Last ski of the year

Happy New Year!! Today I went out to the Pass near the Park with the largest group I've skied with since the last hut trip. An awesome crew with a few new faces that were good to meet and great to ski with. For a group of 7, we stuck together remarkably well and worked together even better especially considering it was a high avy danger day out there.

All smiles even in the 4 degrees at the parking lot. It warmed up to 14 or so but on the wind exposed ridges the windchill dropped below zero.


Everyone wonders why I always goto the back of the group, or at least most of the time (I did break a bit of trail today in case you care). It's USUALLY because I'm taking pictures and then doing an interval to catch back onto the group. I also have this 'fatherly' thing going on trying to keep the group together and make sure nobody has any troubles and gets left behind unbeknownst to the rest of the group. Gotta travel safely out there boys and girls!

I took some good "thoughtful" shots of the peeps. Hope they don't mind me posting these....? I love this one because the freaking huge cornice in the back and the fracture line below it shows that it went in the last week some time. Crazy slope back there.

Ok, maybe this is more of a bottled excitement photo of BadCop...? We stuck to pretty low angle slopes to stay safe. Good way to start the season and get the body remembering how to turn again.

Into the sun. Splitting hairs between the windloaded left and the windscoured scree on the right. (Pilot - we skied this last year when there was LOTS more snow, and the next photos you might recall too.)


JT flowing the snow righteously. The last run of the day was the best and longest run of the day. It was a great run to end the year on. The local resort was calling for 11" of new in the last 24 hours but I'm calling their bluff unless they had a Pigpen cloud over them and nowhere else. Here, higher up than the resort that is over the hill in the distance in above shot, we had at most 5" of incredibly light powder over a pretty scrawny base. All of us went home with several "nice" gashes in the bases of our skis.


Peter Rabbit's cabin in the woods. This is a pretty small old mining cabin that people have "upgraded" (very lightly) and sleep in to grab 1st turns in the morning.

Over and out Pilots. Hope everyone has a great New Year's and see you next year. Cheers.

It goes to 11

There's something about realizing that 11 degrees feels warm. I've reached that point in winter where temps that used to make you shiver now don't feel quite so cold. Remember back in October when 30 degrees felt cold? Maybe it's that this winter has seen a welcome absence (or significant reduction) of wind. Or maybe it's just that it's been so freaking cold lately that 11 IS warm, relatively. But either way, it was a very pleasant commute on snowpacked roads into town.

This is a copy of a shot that Timmy took a long time ago but taken today. It's a point in the road before a lookout we typically stop at to put another layer on before the full 3K drop. It just has a cool perspective of a part of the road that is exceptionally icy and stays that way for weeks, sometimes months. More later on this, but the Nokian A10's are doing a fine job of keeping me upright. The other studded cross tires I was interested in were out of stock (at QBP even) so I took a gamble on these and am happy I did. They looked undergunned but they're a good trade-off for the bipolar conditions when you start riding at the icy snowpacked roads at 8400ft and end up at usually dry roads and paths at 5400ft. They roll really fast and grip on corners well even with only 72 studs per tire. Full review later after more 'testing'. I really should get paid for this stuff...or at least get free product!? Bah.

Hope you're keeping up with the Pilot's Belgium cyclocross adventure. Another great post today at Mud and Cowbells.

Webber wins in Belgium!

I'm a bit shocked that I cannot find anything online that is covering the fact that our boy the Pilot won his first race of his Belgium adventure..! Not on Velonews, not on CXmagazine, not on Cyclingnews.com...it's not mentioned anywhere except at the venerable Mud and Cowbells. So go check out the great race report - he beat the rainbow jersey to boot = amazing.

An excellent essay

So many times, backcountry skiers forget the basics = common sense. They forget to use their brain and have a bit of humility in front of nature; to observe what's around them and make solid decisions based on all available clues. I have my moments where my ego and the prospect of a funner run slip into my psyche; where I rely too much on technology to make decisions for me; but I hope by reading this article and browsing the avy books every fall I will continue to make smart decisions off-piste because my life does depend on it.
http://www.mountaingazette.com/exclusive/features/of_troglodytes_and_technology/

Look what J-guppie found in the yard! A rarely seen, even less
documented on film, pink snow octopus! It was released unharmed.

Lowest light. Winter solstice

Commuting by bike on the shortest day of the year is a bit of a yearly tradition. Not really a "special" occurrence but it is good thing to celebrate. From here on out, it gets (very slowly) lighter.

When I get up at 6am, it's dark. It's almost still dark when i leave at 7am. When I leave work at 5pm, it's dark. The bike lights are in full swing and will be for another couple months. When I get off the bus in Ned, it's REALLY dark, and cold, and usually windy. But it's been a lot warmer the last two weeks with temps hovering the 20s.

The lowest swing of the pendulum, my shadow will now start to get shorter. It looks like I'm riding that freakin 36" wheeled bike that was at SSWC09!

Storm coming in tonight, FINALLY. I asked for snow for Xmas and it looks like Santa is coming through.

A day in the life of a foot model

I received a random email request from a friend of the Pilot to meet up with a Skiing magazine intern and film me getting in and out of my Dynafit bindings. After meeting at the coffee shop we quickly headed up high to film the technique. They definitely are funky bindings but they are mechanically ingenious. They just take a few days to get used to. After literally 10 minutes of filming, my foot-modeling career was over. So look for my ugly gray spray-painted Scarpa F3's getting in and out of Dynafit bindings on a website near you.

After the "shoot", I was left on my own to head higher and see what was going on with the snowpack in an area I've not explored before. The photo above shows the gist of it. I topped out at the knob on the left side of the picture after hiking with my skis on my back for a bit. Then I skied down into a sharp west-facing saddle that had absolutely no snow facing the divide and huge winddrifts on the leeward side. The saddle is out of the picture to the left, between the two main hills in this area - neither of which had much snow on them but had gale force winds that nearly knocked me down. (I think this is why I have not come here before.) But it's really close to town so I really wanted to see it's Dawn Patrol potential. The run I took was extremely low angle and short and not worth repeating. In the future when there's more snow, I need to check out the area on the right side of the photo below treeline.

There is so little snow that i was skinning and skiing on rocks (and hiking on scree) a lot today. Lots of whoomphing too, but less than last Monday. The thing about right now is that there are crappy turns, if you can even find any. It's a risk too since the coverage is so low. It's windslab, breakable crust, and recycled powder that goes to the ground where lots of goodies are hidden to wreck your ski bases or knees if you happen to drop one.

The wind right here was insane. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would purposely build a cabin here. Might as well live in a wind tunnel. It looks really old, but this cabin was actually built only 2 years ago! To no surprise by anyone but the owner, it blew down last winter. No wolves or piggies were involved in the incident.

I'm glad the Skiing mag intern opted out of the tour. I warned him that I 'tend to get lost' and quietly mumbled that there may be a mix of scree-hiking and post-holing involved. He said that he had to get back to Boulder to meet up with friends to go camping. Good thing. This was a classic Meriwether tour reminiscent of last year's Windy Ridge Traverse but this time I didn't torture anybody but myself (it was actually kinda fun).

Morning light

Not too many words today. Morning ride may start the days right but work has been ending the days poorly lately.

Thoughts go to new ways to earn a living. Recycled bikes, making and rebuilding frames, making web-maps on the side for non-profits...my mind is swirling with the possibilities. Funding sources need to be worked out, but all i know is that i am looking forward - away from my current state of work and into doing something that allows me to work from home and ski or bike before, during, or after work with never being late. We can always wish, can't we?
So in that vein, if you have heard of anybody using recycled steel to make bike frames, send me a comment as I'd love to hear about it.

Abyss, Part II: Amen

In the old horse grain container at the end of the driveway, that we never check for packages, a lonely box was dropped off some time ago - unbeknownst to us until yesterday. In this box lived 4 Abyss stout's sent from Brother Wolfe in Oregon. Damn...what a present! A huge THANKS goes out and I will be sure to share one or two with the Pilots. Now I just have to figure out what local brews to send back your way. Suggestions anyone?

1st Dawn Patrol

Ranch work on Sunday and a bigger than expected snowstorm up higher led to my alarm going off at 5:30am Monday morning and to me making the half-hour drive up to the tunnel. It was dark obviously but add to that we had near whiteout to complete whiteout conditions from the blowing snow. My drive west was a bit wilder than expected. I'm happy I didn't head over to Bare Mountain where the ski in is shorter but there are no trees to serve as windbreaks.

I was the only one there (it was a Monday morning after all) so i parked in the direct windbreak of the new, overbuilt-for-a-reason, outhouses. Starting out with a headlamp and goggles to combat the 40+mph gusts, i skinned as fast as i could to the trees where it became (and always does) surprisingly silent and peaceful.

I noticed right away that the 5-plus inches of new snow had fallen on a very weak snowpack - an almost non-existent snowpack - that had rotted from the ground up after the extremely cold temperatures of last week. The -15 at the ranch was probably at least -20 here and the thermal gradient from the ground to the air, with only a foot of snow in places, made most of the snowpack a depth hoar fiesta. That, with a light windslab on top and now new snow on top and high winds, created the worst and most dangerous snowpack I've ever seen in this location.

As I climbed up to the glade where I was hoping to get some good turns in, there was more whoomphing than I had ever heard before. Settling and shooting cracks, and the feeling as if I were postholing when I actually had pretty fat skis on. I stumbled upon a natural avy that had left boulders of snow - below treeline. I exited stage left and returned to the car the same way I came. There were no great turns on the way down, only collapsing snow and survival skiing that made me happy to have a brain, unlike this dude:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14002920
The avy danger was obviously high, no doubt, as can be seen in that shot of Loveland Pass. That boarder got LUCKY. No beacon or shovel and no knowledge that he just shouldn't have been there.

Still no one in the parking lot except for the tunnel folks who were wondering what the hell i was doing out there. I entertained them with a swift fall on my ass trying to get out of my bindings. It was awesome - down in two seconds flat. I got back up, brushed myself off, and took a bow and cooly made my way back to the BapaMobile and down to Happy Trails for an americano before heading into work. I wish every day could start out like this. Even a bad day in the backcountry is a great start to any work day.

Smile

Icy roads, icy toes

Friday's commute started out at 19 at the house, a HIGH for the last week by almost 20 degrees. Funny how it feels balmy when it's 20 now. I dressed lighter but that was a mistake since there was a bit of an inversion going on. I thought I was getting colder down the 'drop' just because i was going so damned slow on roads like those above and no studs on Tank yet, but it really dropped in temp. My face felt a sting, especially the left upper cheek-bone that got frost nip at the Grand Traverse last March. Had the face mask in the pack but of course I didn't stop to put it on, i was already so close to the bottom by the time I realized it was frozen that stopping would've made me colder, or it would've made too much sense!

Cold feet again today, looking to try out the Lake MXZ302's this year even though i hear they fall apart. Not many choices out there for winter shoes. Two, maybe three if you can find the new Northwave Celcius' in your size. Sidi, Lake, and the new Pearl Izumi's. That's it. Sidi's are even more expensive than the Lakes and they don't fit my feet well. The Pearl's look ok, but hey, it's their first year out so I will give them some time to learn from mistakes. It's time to retire the Arctics.

Keen wool insoles

I bought a pair of wool Keen shoes a couple of years ago. They're those things that slip on, not clogs but not performance shoes at all, but warm and easy to get on/off. And they look like you have Wookie feet. Not sure they sell them anymore but they came with these sweet insoles. Rubber in the middle sandwiched by wool on the top and a heat reflective (tinfoil-like) surface on the bottom. They're perfect to put in the winter cycling shoes and resist the heat loss and cold that comes thru the cleat. I looked at the time and saw that Keen was asked by others than me to sell these separately. No such luck. But if you know of any other insole like this, comment and lemme know!

Master's Cross Nats - The Pilot WINS!

Webber wins, Myrah second. Wow. Who would've thought the Masters 40-44 would have the two guys in 1 and 2 spots that were in those same spots (but reversed) back in 1993 (or was it 92?). Classic. Congrats Pilot.

Coyotes and Cold commutes

Three coyotes hunting in the front meadow before heading off to the bus. (KB- they look like 'your' coyotes!) The horses were closed into their stalls because the temps were forecasted to get down to -15 again. These three staked out the property in one smooth down-valley movement until they got here where the picture was taken. Maybe they heard the crazy barking dog at the bottom of the driveway that gets left out all night (horrible pet owners). Or maybe they all heard the same vole. Who knows, but they all marked up that brown post on the left like it was the coolest thing to do on earth. It's amazing to me how they can seem unaffected by the cold whereas our dog's lift their paws up into the air in horror after 5 minutes being outside with how cold the snow is.

Off the bus on to the bike paths in the Flatlands. The roads were treacherous, the paths were butter. Cold down there, but nothing like up at the ranch where the winds have picked up and we're getting some 'fun' conditions like zero degrees and 40mph gusts making the windchill...well...COLD.

Getting some studded cross tires for Tank, seems like these conditions will be around for awhile. Going to try out the Schwalbe Marathon Winter's as they have nicely looking"siped" treads and a 240 stud count. This site has good pictures and info on most of the studded tires out there. I usually don't use them as the transition from here to the Flatlands is usually bad, but once you get down there it's summer. This winter is a different story though.

1st ski tour of the season

First off, CONGRATS to the Pilot for winning the Colorado State Cyclocross Championships yesterday! That's rad. Dubba and him sprinting to a finish that found the Pilot only a foot, if that, ahead of Dubba for the win. Classic. Now on to today, and SKIING!

Yep, begin the posts with lots and lots of pictures of snow, people's backs skiing ahead of me thru the snow, wind scoured peaks, and of course pictures of my sweet turns on powdered glades.

The Redneck, or as I shall now call him - Hayride (unless i hear objections), on the Holmenkollens with Haystack in the view. Right about here, even in the absence of the most common element of this place (gale force winds) we both froze our fingers off. It was zero at the house upon leaving but we heard it was an inversion so were hopeful it'd be warmer. Not so much.

I brought out the leather's and Combat's today. Seemed like a good idea as we knew we were going to be battling horrible snow cover and rocks covered in just an inch or two of the driest snow on earth.

The sky kept trying to snow but the RH was just too low (56% at DVR). Hayride was right when he said it was like the air was crystallizing - you can kinda see that in the picture above - blue sky and white air.

I wish I got some pics of the narrow, rock-filled, tobaggan run back to the parking area (which now has two spanking new restrooms by the way!). Many near misses and forced tele/alpine turns made for an exciting run.

Pitiful snow cover. Another storm is on it's way for Monday night so hopefully that'll get us back up to average. Word is, a big one is brewing off the Pacific Coast right now too, so we may be in for a good set!

Late Saturday afternoon snowride

Riding in the snow can be one of the funnest things you can do on a bike, and it can also be one of the most severely frustrating things you can do on a bike all in the same hour long ride. You know the feeling. Just like with skis, if it turns into breakable crust or windslab you are hurting...and walking. It sucks the life out of you. But in the protected trees, the soft 4" deep snow on singletrack is chocolate mousse. Smooth and rich.

After a day of chores, including waxing the skis for the first time of this winter - and tomorrow's ski with the Redneck - I snuck out for a short ride around the hood with the Hunter. We had just finished a short hike where the poor dog's paws were getting quickly frozen; it was maybe 16 degrees, at the lowest. These are not sled dogs. The conditions look do-able so i got out before the sun set, kinda. Freaking 4:30 sunset these days makes it hard to do anything.

James Peak at sunset

Negative 15

Yeah...not riding in today.

Arctic white

Pilot & Alien peace pow-wow

Golden brown to arctic white in a day. We awoke to 5 degrees this morning and 3-4" of squeaky new snow on the ground. Beautiful outside, but a bit colder than was forecasted but I decided to ride anyway. My usual cut-off temp to ride down has been 10, but they forecasted a low of 15 last night so I got all psyched to go. I am in the zone these days, I am loving the rhythm of the bike commute. Although I keep having to relearn the obvious lessons i've been taught by Mother Nature many times before like don't change your tried and true setup at the last minute. (I wore too much and sweated too much.) But other than that, I was golden. the Hunter with the Nokian studs stuck to the ground like glue. Without studs, it would've been treacherous, or at least stupidly treacherous instead of totally do-able.

The 'drop' into the canyon was relatively nice even though the temperature never really warmed up from Siberian Valley Ranch's 5. A documented rare occurrence - there was a place colder than my house! The Redneck had zero temps at his house (down the road a few miles). Even with the Moosemits and my favorite Ibex Climawool gloves with liners, my fingers started to get a little cold; my big toes were already gone. Wish they made Moosemitts for the feet! I want to try out the Lake MXZ302's instead of the packed out 10 year old Northwave's but we'll see what Santa says. The word on the dirt road is that they wear out fast. Anyone else have experience with them?

KingNIMBY and fam passed me mid-downhill but I caught up with them towards the bottom. Per their suggestion, I hopped in the car for the middle section of the commute (along a high speed narrow canyon with many cars that wasn't plowed very completely) so I wasn't an hour late to my 8:30am meeting. (Studded tires are SLOW! This was an upslope storm too, so there was an abnormal headwind on the way down.) Good thing I nabbed a ride, as the road was a mess and it seems like nobody remembers how to drive in the snow anymore.

More cold on the way. This wasn't supposed to be the coldest day of this week. As i write this it's -10 and the dogs can't go outside without almost immediately laying down and holding up their cold paws with looks of sheer horror. Then they limp and crawl back inside and sit next to the fire.

(Note to self: allow 2 hour commute time with snow on the ground and using studded tires).

Confessions of a gear whore

I am now known by name at the local Sports Recycler. I definitely have gotten some good use out of that place over the years and it's the same dudes running it, but still, I apparently go there too often and I'm not exactly the most social of types introducing myself and stuff. I do like gear, and for someone who tries to be low on the 'consumption totem pole' i fail miserably year in, year out. Mostly I like (ok, LOVE) gear because I have high expectations and i also quickly wear stuff out. That, and I find out quickly that some gear just plain sucks and you don't know until you try it out. I should go over the gear I have that I've had for greater than 5 years just to share what works, and lasts. Future blog post but while I'm thinking about it...Northwave Arctic winter cycling shoes (c.1999), Independent Fabrications Planet Cross bike (c.2000), Deuter Futura 28 cycling pack (c.2002), Swobo longsleeve wool jersey (c.1997) - finally had to recycle this year because of too many moth holes rendered it somewhat useless sadly. More later.

[PS- the elevation profile on my last post has been fixed. Word to Google Chrome developers - when i post images using Chrome, they don't size up in a new window when clicked! Must use Firefox or IE.]