75%

Squeezed in a last 2007 ski yesterday direct from the dizzying summit of Howelson Hill in Steamboat Springs... The quest to ski every month of 2007 promised to be a difficult one and I fell short in Sept, Oct and Nov. 75% is still a passing grade though right? Maybe a C? Anyways if I can rally Bacon back out into the hills next summer I'll give it another go for sure. This year only Sept would have been real difficult weather/snowfall wise...

To up the ante I'm aiming to ski BACKCOUNTRY every month of 2008...earn your turns!

August ski above Caribou

Great day for a hike into elk country! Dave routefinds thru krumholtz, talus and tundra

Narrow ledge just as we approach the snow field. We saw a great herd of 30+ elk on the ridge to behind Dave

Suncupped and much firmer than we were expecting from a snowfield you can see from the Sundance. Little drifts of pebbles at the base of each little wave of snow...

Doesn't look like much from here but great hike in and out made it one of my better outings. Found most of an elk skeleton at the head of this valley.

Yeeha! Skiing in August! Now if we can only find some snow in Sept our 'Year 'O Ski" challenge should be in the bank

Radio Beacon

Ticked off a great July ski with D. Ryan yesterday under splitter (and hot) skies. Approach involved a quick and easy couple miles on Rollins Pass RD after getting blocked by a snowdrift at Yankee Doodle Lake.

Our descent route directly above Dave as he works thru the trees around the upper Forest Lakes.

Our descent couloir on the flanks of Radio Beacon

Bacon punching out the last of the step-kicking up the couloir. Actually only about a 30 minute boot-pack which was nice

Bacon drops in on the STEEP upper portion. Our starting point kicking steps was the lake on the right

I felt pretty out of whack at the top of the steepest section in the throat, and having another party coming up our boot pack directly in my line of fire didn't help either. Made a few desperate turns on the steepest section before more confident links on the lower flanks. Still need to work on whipping those 191s around on the steeps! Fun route and great hike!

The informal Year of Ski challenge continues...July down, now where can we find snow in August?

Earning the turning with much burning

Digging deep heading up Toll

Mt. Toll goes down!

Wakey weakey. eggs and bakey! Cheese-O joins me for an early morn departure from Brainard Lake, weather was perfect!

Crystal! Blue Lake was still frozen solid so we skied right across it and began the climb up to Toll Bowl

Only 1700 more feet to climb, CHeese-O takes lead kicking steps up Toll

On top at 10am, after 4 hours of climbing. Great views (there is Navajo & Apache in the background) in every direction

A couple parties coming up behind us

Cheese-O above Mitchell Lake before the tru thrash back to the car began. Great trip and great summit!

Frosty Bowl!

Went up Saturday with a strong team led by Dave Ryan and found great weather and a rapid melt out in full swing all around us. First mile in from East Portal was patchy at best as was shelf up towards Forest Lake. Streams full and running water everywhere

Frosty Peak comes into view, finally.

Hump up Frosty was getting tough as the corn softened and the angle grew steeper until finally we boot-packed up the last bit of headwall to the summit. Ouch! Topped out just before 10am after leaving the TH at 6:30.

Splitter skies as Pat takes on the boot-pack

Jonathan ripping up the descent!

Dave Ryan in front of an even steeper line on Radio Beacon...next time!

Copper Mtn!

Still getting out on the planks as the weather warms and the trails clear up. Felt rusty as hell though last weekend skiing with Cheese-O and Loni. Snow was great for mid-April but I think I'm starting to pack out my T2s, especially the right one. Pulled it together for a couple decent turns in the moguls but shorter fatter skis may be in my future for next season...those 191s are tough to swing around!

Mashed potatoes!

Getting warm fast in the neighborhood and I was a day late on the 10" Eldora claimed fell on Saturday. Slugged it out for 4 hours on Sunday though and it was great to be out in the sun finally. The "snow" was sketchy though I guess it makes good training for corn season in the Indian Peaks, whcih is fast approaching. I missed out last year in the rush to get back on the bike so I really want to commit to a couple summit descents in April/May/June. Toll, James, Jasper, and Audubon are all on my wish list...

Big year!

5 hour tour up past East Portal with the full crew. We terrorized the area on the descent with cliff drops, boulder hopping and wrecking into trees...good times! Chainsaw and I have been getting out pretty steady this season what with all the snow, think Iwe've hit up the areas (Taos, Loveland, Eldora, Highlands, Angel Fire) about 7 times and bc about 10 (East Portal, St. Mary's, Caribou, Winiger and a couple ski-mountaineering races) which is pretty cool with the big snow months (and big plans for spring corn) still to come! Still can't tele moguls though...

Antsy pants

While I was recovering from the COSMIC kick ass, someone decided the fresh snow was just to good to miss out on and made fresh tracks up the driveway and then up the Chalet hill. Nice motivation Chainsaw!

Ouch!

I never really got going at the COSMIC Snowmass Winter Wild and ended up getting pulled and DNF'd at the top of the third climb. I guess the 1:15 wakeup took a bit of a toll after all ;) Course was a little boring compared to Sunlight with all the climbing up groomed runs with no sections into the trees or off piste. New heel lifts helped a lot but I just never felt warmed up and pretty much slogged my way up the skin track with many, many breaks. Rock Island descent was a little rocky and super short, Headwall/Wall One later on was so scraped at the top (and my legs were so cooked) that I sideslipped halfway down taking up a lot of time. Coming into view of the Maroon Bells at the top of the 3rd climb as the sun came out was cool though! I missed the Burnt Mtn cutoff by about 45min sounds like and ended up having to take 3 busses to get back to Aspen. Dave was the last finisher at 5:14, Cheese-O a couple ahead at 4:45 and I was out for about 4:45 as well...ouch. Oh well. About a month until Loveland so plenty of time to recoup/forget and train some more...

COSMIC course change

New course will avoid a long slow section to the Cirque so course will climb ONLY 5,133' now. Increases my odds for survival slightly though so I'm psyched. Bacon and Cheese-O have been suckered in as well so we're planning a 2am depart for Aspen on Sat morning. Going to avoid the Gatorade/Doritos breakfast this time...

Snowmass COSMIC looks brutal!

So I'll be there. Judging by my 2500' climbing in 2 hours performance last week I should be just able to finish under 6 hours. So where do I put my kidney? Dash, Cheese-O and Bacon have all expressed interest so I'll pack extra body bags...

6,000' of climbing, 12 miles following a 2am wakeup...should be interesting!

Abominable Snow-Bear sighting...

Somewhere near Lost Lake

COSMIC ski-mountaineering race

Sunlight served up the goods with (relatively) warm temps and lotsa new snow as Highroller once again pushed well beyond his limits, common sense and common decency for that matter. Seemed like about 2500' of climbing in all with 2 sweet descents. The first climb and descent kicked my ass completely and utterly but the second climb was more technical and I started to pick up the pace a bit. Second descent I actually managed some semi-decent tele turns in great snow and finished right around last in 2 hours. Fun! Snowmass offers up a longer and tougher course (bootpack!) so logic would dictate joining Allison in Copper. I'll probably race...

Winderful Winiger Ridge!

Chainsaw and I caught the Ryan Express yesterday, trespassing thru various neighbor's yards with Top Shelf and Bacon en route to some VERY variable turns on a SE aspect. Great 3 hour tour, and the weather did start to get rough, but some super views, patches of sun and interesting turns kept us moving...well that and thoughts of jerk wings at 1st St later on. 3 hours were about 2 hours more than I had in the tanks after a Loveland telefest beat down the day before so I at least am deep in the pain cave today...must sleep. Thanks Ryans!

Xmas Eve outing to St. Mary's

2nd verse, worse than the first! We did have the place to ourselves though...wonder why? Ack...