Archive for January, 2009

Devil’s Thumb Ranch – Cross Country Skiing

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

Clare&Dennis at Devil's Thumb
Dan Happy at Devil's Thumb

On Saturday, Dennis & I woke up super early and drove to the Mammoth Car Pool lot in Morrison. It was going to be his first Cross Country ski, and my second. I was all too excited. Devil’s Thumb Ranch was waiting… (more…)

Emma’s Birthday Weekend

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

My sister, Emma, turned 12 this year. While there may not be anything particularily special about 12, there is something special about her birthday! Emma is my little sister, and while she may not be physically “little” much longer, I still like to celebrate these years with her!

Movie Star Emma My Goofball Sister Emma
Emma Getting a Bob
Dennis & I flew out for Emma’s birthday, but also to visit with my Mom & Grandma (both ailing for various reasons). And, one more person near & dear to my heart, the one who keeps things afloat-Meera. (more…)

Eldorado Canyon Hawk-Eagle Ridge Rock Climbing

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

On Sunday, I met up with Chris and we climbed at Hawk-Eagle Ridge in Eldorado Canyon. This ridge is high above the canyon floor (around 700 feet above!).

It is quite the workout reaching the top of the ridge, and there is an eliminate crux about 2/3 the way up. I was a little nervous, in one spot in particular, as there are some simple class 5 moves with severe consequences. We took our time climbing the ridge, and finally, after about an hour, we were at the crag.

There was an ethereal mist swirling around us, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. The temperature was probably around freezing. Lucky for me, Chris is determined and he can handle the cold. It must have been his extensive background climbing at the Gunks…

Chris put up the following climbs, and I seconded (with my gloves on!). All day, I was climbing with my down jacket on, and it never really warmed up. We climbed during the warmest part of the day (11-3pm). We did four climbs at the very top of the ridge. Varied in ratings from 5.6 to 5.8.

My First Time…

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Cross Country Skiing was at Frisco Nordic Center!

A bunch of guys from work enjoy x-country regularily, and invited me along. I met them up in Frisco at 7:30am in the morning. The drive up was a little perilous, after the tunnel, it started snowing and the ice was pretty bad on the road. Luckily, I only had to drive for a few miles in the bad conditions, and by the time I got to Frisco, there was a happy coating of snow over everything.

We met at a cafe, The Butterhorn Bakery in downtown Frisco. I had the cinnamon swirl french toast. It was delicious, except I didn’t really want either the bananas or the blueberries they heaped generously over the top. The guys were happy to help me eat those… (more…)