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...

1. First 14er of 2008 and April
2. First 14er since Ryan's ACL surgery
   
3. My first time ever hiking in snowshoes
   
4. First attempt on continuous snow and with snowshoes
5. Allison's first 14er attempt
6. First failed summit attempt
7. 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.

Based on the first 5 above, this trip was just about doomed from the start in hindsight, but I think we still learned valuable lessons and had a great time outside. This was the first time Ryan and I had been forced to seriously consider turning around, and I'm glad we proved our immunity to Summit Fever when injury is the alternative. After discussing afterwards, I think Ryan has a better appreciation for winters in Colorado above 10,000' so I don't think we'll be doing too many more winter/snow summits soon... which is fine by me since ski season isn't over yet :) I'm looking forward to the next one, when/which-ever it is, and hopefully getting to the top!

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.

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.

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:

1. 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).
   
2. Parallel doesn't necessarily mean touching... In other words, boots shoulder width apart is not bad, despite popular belief.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
   

Christmas in Hudson

Well, this has been several weeks, but I thought I would add this anyways. I have added the few photos that I took when I was back in Ohio for Christmas to http://flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/tags/christmas for all to enjoy.

Aside from 5 days being way too short and it being terrific to see friends and family again, one thing of note I wanted to write down was my flight back to Cincinnati, which ultimately let Tacoma and I back to Boulder. It was a surprisingly clear day for Cleveland (especially Cleveland in December), and I had a window seat. I don't know what is was that caused this, but I seriously felt like I had a first class view through the foggy ruins of my past. Maybe I was already missing the friends and family I had just visited, or maybe just my usual sentimental and nostalgic self. Regardless, first off, as we took off I could see downtown Cleveland, including Jacob's Field (I refuse to call it Progressive Field... that's ridiculous) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It was a green and snow-less view through the Cuyahoga Valley except the Boston Mills & Brandywine ski resorts, which actually looked open despite what could only be miserable conditions. The plane followed I-71 south, and it was fun to see the farms and rolling central Ohio hills from above. I always enjoyed this drive to and from Miami, and it was just as fun this time. Speaking of Miami, as we approached, Cincinnati, I began to recognize that we were following directly above 128 and 275. I can only guess that we flew over Dayton and headed directly south, but familiar sights such as Mount Rumpke and King's Island came into view exactly as my mind expected. As we landed and then took off again from CVG, the smokestacks on the Ohio River were memorable. The Florence Y'all water tower was also there for the viewing as we followed 71/75 to its split. Ironically, just after the 71/75 split, they sky clouded up right where my memory of the area would have been cloudy or blank. I continued to think about the past for at least 2 hours on the plane to Denver, and wondered if for me the grass always seems greener looking at the place I just came from... maybe I just have selective amnesia. As we approached DIA I got giddy to be back in Colorado, and know it's just a matter of time before I feel that way about here. It's true that it doesn't feel quite like home yet (still making friends, getting used to new surroundings, and getting adjusted with work, finding a dentist, etc) but I can't wait until it fully does. I think my nostalgia has something to do with how fondly I recall time spent with family and feeling home as far back as I can remember anything. When I don't feel like I'm home I miss it quite a bit. I've also realized that home is really a mix of location and people ("home is where the heart is" is just too goofy so I refuse to use that). I never really understood why people think highly of certain places but feel like I could do the same in just about anywhere (notice I didn't say everywhere) with the right people. I'm not suggesting in the least that I want to leave Boulder, but I guess the familiarity of place can help make it feel like much more than it seems to an outsider.

And speaking of looking back over my shoulder... 2007 is a wrap! I think its good to look back (in case you hadn't noticed from the past 5 minutes of reading), as long as it's not too often, so I'll do that now in order to assess and digest the events of 2007. If there's one thing 2007 showed me, it's that you really cannot predict the future, but nevertheless, I have some thoughts and some goals that I want to be able to look back on in 2008 and assess my progress towards.

1. God is good, and answers prayers... maybe when you least expect them too. I probably would never have believed you if you told me 12 months ago that I'd be living in Boulder, a teenage dream of mine. Speaking of, though, I need to dig into the Old Testament more this year since I've never read it in its entirety.
   
2. I've attended the info session about the CU MBA program, and am still unsure of where that stands. I'll keep you posted. I guess the next step would be the GMAT.
   
3. I can't believe the opportunities I've been given to ride my bike, climb/hike mountains, ski, snowshoe, bouldering, whitewater raft, hike, fish, etc. and want the hits to keep coming in this department. I think the Basic Snow class I'm taking in May will help me get comfortable enough to take on Skywalker Couloir in June '09. Here I come, snow climbing :) The class will be a reason for buying an ice axe but more importantly a stepping stone towards Mt. Rainier (2009?) and eventually Denali (before I'm 30)!!* I also want to continue to progress as a skier since I have become quite the downhill junkie, be it on two wheels or two skis. Hopefully I'll get some outdoor climbing in this summer and wake my climbing harness from hibernation. As far as 14ers go, here is a tentative list of 14ers I hope to summit.
1. Elbert (snow)
2. Massive &
   
3. Holy Cross (3 day weekend?)
4. Evans
5. Snowmass (probably long weekend)
6. LaPlata sw ridge &
   
7. Missouri (3 day weekend?)

I'll need a few more to get to 15 total from 6 at present, but I don't really care which :)

4. I am going to be the Best Man in my brother's wedding. That will surely be a wonderful time, and I'm looking forward to May. He'll be graduating college and getting married in the same month, so it'll be quite the year for him too.
5. Continuing to make a grow friendships to help Boulder feel like home will be very important this year.
   

So little time, so much to do... time to be looking forward I guess. Welcome 2008; be good to me.

* other multi-year goals:

1. summiting Grand Teton
2. more than a weekend in the Moab area, including riding hut to hut from Telluride
3. Hiking the John Muir Trail all the way from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney (meanwhile getting another state highpoint and the lower 48 highpoint) in one outing
   

ski lesson

I'm not a very good skier, but I'm working on it. This weekend I took a lesson ("Perfecting Parallel") at Winter Park. In addition to the parallel info, I also learned a critical foundation that I was missing. That foundation is the concept of using your skeleton instead of your leg muscles. Hopefully the use of stick figures will help elaborate.

Bad form:
As you can see above, the old me stood with my calf pressed against the boot, heel/ankle at a right angle, perpendicular to the slope or even worse depending on the steepness [1]. My thighs were doing the work of keeping me in an aggressive position yet still upright [2] and I was sticking my butt out [3] as my instructor said. My line of vision [4] was essentially parallel to the slope, which is correct. The worst thing about this is my center of mass was more towards my heel than toes... leaving the tips of the skis to take on a mind of their own.

Good form:
As you can see above, the new me stands with my shin pressed against the boot, heel/ankle at a sharp angle [1]. My calves and skeleton are doing the work of keeping me in an aggressive position yet still upright [2] and I am not sticking my butt out [3], rather upright instead. My line of vision [4] is the same (essentially parallel to the slope, which is correct). The best thing about this is my center of mass is more towards my toes than heel... giving me control over the tips of the skis.

This is the opposite of riding a mountain bike downhill, where you tend to sit back in the saddle as steepness increases, but feels much better on skis. My first ski trip this year wore out my thighs, but felt great after this Saturday. Maybe this will help out somebody else too... I know if I come home with sore thighs again I just need to re-familiarize myself with these million dollar drawings.