Chautauqua Snowshoeing

Boulder didn't just get a lot of snow for October, it got a lot of snow period. Almost two feet, more in the foothills. We went to Chautauqua this afternoon to play for a few hours.


We started up the "ski jump" hill and just plowed through the snow up towards the First Flatiron. Lots of people were sledding and riding, some had shovels to make jumps.


Pretty soon we were past the crowds and had the forest to ourselves. Since we know the area well we wandered around off trail for a while -- we only saw one person in the next 2 hours of trekking. Occasionally we would come across one of the official trails or a social trail made by a hiker, snowboarder, or snowshoer. Followed some, abandoned others.


At one point we were trying to follow a ridge and we got cliffed out. We couldn't go any higher so we had to traverse sideways, which took us into a snow-covered scree field. Not much fun to get out of. The snow was bubbling like a lava lamp here:


Once in a while we got a glimpse of a Flatiron. This is the Third:


We found the First Flatiron access trail and took it to the end of the Spy access trail. Didn't see the buck that usually hangs out in that neighborhood. We checked out the base of the First and then headed back on trails. Some of the snowboarders had constructed a pretty good ramp.


Once we got back to the ski jump hill we started running to see who could manage to fall the most (least?).



It was a lot of fun to get outside in the snow today. Next week it should be back up in the 50s-60s and we'll be on bikes instead.

Snow Day!

Yes, that's right...no school today! It's been snowing almost 24 hours straight and we have about a foot of snow outside. I went skiing up at Chautauqua this afternoon and had a blast! Click here for more pics.

The skiing better be good this year...

because yesterday was the second time we've gotten snow in October. And I don't mean just flakes. When Adam was here we got 3 inches the day he arrived. Yesterday it snowed on and off all day and then we woke up to a pretty substantial dusting and 27 degree temps.

The good thing is that the mountains are blanketed in snow. Ski resorts have already opened a couple of runs and I have a feeling most resorts will be almost 100% operational by Thanksgiving.

The down side to having snow one day and 60 degree temps the next is that everyone is getting sick. Kids at school are coughing and sneezing all over the place. I'm pretty sure I had the flu the beginning of the month and Dan and I are both still fighting a cold of some sort. Fortunately, Dan hasn't had the 101 degree temp that I did.

Like I said, the skiing better be good this year!

Skunk Canyon

This afternoon we explored Skunk Canyon. We rode our bikes to a trailhead halfway up the NCAR hill, then hiked up the Skunk Canyon trail to meet up with the Mesa trail. There isn't an "official" trail that goes into the upper part of the canyon, it's more of a social trail that is overgrown and hard to follow in places. Probably much worse in the spring when it is full of skunk cabbage. The attraction is (what else?) some neat rocks up there. We ran into a couple who told us about some of the good soloing routes on the various slabs. Laurel and I only had sneakers so we were just exploring today. We found a cave that it looked like you could probably crawl up through and out with rock shoes, but there was another way around to the top too.

Pictures of our home

Laurel took some pics of our place this morning. Take a look.

2nd Flatiron with Nick

We finally got to climb with Nick! The three of us have been talking about it since we were in WTS together in the spring. We met at 8am at the Chautauqua ranger cottage and started up the Second Flatiron at 9am. Our aim was to climb the Free For All route -- one we're familiar with and one that has some good climbing on it (5.6 on some pitches). The picture on the right is Nick a few hundred feet up the climb (click it to see the whole album).

We hadn't given Nick much warning about this climb -- in particular, that we'd be out on the rock for probably 6-7 hours! Oops. Instead of climbing the last few pitches we bailed into the gully (which probably had harder climbing in it) and then finished up less than 100 feet from the summit.

The day went well except for one glitch. After traversing under a roof and then climbing up around a corner, the rope got stuck behind Nick. He had to downclimb 30 feet to get it uncaught so that once he was at the top of the pitch Laurel could be belayed up. Epic averted!

The hike down and back to the car took almost an hour. We headed home and had BeauJo's pizza (yum!) that Ann and Sean brought over. Good WTS-themed weekend!

Pettingell Peak

We couldn't have had better weather for our WTS reunion hike. Adam organized the trip to Pettingell Peak, an 13,500+ foot mountain not too far from Denver. There was a good amount of snow once we got into the higher elevations, but the temperature stayed high and the wind was fairly calm. We hiked up the Herman Gulch trail to Herman Lake, then headed off trail towards the summit. The last stretch of the hike, and returning on the way down, was treacherous. So much loose rock and scree mixed in with the snow made every step uncertain. You never knew where you might posthole up to your knee. It took us almost 4.5 hours to get up and then about another 3 to complete the 8.5 mile round trip.


Click pic to see whole album.

Adam's Visit

Monday:
Still snow on the ground. I was sick, probably from standing outside in Denver all day. Adam and I did a short hike at Chautauqua on trails where bears had been recently spotted. For dinner, Adam cooked some wild boar that he killed in Florida.


Tuesday:
Dan and Adam went to Mallory Cave. For dinner Adam made alligator.


Wednesday:
After work we all hiked up the First Flatiron. For dinner, there was elk stew and elk roast. We found a butcher in Boulder that sells elk. Adam wants to hunt elk next fall.


All pictures here.

Football!

There's still snow and it's still cold. We bundled up and headed to Denver for our first trip to the Mile High City. The Pats had an awesome first half, decent second half, and then the Broncos got the ball first in overtime. They won with a field goal.

Snow

It snowed last night. There are three inches outside. It's freakin' cold and Adam's flying in from Florida this morning.

Weekend Update

So, we haven't replaced the camera yet, so there are no pics. This weekend we spent Saturday playing in the new house--unpacking, moving furniture, all those fun things. We took a break to ride to the Farmer's Market which is always fun.

Sunday we hit the Third Flatiron. Rather than starting at the East Bench, we bushwhacked to the bottom of the rock (1 hour from trailhead) and starting climbing up with our packs (very wise decision to NOT go back to base of rock). After only 3 pitches we bailed because it was getting colder and colder. It's amazing how warm the sun actually is when it's not blocked by clouds!

We bought a house!

Yay! We're Boulder homeowners. Pictures coming soon... (once we get a new camera and unpack some boxes).

Third Flatiron

We finally made it up the Third Flatiron! Our previous attempts were hindered by automotive troubles and bad weather. We climbed the East Face North Side route today, under and then to the left of the 'U' in the giant "CU" painted on the rock. There were a bunch of other people on the rock, but like any Flatiron, it's such a huge rock that there's plenty of room to spread out. The weather was gorgeous and we had a really great climb.

South Arapaho

One of our goals this summer was to hike the Arapaho traverse: from the Fourth of July trailhead up to South Arapaho peak, across a class 3 ridge for about a half mile to North Arapaho peak, and back. Snow was not in our plans.

On Saturday we (Dan, Laurel, Evan, Dan) headed out in Evan's astro-van to attempt the traverse. We knew there had been some snow in the mountains this week but I didn't expect such deep drifts. They seemed worst over the trail so we headed off trail straight up a broad gully towards the ridge. The hike was tough. Where we could, we rock-hopped on scree exposed above the snow. At times though, there was just snow, and no telling how deep beneath the surface the next rock might be.

We summited after four hours and decided to try the traverse another day. Running down through the snow was much more funner than the hike up. Aside from the smashed knees and shins.


The other thing that got smashed was our camera, so not too many photos.

2009 Boulder Half Marathon

When Laurel ran the Boulder Half Marathon last year, I told her there's no way I would ever run for over 2 hours. That became my goal for this year, and I made it -- my first half marathon in 1:56:28! It's supposed to be a 13.1 mile race but I think it was a bit longer. Laurel hurt her foot a few weeks ago so she didn't run this year's race. She wanted to do the Marathon anyway... maybe next year. Some pictures and official results.

Buffalo Bicycle Classic

We got free hats!

A few months ago Sean asked us to ride the Buffalo Bicycle Classic with him. Our plan was to do the 50 mile ride. A few days ago I found out if you ride the Century all the way to Ft. Collins and got your bib punched, you could get a free hat when you got back to the finish line. That was reason enough for me! So we rode our first Century today -- 100 miles.

I think around 2500 people registered to ride and all but 4 had road bikes or hybrids. I rode my mountain bike and on the ride I saw only 2 other people on mountain bikes. There was one woman on a single-speed -- crazy! On the way back I saw her stopped at an aid station changing out her front chainring.

The aid stations were amazing. Apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, watermelon, pretzels, graham crackers, Oreos, Rice Krispie bars, granola bars, cakes, bagels (with peanut butter, Nutella, or cheese), PBJ sandwiches, Gatorade, water, other sports drinks, ... One aid station had pizza and barbecue! We stopped at every one for 10-15 minutes.

And that was just food along the course, every 10 miles or so. Back at the finish line there was pasta and free beer and more dessert goodies!

Despite all our stops we managed to finish the ride in 8 hours 30 minutes. And now our butts are very sore.

Check out the route and pics of Laurel, Sean, and Dan at Carter Lake.

2nd Flatiron, Southeast Ridge

We did a great climb today. The Southeast Ridge of the 2nd Flatiron ascends for 5-6 pitches to the top of the South Block. The views from the summit ridge were spectacular -- soooo much more rock left to climb in this neighborhood!


Along the way there was a cool arch in the rock. We climbed through and then on top of it.


The climb was rated a 5.7 so of course I had to find a few 5.9 moves. At one point where you were supposed to go left to avoid an overhang I went straight up. Then shortly after you were supposed to go left to avoid the next overhang; I went right to avoid it instead.

Laurel and me on the summit with the Third Flatiron in the background

Heil Ranch Mountain Biking

Heil Ranch is a large parcel of open space north of Boulder with miles of hiking and biking trails. Within the past two years one of the trails was recently extended up to the town of Lyons.


When we hiked on some of the trails in January we thought they would be easy enough for us to ride. Today was a day to find out. It took an hour to bike 10 miles up to the trailhead this morning. (See our whole route.)

From the trailhead we climbed uphill for another hour on the rocky Wapiti trail. Thunder rumbled in the distance -- the clouds to the south did not look good. We decided to continue on, since the trail would eventually turn north and away from the storms.

We began our descent into the valley on a 1-mile section of the Wild Turkey trail, then picked up the 5.5 mile Picture Rock trail that would take us to Lyons. This last trail was the newly-constructed one. It seemed much more technical and rocky than the trails we had already ridden.

We felt occasional raindrops but there were never showers. It was nice to have cloud cover during the hotter parts of the day. The consistent downhills began to tire our palms, so it was fortunate that the last few miles of trail were fairly smooth. Three hours after starting on the trails we were back to the road.

Once in Lyons we took a short break then headed home on roads. Biking on 36 wasn't too bad. We made it home five and a half hours after we left.

Townhouse

We're under contract for a townhouse in Boulder. The inspection was Monday--still ironing out details.

Longs Peak

On Sunday we climbed Longs Peak. It lived up to its name.


A quick synopsis:

4pm Sat: Set up camp at campground at trailhead. Checked out trail.
8pm Sat: Went to bed
2am Sun: Got up
2:45am: Started hiking with Ann and Sean
4:00am: Another hiker joins our group because his is going too fast. Patrick, a CSU football player, joins us for a good part of the day.
6:00am: Sunrise at the Keyhole
8:45am: Dan and Laurel summit
9:30am: Ann and Sean summit, L&D begin descent
11:30am: L&D reach Keyhole
1:30pm: Ann and Sean reach Keyhole
3:30pm: All four of us reach trailhead around the same time, with thunder rumbling overhead
4:30pm: Arrive home
5:30pm: Eat dinner
6:30pm: L&D go to bed and wake 7am Monday


Stats: 16 miles, 5,000 elevation gain == ONE LONG DAY!
Click for more pics