Archive for February, 2015

Cross Country Skiing – Brainard Lake Wooden Ski Day

Saturday, February 28th, 2015

Wooden Ski Day at CMC Cabin
Wooden Ski Day at Brainard Lake CMC Cabin

South CMC Trail
Beautiful Single Track, the South CMC Trail!

John, Brigida, Robert, Carrie, and I skied the CMC South Trail to the CMC Brainard Lake cabin, in honor of Wooden Ski Days. Carrie actually borrowed her wooden skis from Gary Neptune, for the full experience. We arrived about 30 minutes late for the big group picture, so we just took our own!

Here is a map of the Brainard Lake Ski trail system.

(more…)

Cross Country Skiing – YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch

Friday, February 27th, 2015

Selfie at Snow Mountain Ranch
Snow Mountain Ranch makes me smile!

Dennis Ready to Ride Winter Park
Dennis at Winter Park

I dropped Dennis off at Winter Park resort and then I went Cross Country skiing at YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch. It was a fantastic day for skiing. I used mostly green wax with a tiny bit of blue extra.

(more…)

Running – President’s Day Blizzard

Monday, February 16th, 2015

Presidents Day Snow
President’s Day Blizzard Hits Denver

Running in the Snow
The only time running on pavement is acceptable is when it’s covered with snow!

I love running in the snow. It cushions the blow to the joints, it doesn’t make you wet, and the blanket of snow makes the world quiet. This President’s Day, I had a 90 minute training run on the schedule. I had a lovely time on the Platte River trail and then ran down the Cherry Creek Bike Path. By the end of my run, it was snowing so hard, I could only see about 20 feet in front of me. Fun times!

Mountaineering – Humboldt Peak (14,064 ft)

Friday, February 13th, 2015

Charlie's Angels on Humboldt Peak
Jane and I do our impression of Charlie’s Angles. The Third Angel took a hike!

Happy on Humboldt
David and Jane on the summit of Humboldt Peak.

Humboldt Peak East Ridge Topographic Map
Topographic Map of Humboldt Peak

The rest of the state was being pummeled by strong winds, snowstorms, and laden with avalanche hazards. David, Jane, and I were looking for some place to go where we could safely summit a peak and it seemed the Crestones might just be the solution.

Jane has already climbed all the 14ers, but when there is opportunity to climb one in winter, she’s game! And, since I had not done Humboldt before, it looked like a great idea. I booked a room for the three of us in the tiny town of Crestone; so on Friday we drove down and arrived at bedtime. We made some tea and gathered our gear for the next day.

Would the mild forecast hold out? Would we make the summit? With a half marathon distance and over 5,400 ft of gain, it was bound to be a long day! What would the snow be like; would it be post hole madness or nice consolidated crunching?

(more…)

Mountaineering – Lackawanna Peak (13,823 ft)

Sunday, February 8th, 2015

Lackawanna Peak Summit Picture
Clare, Tom, and Frank on the summit of Lackawanna Peak

Climbing South Slopes of Lackawanna
At ~12,000 ft on the direct south slope of Lackawanna

Tom Climbing Lackawanna
Tom climbing the lower slopes of Lackawanna. You can see hwy 82 below him.

Lackawanna Peak Topographic Map and Waypoints
The Route and GPS Waypoints

Good times were had by Tom, Frank, and Clare on the Lackawanna legburner route, which was climbed on Sunday. The 4 mile round trip journey featured 3,450 feet of gain! It took us 6 hours to get up the peak (mainly due to the deep snow over the first half of the route) and 4 hours to get down. I was very thankful to Frank, who both supplied the pictures and drove us there!

(more…)