Timing is everything. Sometime last Saturday I noticed Bob Perlmutter peering through the telescope at the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain, following the progress of a skier on Ski Hayden (Hayden Peak’s north summit). I had been tracking the solo skier as well and after noting Bob’s interest, knew exactly who to recruit as a partner. After a half dozen more skiers followed suit up there on Sunday and Monday and...
A mid winter ski descent of the 14er Mount Sherman.
I think the photo annual is my favorite issue of a magazine. So it was pretty cool when Christy thumbed through the latest Rock & Ice – The Photo Issue, and stumbled across a familiar image in the ‘Everyman’s Exposed’ section. After a quick doubletake, she tossed the magazine over to me and there was the shot, of Camp 2.7 and the mushroom ridge on Ama Dablam. I had totally forgotten submitting the...
Locate this sign and you’ll feel a bit less lost out there With six weeks to go before the Grand Traverse, team Lucky No. 9, a.k.a Christy and I, went out to log some miles, skiing a classic interconnect between the two founding huts of the 10th Mountain Hut System, Margy’s and McNamara. Starting at the Lenado trailhead (8640 ft.), we made our way to McNamara Hut (10,360 ft.), via a linkup of...
We love the Ouray Ice Park. Once a season, in an effort to change things up, we make a trip down to the San Juans, to the town of Ouray, Colorado and its one-of-a-kind playground for big kids. This trip was a reunion of sorts, Christy and I were meeting Adrian, Lissa, Joe and Larry from our Ama Dablam trip. Saturday we spent playing around in the South Park area,...
Christy and I are happy to report we both set personal records at the Owl Creek Chase this year, and by more than twenty minutes! Congrats, right? Well, not so fast (pun intended). For as much as we’d like to take credit for this, being a result of hard work, training, ski prep, or whatever, there was a more obvious reason. The course was 4 km shorter than usual, reduced from...
A windy day skiing the 13er Mount Buckskin, in the Kite Lake group of peaks near Alma, CO.
Sound like fun? It all depends on your perspective, literally. From it’s top, it’s a fast, steep descent towards Snowmass, and on nordic skis it can almost be scary. When tackling this stretch of the Owl Creek Trail from the opposite direction(pictured), the only thing ‘flying’ is your heartrate, into the red that is. Participants in next Saturday’s 22nd Annual Owl Creek Chase , the 21 km skate race from Snowmass to Aspen, will...
So what’s this all about? Joel Gratz, an enthusiastic skier and amateur meteorologist out of Boulder, Colorado, has launched his Colorado Powder Forecast, with the singular goal of helping powder lovers stay abreast of incoming weather news of the ‘cold smoke’ variety. Distributed via email, his discussion includes day-to-day predictions for snowfall in the various mountain zones of Colorado, sometimes going so far as to predict actual powder quality as a function of the snow’s...
It’s official. We don’t need the certificate as proof, but we do think it’s pretty cute that the government of Nepal takes the time to issue these. I’m sure they’ll be cool to have somewhere down the road. Maybe the Colorado Mountain Club should issue certificates for 14er & 13er summits. I’m sure the employees of the CMC are happy they don’t. Happy New Year!
We met in Aspen in 2000 and have been happily stuck in the rockies ever since, getting out in the mountains every day we can, in every season and by all means possible. Read More
