In early-August, Zambo and I took a day off work and headed to the Holy Cross Wilderness. We managed to pull off a nice little loop on a pair of unique peaks just ahead of oncoming afternoon weather. It was a good day out. The two peaks on the agenda, “Ribbed Peak” and Pt. 13,100, took us to the Woods Lake area on the west side of the range, which neither of us had been to before. Keep reading…
Joel, a friend I met through another friend, was visiting his parents in CO from his home in Switzerland, and wanted to chip away at the centennials during his stay. I convinced him to accompany me to get not only Rio Grande Pyramid, but also its less lofty neighbors outside of the top 100 or even 200 or 300, for that matter. Read more…
After the end of ski season and a few trail races in June, it was time to switch gears and start focusing on bagging some peaks around the state. As is the case most years, the month of July went by in a flash. Between working, heading to the hills, a road trip to Sante Fe with Anna-Lisa, and starting a few projects on the house, I simply wasn’t able to keep up with writing trip reports. So I figured a quick recap with some of the better photos from the month would be a good way to catch up. Read more…
Probably my biggest single goal for the summer was to run my first 50-mile trail race. Well it didn’t take long (three days into the summer to be exact) to fulfill that goal at the San Juan Solstice 50 in Lake City. Though a complete whirlwind, it was one heck of a day out there.
After securing a spot in the lottery in January I began ramping up the miles and vert throughout the winter and into spring ski season. Then it was on to the Dirty 30 in early-June, which is perfectly placed in the calendar as a “training race” being exactly three weeks ahead of the San Juan Solstice. A few more big days in the hills after the Dirty 30, including a run of the Barr Trail on Pikes Peak (which somehow was my first time up that route), and I finally felt “ready” to give the SJS a go. Keep reading…