Approaching the cairn atop Organ. It’s not always about the challenge of the peak. We climbed Organ Mountain this past weekend, which at 13,801 feet, is the 106th tallest peak in Colorado. We chose Organ not because Christy and I are now setting out to climb all the top 200 Colorado summits (or Bicentennials), we were just looking for a new place to go, and to come up with ideas...
The massive ridge. With the start labeled, we first climbed south to Len Shoemaker Peak and then followed the ridge as it swung north, all the way to Pyramid. Click to enlarge. Totally psyched and somewhat surprised to have actually pulled it off, Neal Beidleman and I sat on Pyramid’s narrow summit in the afternoon sun and processed it all. It wasn’t that we thought it couldn’t be done. Through...
Christy, on the final descent from Buckskin Pass. On Saturday, Christy and I got out on our favorite local linkup of trails and passes, the Four Pass Loop. According to some friends who had been out there earlier in the summer, the lingering snow and high water levels, the theme of summer thus far, had made the trip pretty challenging. But it seems that summer’s persistence has finally won over...
Christy and Dirk in the Southwest Couloir of Peak C. Christy, Dirk and I had a great trip to the Gores recently, and tagged the summit of Peak C, 13,220 ft., described as “the gem of the Gore Range” according to Dave Cooper’s Colorado Scrambles guide. It was an interesting peak and well worth climbing, and I once again wondered why it is that there are so many distinct and...
Still smiling. Click to enlarge. Go Christy. It’s your birthday. Actually, if you know Christy it’s more like a birth-week, or even month-long celebration, a notion confirmed by the candles that came with the dessert at the restaurant last night, some six days after the actual date. (more…)
When it was all said and done, I kissed the Hardrock on Saturday, 31 hours and 55 minutes after starting the morning before, for 9th place. It was the 4th time in as many attempts to do so, yet despite the experience I’ve accumulated through those years,
Well, it’s not my lucky number, but it’ll do. It’s time for another lap. Hardrock starts tomorrow at six. It’ll be my 4th time participating, and my 3rd trip in the counter-clockwise direction. That is, the race heads towards Lake City, then over Handies Peak, to Ouray, then Telluride, Ophir, and back to Silverton. Familiar as it has become, like a lot of Colorado, the San Juans are still buried...
A trailrun up to Rito Alto Lake followed by a hike up the ridge to Rito Alto Peak.
Looking northwest from the summit. The Crestones on the left, Humboldt to the right, Milwaukee and Pico Asilado are below in the foreground. Click to enlarge. It’s been a little while since we made a trip to the Sangre de Cristos. More than two years ago, when Christy was making a push to finish skiing all the 14ers, we headed down to this range for seven weekends in a row,...
Nice work, Christy. If you do this stuff long enough, at some point you’re going to make a wrong turn. That said, I’m sure some watching thought it was cute that Christy and I finished together at the San Juan Solstice 50 miler last Saturday. If they only knew what different days we had out there. Due to excessive snow, an alternate course had to be put together for the...
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
