Skiing Steamboat Springs

Leaving at an early 5am Tony, TB, and I set off on a weekend adventure to Steamboat Springs.  Winding roads with little traffic and beautiful views lined the horizon as we continued North through Rabbit Ear pass.  We missed an amazing day of powder the previous day.  However, the snow was decent enough to ski Christmas Tree Bowl, a double black steep tree run - the run I noticed my season ski pass was missing.  After a long day of skiing we hung out with some friends at a coffee shop and headed to Beau Jo's to eat a delicious mountain pizza pie for dinner.

Sleep, a good nights rest.

Unfortunately Sunday the slopes were a bit icy and hard.  No new snow and the snow coming was waiting until late in the evening, long after we needed to leave.  Still we skied what we could and called it an early day.

Here's to a weekend of skiing and goggle tans:

Mt. Herman and Monarch

Friday evening a couple friends and I did a night hike up Mt. Herman.  After the hike, drama ensued with some other friends due to miscommunication.  Between hanging out at Cracker Barrel and watching the first episode of the Walking Dead (not a huge fan) I stayed up way too late and decided to delay going to Monarch (which was getting feet upon feet of snow over the weekend).

After a few days of sleep, severe winter advisories, avalanche warnings, and over 70 inches of snow... the roads were open (for my little car) to drive to Monarch.  Some things that I have never seen before:

1. A horse on the loose with animal control trying to catch it.
2. On the drive, the temperatures ranged from -23 F to 37 F. This was after jokingly thinking the night before "but what if it's colder than -20 F?" about the windshield fluid I purchased which was rated/boasted at -20 F.
3. While skiing, two Osprey cruised by overhead.  They are an impressive aircraft.

So much fresh snow!  Monarch was a blast to ski even though there were really only three two-person lifts (although it was not busy at all).  The most intense run of the day was High Anxiety which was a steep with large (thankfully soft) moguls.  My legs were tired after all the moguls, powder, and steeps so I enjoyed the drive home not having to go through Denver for a change and geared up for the coming weekend ski trip.

Snow Visibility

December was a whirlwind.  Flights to and back from Michigan were horrendous at best.  However, it was worth the hassle to see family.

Due to the ice storm in Dallas/Fort Worth I had to sleep in the airport.  Thankfully there were cots available, but unfortunately because many people had been stuck at the airport for the past 2-3 days.  Over 3,000 people had spent the night before.  The only way for me to get my flights rescheduled after they were cancelled was going to the airport and speaking with the ticket counter.  I tried to call American Airlines to reschedule and it took them 23 hours to respond, which by then was too late.

Then there was an ice storm in Michigan.  In the evenings I would sit in the hot tub with a cold crisp wind blowing on my face.  One of the nights the sky was clear with a bright moon lighting up the snow.  The only clouds were a thin line splitting the sky in half.

Other highlights, beyond spending time with family, were seeing my coworkers and friends, visiting the Henderson castle, seeing the Hobbit The Desolation of Smog, and surprisingly the the Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Flying to Colorado Springs, I ended up on the same flight as a friend from high school.  In Chicago, American Airlines was overbooked and was offering vouchers to take a later flight which we both volunteered.  After volunteering I remembered that a snow storm was headed to Chicago that were already starting to delay flights out of Chicago.  The gate agent booked me on 2 flights to DFW, the first flight had a layover of 0 minutes, the second had a layover of 30 minutes along with a standby flight that gave me 2 hours layover in DFW.  The standby flight had 46 people on the standby list and I was #3.  After attentively waiting 1 seat opened up.  The first person had 3 people in his party so he passed.  The second person's name was called twice with no response.  Score!  Finally a flight in my favor as I took the last seat.

Now that I'm back to Colorado for some skiing, yesterday was sunny with a high of 61F.  Today as planned I headed out to the slopes for a taste of "real" skiing.  Unfortunately this morning the weather started to snow copious amounts of flakes causing terrible travel conditions for us and everyone else in Denver (who were headed to the slopes as well).  We didn't even make it onto I70 the traffic was so horrendous.  So now I write this instead of ski.

Here's to bad weather from ice, snow, and no visibility.

Maroon Bells in Aspen

I wanted to get in a fall bike ride in Colorado to enjoy the changing colors of the trees.  With a suggestion from Bryan I discovered the Maroon Bells road in Aspen, CO.  Additional research indicated the beginning of October was generally the time the trees change in Aspen.  I was a bit nervous about driving the Independence Pass due to a snow storm that hit a few days before the weekend but figured this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The morning started in the low 20F temperatures with 15 to 20 mph winds.  So I began the cold drive glad that I books a cheap room (for Aspen) instead of camping.  The four hour drive was filled with sweeping patches of colors, vast skylines of mountains, and snow dusted firs.  Descending Independence Pass the aspens could be seen sparkling gold. 

Due to the government shutdown, the road leading to the Maroon Bells lake was completely closed to cars leaving an open road to only hikers and bikers.  Cars were parked on the side of the road near the gate.  With no cars, trees full of color, and the snowy mountain peaks this has been my favorite 10 miles of biking.  The views were like an avalanche of colors down the side of the mountains with only sounds of flowing water in the valley.  With the sun shinning and diminished winds the weather was perfect for the five mile climb up to the Maroon Bells lake.  The five miles back down did not require any pedaling although the cold winds detracted from cruising fast.

I went for a short walk around downtown Aspen before heading to the Snowmass resort to check into my room.  The room had an amazing over look of a small park.  However, with the sunset closing in, I quickly hiked up a muddy ski slope for a decent view.

Sunday I took advantage of the free gondola ride up Aspen Mountain as advertised due to the government shutdown of Maroon Bells road (bonus #2).  After putting a few discs, spending devotional time, and eating lunch on the mountain it was time to head home.  The views were just as grand heading home. 

Back in Colorado Springs safe and sunburned I finished the weekend with some delicious P.F. Changs with Caleb.  Now to start packing for a bunch of moves this weekend.

"31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,
and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!"
 -     1 Chronicles 16:31-34