I talked to Steve last week and he indicated he was ready for another alpine adventure of some kind. With Christmas and New Years around the corner I figured it’d most likely have to wait until January, but as it turned out we were both able to get Monday off from work, which happened to be the winter solstice. Although I haven’t summited many peaks on the solstice, there’s something unique about being out there on the shortest day of the year. Read more…
Two weeks ago I said goodbye to summer by participating in the Rim Rock Marathon out in Grand Junction. This was my first marathon and I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience. I’m not sure exactly what spurred me on to deviate from my normal regiment of hiking peaks through summer’s end, but it probably had something to do with Anna-Lisa making me run with her as she trained for her own half marathon in August. As I got out there more and more I seemed to gain a genuine appreciation for running, and after stumbling across the Rim Rock race website, I decided to sign up. A three month training regiment of running 20 to 30 miles a week tapered off into race day on November 7th. After staying in a hotel in Fruita, Anna-Lisa drove me over to the community center where I was shuttled down to the starting line in Grand Junction. A brisk 8am start had 140 of us beginning the route up and over the Colorado National Monument. Keep reading…
The forecast called for a perfect autumn day: cloudless and a high of 42 above tree-line, with little to no wind. So Brian and I swung by Highlands Ranch to pick up Ben on our way to the Sangres and to the Horn Creek trailhead for a day hike of Colony Baldy and post-hike bar-b-q. Besides us three, we had Ben’s dog, Jax, a canine alpinist, and my brat, Opus, a cute mutt whose terrier heritage manifested itself in growls in the car and at the trailhead. Read more…
As summer winds down, it gets increasingly more difficult to find the motivation to get out. It should be the opposite, as, strategically, one might think the best plan of attack would be to hit it hard in the Spring, take a break for the first few weeks of summer, when there isn’t enough snow to ski, but just enough to make it annoying to hike. Then as the monsoon winds down, you’d wind up your trips, but any mountain man knows all too well the undeniable call of the wild and one’s insatiable desire to head back in to the hills – time and time again. Keep reading…