Who said Christmas is just for kids? Not Amy and Neal. With a little supervisory help from the grandparents, and with a few hours free before starting Christmas dinner, they left Reed and Nina to play with presents and snuck out in seek of their own. It looks like Amy got what she wanted. Having just wrapped up a casual-paced morning of gifts and coffee, Christy and I headed to Highlands...
What a shame. There was too much snow for Christy to effectively show off her new green ski pants at Aspen Highlands the other day. Were it not so much fun, she might have actually cared that her ’08-’09 ski season fashion debut went largely unnoticed. The twenty inches that fell by Sunday was augmented by another storm that came through Tuesday, with yet a third walllop expected Thursday. Things are looking good. Most of Aspen Mountain...
Having just passed through a rather porous security check, we stood on the tarmac of Lukla Airport and awaited our flight. It was the first clear morning in three days, and the planes which were reported to have departed Kathmandu, were headed our way. Eager for their arrival, we listened. They were our way home. Approaching planes can’t be seen from anywhere in or adjacent to the terminal. Instead, passengers...
The tree is up. After skiing Saturday morning, we grabbed our $10 US Forest Service tree tag, and with saw in hand, headed out to hunt for our trophy. We knew just where to go. Our secret spot outside the town of Redstone has provided our tree for the past two years, and it would again today. A few hours later it was lighting up our living room. Though not a big deal, I was slightly disappointed when my goal for a repeat of...
The Little Nell, yesterday. (the Little Nell, yesterday) Resembling a scene out of the early season playbook from upstate New York’s Hunter Mountain, a.k.a. “The Snowmaking Capitol of the World”, the recent low temperatures have allowed the still primitive-by-east-coast-standards snowmaking system of Aspen Mountain to crank out the fake stuff. An anonymous Aspen Ski Company insider, identified only as ‘M. Blakeslee’, confirmed that, if temperatures stay low and snowmaking continues, top-to-bottom...
Dirk, Christy and I agreed- if we didn’t see a sleeping bag for a few weeks, we’d be just fine. I say that because when you consider the different camps on the mountain, and their varying levels of comfort (or lack thereof), well, it’s just great to be home. Having a toilet is nice, too. Let’s review. Basecamp ~15,000 ft. Pros- Flat, grassy and dry with direct sun from 7:30am to 5:30pm....
As part of getting all caught up after our trip, we’ve been chipping away at the Himalayan-like pile of mail that awaited us at home. That means flipping through a glossy ski or climbing magazine faster than Christy can cover a fluffy fashion mag while waiting to check out at the supermarket. So we almost missed the ad. Last June, Art Burrows asked if we’d be interested in taking part...
It was October 18th, nine days after arriving to Nepal, that we finished our trek and made it to basecamp. What a spot. The looming west face of the mountain frames the backdrop for the camp and the huge hanging snowfield just below the summit, known as the ‘dablam’ (loosely translated- pendant or charm box), accents it further. As we made our way to our tents, passing through other expeditions...
As we suffer alongside the pool at the Hyatt Resort/Hotel in Kathmandu, waiting to fly home later today, we can’t help but think about how lucky we’ve been. Be it our health, the weather, the ever changing route conditions or Adrian and the sherpas efforts, it seems everything was going right for us. Well let’s add one more thing to the list of good fortunes, our quick escape from Lukla....
Though it has been five days since we’ve summited, there’s still quite a lot happening. We left basecamp yesterday after nearly three weeks there, and will be in Lukla tonight. If the weather holds we should be back at the hotel in Kathmandu tomorrow. We can’t wait to get into a new set of clothes. Once we get home and get a chance to sort through the 1000+ photos we’ve...
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
