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Last year I had the opportunity to be a part of an amazing mentorship program that the Aspen Middle School conducts annually with their 6th-grade students. I was approached by an impressive 11-year old girl who asked if I would be willing to participate in the program as her mentor for ski mountaineering.

Being a couple of Colorado ski mountaineers we’ve always had a thing for 14ers. There are so many in our backyard it’s hard not to hold a special place for them. So when we arrived to California’s Eastern Sierras, home to some of California’s dozen or so 14,000 foot peaks, it was natural that we […]

Our trip to the Sierras started with a ski descent of the Northeast Couloir on Mount Langley, the southernmost 14er in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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 […]

In the department of good news, we were recently nominated as National Geographic Adventurers of the Year, for our completion of the Centennial Ski Project. It’s a huge honor to be considered for this award, something that National Geographic has been organizing since 2005. Teamwork is everything. What began years ago as three individual pursuits […]

Christy, Joey, and I skied Mount Raoul last weekend, a local summit just west of Castle Peak named in honor of the late Raoul Wille.

We’ll leave it to the Wall Street Journal to ask that question, in a story that ran in Tuesday’s paper about Christy, 14ers, her training, and more. It was a cool story, and considering how often the press misses the mark on topics outside of their expertise, I think they did a really good job.

Fall just wouldn’t be complete without a trip up to Montezuma Basin. A friend had told me that the recent wet weather was falling as snow up in the basin at 13,000 feet, and that the skiing was actually pretty good. Better yet, the road was still mostly dry and you could drive high up […]

As a Colorado backcountry skier, the mere prospect of spring brings excitement. But I found myself particularly psyched for the upcoming season after poring over a copy of the new guidebook, Climbing and Skiing Colorado’s Mountains – 50 Select Ski Descents. This book is long overdue. It’s co-authored by Ben Conners and Brian Miller, two […]

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 […]