Singletrack in February at 8,500ft...?!

After a lunchtime ride with the Pilot (aka the NEW Flemish Wonder) on Wednesday and feeling like i want to keep some biking in my legs throughout the winter, I headed out for a late ride today. I was waiting for it to snow and get colder (to freeze the ground), in truth, before heading out as there was a 50% chance today and an 80% chance of snow tonight...but no such luck so far. At 4pm I headed out and up the hill a bit to the local zoolander spot. (Um, yeah...KB, best turn your eyes.)

On the upside of getting no snow and lots of wind (along with lots of snowshoers) I was able to get out on a pretty fun ride following a few of the local summer trails. The Hunter seemed overkill with it's studded tires when i first hit the road and took a left on a dirt road which was all clear of snow and almost totally dry. It was then that I noticed the trails seemed to be somewhat packed down! Usually, trying to ride trails in the winter here is an exercise in frustration involving postholing and stopping dead in the hollow sun and wind-crusted snow. Without a big-tire snowbike (which is sounding more enticing every day), the snow only holds your weight for a pedal or two, if that, and then drops you to the ground. But today, I was glad i tried the trails. It was kinda one of those out and back rides on the trails, but it was well worth the effort and I even found some drt, yes DRY singletrack, on the southwest exposed open areas. Snowshoers had packed a 1-2 foot wide trail so well that my tires (2.1's) were not sinking whatsoever and I was able to rail the corners with surprising speed because of the studs which was a totally new experience for me. Yes, it was a good ride.

Chill Pill

At the bike rack having arrived at work on a chilly day, Tank chills. The newest addition of an old yet very simple and effective adaptation to the straddle cable for cantilever brakes.

They're rad.

It took awhile to put these things on but they add just the right touch to the bike.

Thanks, Brother Wolfe.

January observations, YOTB, & JGuppie

Basin plot for the South Platte, Feb 2nd, 2010

January 2010 is now over and the stats are in. El Nino sucks for snowfall in NorCO. The Basin plot shows us well below average for precipitation (80%); I truthfully can't remember the last time it snowed over an inch at the ranch! The wind has been much less intense and frequent than most other years that I can remember which is really nice, but I have to admit, i'd rather have the snow.

On January 5th, we had a week of really sunny and warm weather - over 50 degress at 8,400ft. It was so warm that the mountain chickadees were singing their mating calls up and down the valley thinking spring was here...! The willow up-valley have started the greening of their shoots while the elk take samples. So while the overnight lows have been pretty low (less than 10 degrees each night for most the month), the daytime highs have been above 30. It's a warm winter for sure. I hope the southwest flow that El Nino intensifies will produce some big upslopes in the coming months when the Front Range usually gets the biggest dumps. But it's not looking safe or good for the Aspen area where my Margy's hut trip is a mere 8 days away. With nearly 50 human-triggered or natural avalanches in the last couple of weeks, we will do well to stay on the lower-angled slopes and not even toy with steeper slopes because that faceted base-layer that has persisted this entire winter looks like it will stay for the rest of it.

On another note, while hiking the gups out back found a well preserved (suncrusted) set of bobcat tracks walking downhill towards the back meadow. The year of the bobcat (YOTB) it certainly is!

And here's Jessica Guppie showing off all her toys - an orangutan and tie-dyed bear in the above picture. Jessica is hilarious, she must have 'bird-dog' genes because we definitely did not teach her this. Each night before bedtime especially but also after breakfast, dinner, and at random other times throughout the day, she goes and grabs as many stuffed animals that she can fit into her mouth and does her best impression as a runway model showing off all her prizes to the other dogs and humans. It is so freaking cute, it never gets old.

Just the way it is

Lots of imaginable scenarios for that title including some cheesy pop lyrics. But today it's just a heading for the palette known as "Front Range skiing." It's not Jackson, it's not Little Cottonwood Canyon, it's not even Berthoud Pass, it's just the way it is. Either you learn how to love it, or you will certainly hate it, because it's the way it is and it could care less whether you find it's stashes.

It's a lot like singletrack in this area - you have to explore hours on end to find it, but when you do it's well worth the trouble. In fact, you learn that the exploring is most of the fun. The singletrack is broken up with lots of 'portages' where you may have to hike with and possibly shoulder your bike, or figure out the locals route obscurement and deal with (or be) Stickman (the one who doses out the slash). The rewards are endless though, especially for backcountry skiing where there is virtually no limit to the route you take.

A common day at the tunnel finds you skinning uphill for over 2 hours, getting generally "turned around" thinking you've been there before but more likely not, and getting about 10 good powder turns in (that is, if you don't head back up for another lap or two on that 300 ft vertical stash you just found). Ok, yes, there are places where that's not the average but for most of my days out there it is. So why do it? See the following pictures. These were taken a mere 30 minute non-traffic'd drive from my house. No I-70 traffic to deal with, and less driving is always a good thing for multiple reasons.

So today me and Hayride headed up above the tunnel and went searching for some new views to see and new slopes to ski. It did snow this week but only maybe an inch since I was here last Monday.

An unknown skier who stupidly followed our skin track (when will they ever learn)

Hayride pulling off some good looking survival turns on the wind slab up high.

Me on one of the three short lower runs with near perfect snow conditions

Hayride figure-8'ing my line

The last of the short runs and another great find for the day.

Me entering the White Room. Ok, the snow wasn't really that deep, but it sure does look like it from this angle.

Crisp Friday morning commute

The ride in today was just excellent. I get happy to just do the 'direct' route these days, especially when there's new snow on the ground. The air was crisp, the deep blue sky juxtaposed against the white snowcovered trees.

I think the pictures mostly describe the morning. Sunny and 5 degrees at the ranch, but it quickly warmed up as I went along the dirt road east...

...my shadow still showing some big wheels....

...I passed the same views seen so many times before but today they looked different, more beautiful and sharp...

...and an hour later i dropped into an inversion that burned off as soon as i got into the office in the plains.

Happy Friday all!

I turned 37 today...

...and I don't feel much different.

I had a very relaxing morning sipping coffee on the couch with the puppies and my girl. I got some funny presents - furry bear paw gloves that are HUGE and warm, and fuzzy Crocs which will be permanent residents on my feet.

Although Monday, I skipped work in lieu of hanging out at home and going into the backcountry. JHK picked me up at 10 and we left for a backcountry tour up at the Tunnel. The wind has been crazy, and I mean CRAZY, the last 24 hours. If stuff wasn't strapped or nailed down, it blew away. Big 100 gallon horse trough, gone. WTF?!

With the little bit of snow that actually hit the ground (1 - 6" reportedly but I'd say more like 1"), I was predicting some good stashes of wind-deposited powder in those sheltered leeward spots. I went up yesterday to the same area and found the new snow wasn't too bonded to the old snow surface. I easily kicked off a nice little (kinda medium to large, actually) soft snow sluff from the top of Quicky Couloir - on the second try. Today, we tried again to do the same thing after another 8" of wind-deposited snow filled in the gap I created, but to no avail.

Yeah, it was a bit windy in certain places, and at 18 degrees before calculating windchill, it was pretty terrible for exposed skin. This cornice was formed on FLAT ground on the east side of a small lake. Why? I don't really know.

JHK grabbing some good turns on the best snow of the day.

After going a bit too high up and right on the Rib and not finding the south-facing glade that I've been wanting to ski (for three years now), we ran away with our tails between our legs into the dense forest (yes, the wind). The next 'goal' was to find this little white area on the topo map - a opening in the trees that may provide us with some good sheltered turns in soft snow. After some sludging through the flats below the lake, it started to drop and we found a sweet cliffy steep open area with much more potential when there's more snow. We made the best of it though and spent some time navigating the rocks and steeper sections of the slope to get us safely down it but also get some turns between the islands of trees...just to make the 2+K of vertical (more) worth skinning up. We were awarded at the bottom when we looked at eachother and said "Dawn Patrol spot!" We "found" what we both knew was the closest open trees to the parking lot with good snow. He predicted a 35 minute skin up to the top of the run from the car, which would definitely get me to work on time.

Not 5 minutes after returning home, a group of 30 elk started browsing in the back yard. A nice birthday surprise since we've never seen them in this area during the daytime.

To end the day, a walk around the property with my girl and the Gang of Four (the Guppies, and Rikki and Basie shown above). Basie always loves to stop at overlooks and check out his surroundings, so I joined him. I don't enough slow down and stop and make an effort to take it all in. This year I plan to be more like Basie.

Fowler/Hilliard Yurt Trip, 2010

View down to the yurt and "Buzzards" - the open trees across the way.

Ptarmigan is the bald peak just behind the tree'd ridge.

The yearly Frozelap hut trip was last weekend at the newly made Fowler/Hilliard Yurt. It used to be a big hut, but lightning or something else burnt it down to the ground this summer - only the detached outhouse was left standing and in fine condition. The 10th Mountain and a group of volunteers quickly replaced the hut with a big 30 foot diameter yurt with a venting skylight, wood stove, kitchen with 6 propane burners, and bunk beds to sleep 14 people. Two beds doubled as window seats adjacent to the wood stove made it able to fit 16 but that would be a bit tight honestly.

View from the yurt window - Resolution Peak.

I've been lucky enough to be invited on the Frozelap's hut trips for the last three years and the first trip I did was to this place when it was a hut and we were having a better snow year. But any hut trip is better than no hut trip and any day in the backcountry is simply a great day. The crew was all there again. I get to see most of these people only once year, sad as that may sound, and it's on this annual hut trip. The Champ's dad, The Bobber, bailed out when he heard it was a yurt but that's cool cause he's 30ish years our senior and is one of the most hardcore old dudes I know. (He was one of the first to bike the Colorado Trail among many other things.) So we missed him but had a great time nonetheless. The days were filled with skiing and searching for turns, the nights were filled with a lot of laughter. I have video of the round of jokes from the second night, but I think I may have to get written permission to post that video...it's hilariously crass.

The meals - pasta and mexican; the drinks - cans of Ska's Modus Hoperandi, Dales Pale and Ten Fidy, and various other liquids that were in small metal flasks (gotta stay light when you carry it in!); and of course good coffee filled our cups and the air each morning while we looked out at Resolution Peak from the seat by the wood stove. There's not much more peaceful than the feeling of waking up at a hut or yurt, boiling your snowmelt for coffee, and sipping it out on the deck or in front of the wood stove while watching the sun rise over the snowcapped mountains that surround you in every direction. The morning light alone is worth the trip.

Me skinning up the easiest part of the hard way out of the Poop Chutes (thanks to Frozley for doing most of the trail breaking)

This area was rumored to not have received any new snow in 20 days, so it was somewhat hard to find great skiing. But we ended up finding some good turns behind the hut in the north-facing Poop Chutes (behind the outhouses) and on a partially sun-crusted SE facing slope just outside the front door. Buzzards was crusty but still fun and we didn't even try the bowl right out the front door because the sun had wreaked havoc on the shallow snowpack making a pretty hard suncrust on anything facing remotely south (except for some shaded pockets). Once again, I probably annoyed some by my choice of skin track but hey, what d'ya expect?! I know where I'm going, just not always the best (easiest) way to get there! So yes, bushwhacking and post-holing were involved.

I get a bit solemn every time I leave a hut. I try to cram all those sensations into the last hours and minutes of being up there:

Deep breaths of the cold mountain air,

The pure silence of the morning and afternoons,

Looking 360 degrees around you and seeing only peaks and glades yet explored and skied,

The knowing smile from friends that are enjoying the same things and thinking the same thing -

Let's go ski them thar hills, brother.

More pictures and narrative found HERE.