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 Adam on the East Face. The days are longer, the temperatures milder and the lines are more filled in- it just feels and looks like spring. Seizing a sunny day between spring storms that have been dumping on us lately, Anda Smalls, Adam Mosczynski, Christy and I set out to climb Castle Peak and ski its East Face. It was a great day by all accounts– blue skies, fun climbing and spring powder conditions on an Elk Range classic.  The view from the top. Spring is here. At least according to the calendar. And though it isn’t a tradition to try to get out on the first day of the new season, with Christy and I both free this past Sunday, we set our sights on an objective we’ve had for some time- Buckskin Benchmark’s Southeast Face. The 13,370 foot summit just north of Buckskin Pass sits between the giants of the Elk Range and looked to have a fun, direct ski down it’s southeast face. read more>>> 
(Christy here) This weekend I had the honor of attending the 37th Annual Sportswomen of Colorado Awards Celebration. Prior to receiving a letter a few weeks back notifying me that I was the recipient of an award for Superior Performance in Ski Mountaineering, I was not familiar with the organization. Honored to be included, I headed to Denver, and along with my parents, attended the gala event. As it turned out, this was one of the most inspirational and special events I have ever experienced. Founded in 1974 by the YWCA of Metropolitan Denver, in cooperation with Gart Brothers Sporting Goods Co., Sportswomen of Colorado is recognized as the first community-based organization in the nation to honor athletes at the state level. With the amount of exceptional athletes who live, train, and participate in women’s sports in Colorado, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it has such a long history here. Past Sportswomen of the Year include names like mountaineer Ellen Miller, mountain biker Alison Dunlap, swimmer Amy Van Dyken, and figure skater Dorothy Hamil. read more>>>  The North Face of North Maroon Peak, 14,014 feet, from the new book, Fifty Classic Ski Descents in North America. If you ask Christy and me, 2010 was a pretty good year. The skiing was great, the races went well, the summer was memorable, we had quite a few fun adventures away from Aspen and of course Christy finished skiing the 14ers. As I was trying to organize things on my computer I came to realize that it was also a pretty good year for photos. An interview with Christy on skiing the 14ers done by the local network, Plum TV, earlier this summer. Check it out. Please upgrade your browser  From the summit of Storm King Peak. It's wild back here. Last weekend, Christy and I went down to the Weminuche, in the heart of the San Juans. It’s an incredible place, one of our favorite spots in the state. The Weminuche Wilderness handily takes the award as Colorado’s largest wilderness area. At nearly 500,000 acres in size (Maroon Bells/Snowmass is 181,000 acres by comparison) it is so vast, with so many impressive peaks, lakes and valleys, that a single trip can’t do it justice. It’s something you just have to visit and revisit, exploring different sections on different trips, and if you’re lucky, after a good half-dozen forays into its depths, you might just cover enough ground to get a basic sense of what it’s all about. Christy and I– having hiked the trails and climbed the surrounding peaks of Ruby, No Name, Vestal and Weminuche Creek(s), and after making several trips to Chicago Basin and the Needle Creek 14ers, with a combined 14 backpacks to various areas here– feel as though we’ve barely scratched the surface. read more>>> |
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