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Thoughts and photos from some course recon days on the Nolan’s 14 route.

Looking for a moderate distance trail run that gets you up into the high alpine? Do you prefer loops to out-and-backs, so that you don’t have to travel along the same trail in both directions?

[Christy here again] After spending the last three weekends running through the incredible Maroon – Snowmass Wilderness, we thought we’d switch it up and explore a new area. Earlier this summer, we had done a fun loop run over Missouri and Belford Mountains. From the summit of Missouri, we had an amazing view of the […]

The 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act was this past weekend. The local papers have been covering the “news” that more people than ever have been cramming into certain wilderness areas around Aspen, and the local authorities seem surprised. One ranger went so far as to blame the increased popularity in Colorado on the legalization […]

We skied Castle Peak’s North Couloir last weekend, an early season favorite of mine. 14er ski descents are usually reserved for the spring months, but there are exceptions. Wet weather in Aspen during the autumn months falls as snow in Castle’s Montezuma Basin, and reasonably good skiing can be had up there as early as […]

Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross– a.k.a. Decalibron, at least to those who obsess over 14ers here in Colorado. Peakbaggers love the easy Decalibron loop, allowing for four 14,000 foot summits to be tagged from the trailhead at Kite Lake, outside of Alma.

After our run up Quandary’s East Ridge we decided to climb the mountain a second time (the next day) at a more casual pace. The north side of the mountain has a seldom visited, semi-technical climbing route called the Inwood Arete that we wanted to explore.

The text from my younger sister wished me a happy birthday and went on to say, “Hope you are doing something fun-and I don’t mean running 100 miles or climbing a mt…hope u have a great day…” I guess we just disagree on what constitutes birthday fun. I was really excited for our plans later […]

Christy and I went to Twin Lakes to run Mount Elbert last weekend, a favorite outing of ours and a pretty novel running experience. At 14,433 feet, Mount Elbert is the tallest mountain in the state, yet it has very little technical or steep terrain. Easily accessed trailheads start at around 10,000 feet and good […]

“…perhaps two miles of interminable pinnacles, sheer on both sides. It was worse than it had looked. Many could be circled on the east side, but many must be taken straight on. Up and down, up and down, over rock that was very slow and called for much care. I got liberal samples of about […]