St. Mary's Glacier Hike/Ski #2

See PHOTOS from our ski adventure HERE
See Erich's photos from our hike HERE


Yes, Hike and Ski! Yes, again! Yes in August!

We got our turns in for August today at St. Mary's Glacier (we skied here in July as well: July Blog Post). 11 consecutive months of skiing now.


St. Mary's Glacier stays around all summer and is only about an hour drive from Denver. We found out that it's not really a Glacier, because Glaciers move. This is just an area of snow in a valley that happens to stick around all year. So it's a "Glacier", not a Glacier.


This time Erich (Melissa's brother), Eric (my roommate from Breck) and Steph (Eric's fiance) all joined us for our hike/ski. Once you get to the trail head, there is a short 3/4 mile hike up to the lake. On the far side of the lake, the bottom edge of the Glacier can be seen stretching up the hillside. We made our way around the lake and started up the snow towards the top.


The weather was beautiful with blue skies (again). It didn't take us all long to make it to the top of the Glacier where we threw off our packs and clicked on our skis and boards. There was a little less snow than in July, bit we started at almost the same spot. The glacier was just a little narrower up top. The snow was still very variable with mogul like conditions to negotiate. We all enjoyed our turns in the dirty snow that was soft in areas and crusty in others. We finished with about 600 vertical feet under our belts for the month of August.


As we headed down the trail back to the car, with our skis strapped to our packs, we got quite a few inquisitive looks and comments from tourists taking a short day hike to the lake with their kids and dogs. We finished up the morning with a great lunch and a few pints at Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs.

Not sure where September will bring us for some turns, we'll have to see what mother nature brings between now and then.

Colorado Rules!

See PHOTOS from our adventure HERE
See Erich's photos from our hike HERE

St. Mary's Glacier Hike/Ski

See PHOTOS from our adventure HERE
See a sort VIDEO from our adventure HERE or at end of post.

Yes, Hike and Ski! We got our turns in for July this past Saturday at St. Mary's Glacier. 10 consecutive months of skiing now, hoping to hit 20 at some point.

St. Mary's Glacier stays around all summer and is only about an hour drive from Denver. Once you get to the trail head, there is a short 3/4 mile hike up to the lake. On the far side of the lake, the bottom edge of the Glacier can be seen stretching up the hillside. We made our way around the lake and started up the snow towards the top. There were a few other people hiking up and one guy on skis just finished his descent as we climbed.


The weather was beautiful with blue skies and a bit of a breeze to keep you cool as you hiked. It did not take us long to make it to the top of the Glacier where we threw off our packs and hiked up a bit more over the ridge line to see what was on the other side. You could see the top of James Peak (13,294 ft.) in the distance.


After a quick snack, we strapped on our skis and headed down negotiating the variable and wavy snow conditions. As the snow melts during the summer, wave like patterns are created across the surface of the snow. Tricky to negotiate, especially on teles. But we enjoyed our turns in the dirty snow that was soft in areas and crusty in others. Towards the bottom we saw a large group of snowboarders headed up with rails, shovels and coolers in tow. It would be a great spot to hang out for the weekend and build some jumps. We finished with almost 900 vertical feet under our belts for the month of July.


As we headed down the trail back to the car, with our skis strapped to our packs, we got quite a few inquisitive looks and comments from tourists taking a short day hike to the lake with their kids and dogs.

"Did you go skiing!?", one man asked, "You guys are hardcore!", another women stated. Guess we are hardcore, but we just think of it as a nice walk in the mountains with the opportunity to enjoy where we live.

We are thinking we may head up there again for our August turns. It should still have some pretty good snow pack then as well.

Colorado Rocks!


See PHOTOS from our adventure HERE
See a sort VIDEO from our adventure HERE or below.

26 and counting

See photos from our weekend HERE
See a pond skimming video compilation HERE
See a bouldering championship video HERE

Colorado in June, what a place! Another great weekend in the mountains. We headed up to Vail on Saturday and met up with our friends Jaimee and Wes at the Vail Teva Mountain Games. Every spring, they put on the country's largest celebration of mountain sport, soul and culture, with professional and amateur outdoor adventure athletes from around the world competing in seven sports and 21 disciplines including mtn. and road biking, trail/mud running, kayaking, rafting, climbing, fly fishing paragliding and dog competitions. They also have art, vendors and live music.


We caught the IFSC Bouldering World Cup finals for men and women. There were some crazy athletes in this comp. Click HERE to see a quick video of one of the women flashing (completing on first attempt) a route. We also saw the end of the Kayaking Freestyle event. Jaimee and Wes headed back to their camping spot down the valley and Melissa and I took off back over Vail Pass to the condo in Keystone. We enjoyed a dip in the hot tub and slept in a bit Sunday morning before Erich showed up to head up to Arapahoe Basin with us. Yes, the Basin is was still open. Last day to be exact. September 15, 2008 - June 7, 2009. That's quite a season! 26 days for me and 25 for Melissa. So far …

The day started out a bit cool, but with mostly blue skies. The snow was almost a slush, but more like a granular slush because of the cool temp. There were only a few runs left open, but we got some good turns in and met up with my friend Waxler for a few more runs. About three quarters of the way up the mountain, there is a flat area with a pond that has formed from the melting snow. This results in many people trying their hand at pond skimming, some more successful than others. Click HERE to see a compilation video of a few people trying some skimming. The last guy had a rough time at it and ended up ejecting from his skis and supermaning across the slush and ice. He was a bit scrapped up and cold at the end, but OK overall.


As we headed to the car, a storm moved in and the weather took a quick turn for the worse. Snow/hail began to fall and thunder clapped all around. We found out later that the top lift was hit by lightning, fortunately no one was hurt. This ended up being part of the same storm that hit the Denver area producing baseball size hail and five tornadoes. Glad we weren't there!



Well, that ends the "resort" ski season for '08/'09. But the skiing is not done yet. We are attempting to ski every month till the resorts open again. That will mean earning our turns by hiking into areas like St. Mary's Glacier or 4th of July Bowl. Stay tuned to CO Adventure to see how that turns out for us!

See photos from our weekend HERE
See a pond skimming video compilation HERE
See a bouldering championship video HERE

25 and counting

Check out photos from the ski weekend HERE

Melissa and I headed up to the mountains this past weekend to enjoy some spring skiing. Day 24 and 25 for me, 23 and 24 for Melissa on the season. Unfortunately it was not the best weekend weather wise, but the skiing was not too bad. It rained down in Keystone, but mostly snow up at Arapahoe Basin. We took five runs on Saturday and then decided to do a hike/ski on Sunday. The East Wall has a few places that you can hike to and then choose from numerous chutes to descend from. We picked the North Pole for our descent. Great hike and we even found some fresh powder towards the bottom of the North Pole. Skiing in May! Maybe we'll even be able to hit up a few days in June!

Check out photos from the ski weekend HERE

Blue Sky Daze!

Check out more photos from the weekend HERE.

See Melissa skiing down Snow White HERE.

We headed up to Breckenridge for the weekend to ski with some friends and celebrate Tom's birthday. We hiked to a few spots on Saturday with Tom, Erich and Julia, including the East Twin Chutes on Peak 9 and Peak 8 to Snow White. It had snowed a bit on Friday, so we found some great turns here and there.

Saturday evening, 11 of us headed downtown to Fatty's for some beverages and awesome pizza. Then it was on to the Motherloaded Tavern for a few games of foosball and cheep PBR tallboys.

On Sunday, Melissa and I headed out by ourselves for some spring-like turns on Peak 10 including Mustang, Appaloosa, Blackhawk/Dark Rider, Cimarron and the Oatmeal Bowl. It was in the high 40's and the sun was shining. Day number 15 for me and 14 for Meliss! Not bad for living in Denver.

3 Sport Weekend

Check out photos from the weekend HERE

This past weekend we headed up to Copper Mountain on Saturday to meet up with our friends Adam and Elisa at their condo to go snowshoeing. They just had their first child, Ethan, about four weeks ago. He came along for the trip as well. Pretty impressive for his first time at about 11,500ft! After our hike, we enjoyed a delicious venison fillet dinner.

Sunday morning we headed out onto the trails at Copper with Adam while Elisa stayed with Ethan at the condo. Adam and I were telemarking while Melissa was on her new alpine skis. We had some great turns down Spaulding Bowl and took some video with Adam's new HD video camera. When he has it up online somewhere, I'll send out the link. After lunch, Elisa came out with us on her snowboard. Her second time out since Ethan was born. Not bad for four weeks!

Sunday evening we headed into Frisco and had a great Italian dinner at Tuscatos. Then we crashed at Gary's place for the evening. We slept in a bit, tired from the past two days activities, and then took off for Beaver Creek and another great day of skiing. I took out the Alpine skis for only the third time in the past two seasons. My thighs needed a break from the constant lunge turns on the teles. Felt great to be back on the alpines. It was a blue sky day and not too cold. Snow was OK and we even found some new chutes on the North East side of the mountain that we will be exploring more in the future when there is more fresh snow.

On our way back to Denver, we stopped at Kermitts restaurant, a small shack on the side of I-70 known for their chili. I'd recommend the green chili. I think I've driven by this place 100+ times, glad we stopped in, great food and a very unique atmosphere with dollar bills signed by customers covering all the walls and ceiling!

Check out photos from the weekend HERE

First Turns!!

We headed up to Arapahoe Basin on Saturday morning and met up with Erich and Julia for a few runs to start the season. Only one trail is open with an 18" base. So the lines are long and the crazies are all over the place. We took two runs and then headed in for a Bloody Mary. The snow was OK, considering the time of year, but the crowds made it hard to link your turns. Can't wait for more of the natural stuff and more trails to open.

We finished off the day with a soak in the hot tub at the Keystone condo and then watched the Sox beat the Rays in Game 6 of the ALCS. Too bad they did not show up for Game 7. Oh well, there is always next year ...

See photos from our first day of skiing HERE

You can feel it in the air!

Ski season is on its way! With temps in the 30's at night and low 50's during the day the past few days in Denver, you can feel winter coming on. Although the forcast is for 70's be the end of the week. Anyways, Arapahoe Basin opens tomorrow with an 18" base, ribbon of death. One trail just barely covered with man made snow. They will be the first to open for the '08-'09 season in the U.S. I won't be there, but I am sure a bunch of crazy people will be. That's the best time to get hurt and be out for the rest of the season. Between the idiots who think they can race down the narrow trail like it's mid February and the beginers who don't even know how to turn yet, your likely to run into someone or have someone run into you. No thanks!

But I'll be there soon! Got my pass already and starting to do lunges after runs. Need to get the burn out of the legs before those first killer Tele turns of the season. Looking forward to it.

Read more about opening day here: Summit Daily News

Free your heels and your mind will follow!