboat fast enough! I got checked in to our Yampa View condo just fine and crashed as fast as I could for an early start on Friday.
Friday
I got up early and was in line for the gondola before it started running Friday morning. I had been checking the weather all week and was nervous to see RAIN in the forecast. There may have been rain in town, but what I discovered Friday on the mountain was certainly not rain! I wanted to get as high as possible on the mountain, so I headed straight for the back (Morningside) lift. I found a good 6" of fresh snow and played around over there for a while. Then I decided to take the short hike to East Face and North St. Pats. Both double black diamond runs, they were steep for a short section (maybe 200 ft of vertical) and then headed into a flatter treed area. The snow was a bit choppy but deep... probably a foot of heavy snow that hadn't been tracked out much. At one point I lost a ski and reminded myself to set my DIN setting at a 6 from a 5 when I got home. It wasn't my best skiing, but a lot of fun nonetheless. Because it took a while to do laps on those, I decided to check out DeSo's Descent. Apparently I didn't make it over far enough to skiers left because I found myself at the Chute 2 gate... which meant I was in the trees between Chute 1 and 2. I took my time and decided to just go for it, but at one moment I had to laugh... which was better than wetting myself. My route choices were limited to climbing a tree down (slight exaggeration) or navigating via jump turns down tight sections. After a few 4-letter words out loud, I convinced myself to just do my best... and made it through the steep and narrow tree sections. After some packed runs from Storm Peak > Cyclone > Drop Out, I was beat. It wasn't my best day of skiing, and I wanted to save some for Sunday, so I decided to call it a day at 2:00. I rode the slush to the bottom, had an apres beverage, and headed to Yampa for the Longhorns game. No sooner had the Horns taken care of Stanford than Tony, Shelly, Ryan and Allison arrived. After a bit of unpacking (and a taste test where I proved to Ryan that I CAN tell the difference between a Whole Foods pineapple and a Wal-Mart pineapple) we headed into town and joined the party at Rio Grande for Tex-Mex. I was running on empty, so the margarita and enchiladas hit the spot.
Saturday brought good skiing and riding for Tony, Shelly and me, and tubing and snowshoeing for Ryan and Allison. Apparently Rabbit Ears pass didn't disappoint for Ryan and Allison. The mountain surely didn't disappoint us either. You can see the video recap on youtube. We spent the morning doing laps on the Sunshine Express lift area, with a nice selection of blue runs. I skied better than Friday, and was mainly focusing on fundamentals. Feeling sufficiently warmed up and a little beaten up by the wind, after lunch we ventured back over to Morningside where Shelly completed her first black run. There was still good snow through the trees, so we spent the next couple of hours doing laps there. The Morningside lift is only 542' of vertical gain, so the runs are very quick. After probably 8 runs through the trees and a bit of fresh snow I suggested we head to North St. Pats. Tony and Shelly were great sports and obliged. We made the short hike then strapped in towards the steep section. I decided to pick a slightly steeper line than yesterday, and, if I do say so myself, really skied it well. 2 guys blew past me while I watched Tony ride down, but I was able to follow their line right behind them. I was extremely pumped, and would have been happy to call it a trip right then and there. It was getting late, so we got to the bottom as fast as possible... ski patrol was cleaning the slopes by the time we made it to mid-mountain.
We made it home safe, had a great dinner, and headed to Strawberry Hot Springs to work out the kinks. The road wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard, and the water was really nice. It was a strange feeling to be soaking in a natural springs while getting snowed on. I highly recommend jumping in the freezing river and then getting back in the springs! After about an hour we decided we had had enough of the old people nudity and co-ed banter. When we discovered our stuff had been dusted with 1/4" of snow, I decided to change out of my swim trunks. In a bit of a hurry to get to the Jeep and daydreaming about how much snow the mountain was getting, I walked off without picking them up... that is guaranteed to be the most boring way anyone has ever lost a swimsuit there, but at least I didn't get an STD...
Sunday we woke up to several inches of fresh snow at the condo!!! I was pretty tired but couldn't wait to see what conditions were like on the mountain. Shelly was pretty beat from Saturday so she went snowshoeing with Ryan and Allison. Tony and I headed for the gondola and rode up with a local dude that was the perfect combination between John Wayne and Bode Miller. He warned us it was wet (not the true champagne) but I nearly lost it when he said he had heard it had snowed a foot at the top. When we got to the top, we confirmed the rumor! Check out the youtube footage. The snow was very wet, and Morningside was closed for avalanche danger, but we had a great time on the front side. It was probably the most fresh snow I have skied all season... not just the top but the whole mountain had been hit, and there was NOBODY there :) It was definitely the most I had skied where I couldn't see my skis through the snow. It was so much work, and was hilarious to see everybody stopping and resting on the slopes. As the snow continued to fall, the clouds made it very quiet, so all you could hear was the shouts for joy in the powder. I was happy I had increased my DIN setting... I probably would have lost a ski or two otherwise. It really didn't matter what run we took, but once they opened Morningside that's where we headed. What a difference a day makes! It was fun to ski the same terrain in varied conditions. At first we couldn't go through the trees because the fresh snow slowed us down too much. Once the top had been tracked out a bit you could get enough momentum to get into the trees, and we had a lot of fun back there. We were both exhausted, but couldn't stop... so we kept going until about 2:30 and finally decided it was time to call it a weekend. We headed into town to meet the snowshoers and swapped stories over ice cream. Feeling like a zombie, I changed out of my 3-days-of-sweat ski clothes and hit the road for Boulder. As I drove into Silverthorne I waved to the Gore Range, which was getting a bit of snow... I really love that range and hope to explore it a bit this summer.
Overall I was surprised at how short the double black runs were compared to Copper, Loveland and Winter Park. I didn't really get into the Chutes, No Names or Christmas Tree Bowl at all, so maybe those are the real stashes. I will certainly be hitting those next time. It was cool to ski somewhere that had nothing above tree line, and was very good glade practice. I am definitely going back for the real champagne next winter, and I'm bringing my snorkel! I built upon last weekend's bump lesson and was turning fairly well on Saturday and Sunday. I definitely got more confident on steeper terrain, and can only hope I pick up from here next winter. I have a lot to improve on, but once I can chain my turns together better on faster and steeper terrain I'll feel confident to ski just about anything inbounds. I wasn't sure how my legs would hold up for 3 full days, but my form has improved so much that I was just fine... that would not have been the case even 2 months ago. I have 13 days on my skis so far this year, and may get one or two more, but even if I don't I have had a great winter and can't believe how lucky I am to have such great snow within a few hours of my home.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
skiing update / recap
It's been a while, so I decided to write up a quick update... here's the season rundown.
My first day of the season was Dec 1 at Winter Park. After that I took one lesson a few weeks later, and have been skiing a total of 10 days this season. I was definitely a green skier to start the season, (1) having only skied a few times in my life before (once in Jackson Hole, then in Ohio and Pennsylvania) but I don't really count those since it was years between each, and (2) being 4 years between December and my last time on skies. Since then, I've become confident on intermediate runs, skied a lot of black and even double-black runs, skied a bit of powder and bumps, and overall improved quite a bit. I didn't really have any expectations coming into the season, but now find myself getting impatient with progress, and want to be able to ski anything in bounds... and immediately please, no questions asked.
I think, after this year, that skiing is probably the hardest sport I've really enjoyed and tried to get really good at. I used to be a really solid tennis player, and that came pretty natural to me. Mountain biking and even rock climbing, despite a small fear of heights, seem to be the same. Baseball and basketball took practice, but I feel were far easier to become fairly proficient in... I don't know if that counts though since I was pretty much doing both from when I could walk. Skiing, on the other hand, takes a lot of patience for me, and is very mental in the sense that the slightest loss of confidence results in a bad outing. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm pretty new to it and have come a long way in less than 4 months. Dude, keep your chin up and have fun!
Yesterday I forgot that message, and as you can see on youtube here (Darren is the voice of optimism and gracious albeit undeserved praise), powder defeated me by a landslide. Being out with co-workers was a blast, but it took me until our last hike of 3 on the ridge (wow, am I out of 14ers shape!) to feel good enough to get aggressive and ski well on a steep (meaning low-30s degrees) powder slope. That run was clearly not on film. Then I shudder watching the video and looking at my form. I was nervous with an audience and a camera (especially being really new to deep powder) but wanted to prove that I was a decent skier. The result was a far cry from the successes of weeks past. I get annoyed with people who beat themselves up a lot, but I have to admit I was that guy yesterday. Loveland is a very nice mountain, and I hope to go back next season to redeem myself. 3 days in Steamboat are coming up in 2 weeks, so hopefully I'll have much better videos to show then!
In short summary, here are the 5 main tips that I think have helped, and will continue to help me in the future, should I finally decide to abide by them:
My first day of the season was Dec 1 at Winter Park. After that I took one lesson a few weeks later, and have been skiing a total of 10 days this season. I was definitely a green skier to start the season, (1) having only skied a few times in my life before (once in Jackson Hole, then in Ohio and Pennsylvania) but I don't really count those since it was years between each, and (2) being 4 years between December and my last time on skies. Since then, I've become confident on intermediate runs, skied a lot of black and even double-black runs, skied a bit of powder and bumps, and overall improved quite a bit. I didn't really have any expectations coming into the season, but now find myself getting impatient with progress, and want to be able to ski anything in bounds... and immediately please, no questions asked.
I think, after this year, that skiing is probably the hardest sport I've really enjoyed and tried to get really good at. I used to be a really solid tennis player, and that came pretty natural to me. Mountain biking and even rock climbing, despite a small fear of heights, seem to be the same. Baseball and basketball took practice, but I feel were far easier to become fairly proficient in... I don't know if that counts though since I was pretty much doing both from when I could walk. Skiing, on the other hand, takes a lot of patience for me, and is very mental in the sense that the slightest loss of confidence results in a bad outing. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm pretty new to it and have come a long way in less than 4 months. Dude, keep your chin up and have fun!
Yesterday I forgot that message, and as you can see on youtube here (Darren is the voice of optimism and gracious albeit undeserved praise), powder defeated me by a landslide. Being out with co-workers was a blast, but it took me until our last hike of 3 on the ridge (wow, am I out of 14ers shape!) to feel good enough to get aggressive and ski well on a steep (meaning low-30s degrees) powder slope. That run was clearly not on film. Then I shudder watching the video and looking at my form. I was nervous with an audience and a camera (especially being really new to deep powder) but wanted to prove that I was a decent skier. The result was a far cry from the successes of weeks past. I get annoyed with people who beat themselves up a lot, but I have to admit I was that guy yesterday. Loveland is a very nice mountain, and I hope to go back next season to redeem myself. 3 days in Steamboat are coming up in 2 weeks, so hopefully I'll have much better videos to show then!
In short summary, here are the 5 main tips that I think have helped, and will continue to help me in the future, should I finally decide to abide by them:
- Ski with your shins pressed against the front of your boots, and your weight on the balls of your feet rather than on your heels. Lifting toes helps reinforce this. It's easier to turn when you're in this stance, visualizing moving your weight back and forth from the ball of the the big toe to the ball of the little toe. You know you're doing it wrong when your leg muscles do the work of keeping you up instead of your skeleton (tired quads and calves mean bad form).
- Parallel doesn't necessarily mean touching... In other words, boots shoulder width apart is not bad, despite popular belief.
- Keep your hands out in front of you with elbows bent, and use your pole plant as an indicator of a turn. What you're essentially doing when you plant your right pole is committing to a right turn. This also helps balance.
- Lean forward and be aggressive in your stance. Your upper body should be perpendicular to the slope, with your skis always facing as downhill as possible.
- Wear thin socks once your boots are padded to your feet to leave room for warm air that your feet heat. Otherwise the warm air escapes your boots and your feet get cold. It even helps to loosen your boots on the lift to make more room for air. For cold hands, make a fist with your fingers in the main wrist compartment, and alternate hands.
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