The season is definitely winding down. For most it was over weeks or even months ago. But we always like to keep things going until the very end, and besides, the conditions up high are really just coming into form in May. We may still get out for another day or two before truly stashing the ski gear away for summer, but I thought I should share some 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 of marijuana-- read the story here. I tend to think it's a bit simpler. People...
Christy and I are both registered to run the Bear 100 in a few weeks, we thought it would be a good idea to do a long trail linkup from our Bear training playbook two years ago– Snowmass to Conundrum.
One silver lining of a light winter is that the summer routes on the peaks and the trails are clear of snow earlier than usual. Christy, Chase Edgerton, and I ran the Four Pass Loop last Saturday, about a month or so before we've been able to do it in year's past. (more…)
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 spring, as we knew it eventually would, and...
Christy, Lissa, Kent Harvey and I did the Maroon Bells Traverse on Saturday, twice. And I came home with a lot of mountain goats pics. Wait, twice? Well, when it comes to traversing the Bells, there are more than a dozen different combinations concerning which route to climb, direction to traverse and how to descend. And speaking for myself, when making those decisions and planning the day, I take steps...
This is a quickie, both in the day and the write-up. Here's the debrief: Neal had the morning free and wanted to go do something fun. I'll be at Hardrock next week and was looking for more than a routine trail run. Very direct and in parts runable, we both agreed a fast lap on North Maroon's Grassy Gully sounded good. So up we went. Even though we knew we...
Hitting the trail for a quick jaunt up towards Buckskin Pass on Saturday was our first visit to the area since ski season. Some useful route beta for the Maroon Bells area was learned. Here's the report: Buckskin Pass and the Four Pass Loop The only news from down low is that as you pass the wilderness boundary sign there are four new trail washouts from the recent rain. Higher...
If the set goal for the day was to ski good snow we would have been let down. Instead, Christy, Tim and I went to Hayden on Sunday and filed it under the category of "getting out for some adventure" rather than "epic backcountry day"-- and that small label change made it appealing. After all, when I was up here last Tuesday the snow left much to be desired and...
Route: Southeast Face Partners: Christy, Dirk Bockelmann Saturday's ski of North Maroon was super-smooth. Maybe we should go for South Maroon too? We all felt some momentum from the day so by the time we left the tailgate at Maroon Lake after North, Christy and Dirk were up for coming along on South tomorrow. With a favorable report from the 9+ people who skied its slopes on Saturday we figured all we needed was to rally some tired legs. We...
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
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