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 Christy, finding the old facets skied like a big pile of granulated sugar. When Kir’s email came through asking if Christy and I would like to join her and Anda at her Chair Mountain cabin for the weekend, you could hardly describe the thought process as a decision– I knew instantly we were going. Having spent nearly every day of the past three weeks working/skiing the thin coverage of Aspen Mountain, I really wanted to getaway and go somewhere. And after our ski experience on Chair last spring (see post here), I also knew Christy would be game, even if the big snows that typically bury this area hadn’t yet arrived.
It was a great weekend for all sorts of reasons– to finally see Penn and Kir’s cabin, to log some hut quiet-time and skinning miles, and even for the skiing. The snow, though heavily faceted and only about a foot and a half to two feet deep, proved to be pretty good in parts, at least in a consistent, sugary sense. read more>>>
 A photo from the start. [Christy here, again] It’s not a good sign when things look like this in January.
Sure, we need more snow, but it could always be worse. Even with a not-so-great start to the season, we’re still pretty lucky that we can get out on a nice, long tour and enjoy the gorgeous scenery.
With a random Monday off, and a need to unwind from the holidays, I took my cross-country ski set up out on the Express Creek to Richmond Ridge loop, and got in a little solo training for the upcoming Elk Mountains Grand Traverse. Since Ted had to work, he kindly offered to drop me off at the Express Creek trailhead up by Ashcroft, so that I could get out for this classic 20-mile loop back to town. read more>>>
 It was far from a "White Christmas" around Aspen this year, but we did manage to find a little bit of powder up in the Pearl Pass area. (Christy here) For the second year in a row, we escaped the hustle-and-bustle of the holidays in Aspen to meet friends at the Green-Wilson hut for Christmas. Starting from Ashcroft on Christmas Eve afternoon, we skinned the five-plus miles to the hut under starry skies. Around 6:30pm we saw the lights of our cozy mountain cabin and were instantly greeted with holiday drinks and creative hors d’oeuvres. read more>>>
 What better way to kick off the season than to debut a new outfit. Looking good, Fry. Our season has begun.
Not wanting to wait another month for the lifts start running here, Christy, Kathy, Joey, and I headed up to Montezuma Basin yesterday. It’s a haul to get up there, but when the snow is good, it’s definitely worth the effort. For anyone considering heading up that way, the road isn’t too slick or snowy for driving, yet. There’s weather in the forecast next week though, and it won’t take much before the road is impassable to cars, so get up there while you can. read more>>>
 Christy descends to Cooper Lake from East Maroon Pass, through flurrying snow and graupel. Forty-one miles, 9,600 feet of gain, with a high point of 12,900 feet over three passes and four valleys– that counts as a pretty long day in my book. Our friend Tim always tells Christy and I we’re “masters of the long day.” I guess in a relative sense experience does lend itself to smooth adventures, but just because I sum up our big days in 500 words or less doesn’t mean they all go off without a hitch. Besides, I’m not sure you can ever truly master anything out in the mountains, but in Tim’s defense, we do love to try.
So with the Bear 100 two weeks away, we were looking for one last long day on the trail. In search of something new and different, we decided to connect four classic valleys we’ve visited many times before, but never all in one push. Here’s the map of our Snowmass, West Maroon, East Maroon and Conundrum linkup: read more>>>
 The massive ridge. With the start labeled, we first climbed south to Len Shoemaker Peak and then followed the ridge as it swung north, all the way to Pyramid. Click to enlarge. Totally psyched and somewhat surprised to have actually pulled it off, Neal Beidleman and I sat on Pyramid’s narrow summit in the afternoon sun and processed it all.
It wasn’t that we thought it couldn’t be done. Through the years there have been scattered reports of groups completing different sections of this traverse. Our concern had to do with the time and weather. The horseshoe-like ridge is so long, with so much loose, semi-technical terrain to navigate, we didn’t know if there was enough time in the day to cover the ground. Plus, we were in a stormy pattern and it had been raining every afternoon, and we thought it was a good bet that weather would send us fleeing off the ridge before we could complete it. read more>>>
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