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Mt. of the Holy Cross

See photos from the trip HERE
See a video clip of the Holy Cross valley HERE
See a panoramic video clip from the summit HERE

Well, it was quite the interesting weekend to say the least. On Saturday morning we headed out towards Vail to do some hiking, fishing and camping in the Holy Cross Wilderness. As I drove up Tigiwon Road, the eight mile access road to the campground I had a wee problem with my truck. White smoke stated to appear from the undercarriage and I lost all power on the gas. Upon stopping around a corner, I exited to find pretty much all the transmission fluid leaking out onto the road. Ends up I blew the transmission. The truck was towed to the nearest mechanic to sit for the weekend. Fortunately our friends Jaimee and Wes were on their way to join us, so we threw all our gear into their truck and continued on. We were a bit short on room in the Xtera, but it all worked out and we made it to the campground.


After setting up camp we hiked a bit up one of the nearby trails to Notch Creek and did some fly fishing near a beaver pond. The little brookies were biting and we caught a few before we headed back to camp for dinner.


Bright and early on Sunday, 4:00 a.m., Melissa and I woke to hit the trail and hike to the top of Mt. of the Holy Cross. As the sun rose, we arrived at the top of Half Moon pass, about 1,000 ft. vert from camp and at treeline. The trail then heads back down to the valley floor another 1,000 ft. We were not looking forward to tackling that on the way back. After traversing across the side of Notch Mtn. we got our first impressive look at Mt. of the Holy Cross. Quite a site and very imposing to see what the rest of the hike would look like along the north ridge. See a video clip of the Holy Cross valley HERE


After descending to the valley floor and crossing a raging creek, we again began to ascend back towards treeline and the corniced ridge to the summit. We hit some rough bouldered areas along with snow fields and the long cornice, but most of the trail was dry and clear of snow. The views surrounding us were amazing. The snow cornice provided relief from picking through the rocky ridge. After the snow ended we had a sharp ascent to the peak through a rock filled face.


Finally at the peak, mostly covered by snow, we rested and enjoyed the views for about 40 min. This was 14er number 10 for me (plus two double ascents) and nine for Melissa (out of 54 in Colorado). We shared the summit with four other humans and two canines. One of the girls at the top was only 11 and planned to hike all the 14ers by age 17. We wish her good luck and happy climbing! See a panoramic video clip from the summit HERE



After a snack and some hydration we headed down. It was going to be a long trip back. Sometimes you think the way down will be easier than the way up, but after hiking over five miles with 5,000 ft of vert, every step down takes as much effort as the steps up. We saw quite a few Marmots in the boulder field near treeline. As we got closer the the valley below, we remembered the 1,000 ft. of vert we were approaching that was between us and our campsite. The trail that switchbacks multiple times on the way back up to Half Moon pass ends up being one of the hardest parts of the route. We are used to heading all downhill back to the trail head. We pushed through it and returned to camp with another 14er in the bag, 11.5 miles of hiking with almost 6,000 ft of vert in about 9 hours (and one blown transmission).

What a great weekend, for the most part!

Which one will be next on the 14er checklist? Stay tuned to CO Adventure to see.


See photos from the trip HERE
See a video clip of the Holy Cross valley HERE
See a panoramic video clip from the summit HERE

Arrowhead Golf Day

See photos HERE

Melissa, Rich and I went golfing at Arrowhead Golf Club, south of Denver, for a Fathers Day Celebration on Friday. The views were amazing! So much that it greatly distracted us from our games. We won't mention the final scores.

We saw deer, fox, gold eagles and bull frogs on and around the course. Missed out on the bear and mountain lion that the staff said were around as well. It was a beautiful blue sky day and we all had a great time.





See photos HERE
(Rich contributed some of his photos to this album)

Looking to buy a NH condo?

Looking to buy a condo in NH, or know someone who does?

Melissa is selling her two bed plus loft, one and a half bath condo in Concord. Check out this link for more info: Cozy Concord Condo

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

Almost Famous

The 2009 Summit County Bike guide is out on newsstands across the county. You can see a digital version HERE. Check out page A40 for a familiar face. This shot was taken a couple years ago during a photo shoot for the 2007 Bike Guide cover.

Ascent of Mt Shavano

See photos from our trip HERE
See a video compilation from our hike HERE

It's the start of hiking season again! So, on Saturday we headed South West to the Sawatch Range near Salida and Buena Vista, CO to hike Mt. Shavano (a) (14,229'). It's about a 3.5 hour drive with some great scenery ranging from suburbs, to farms and mountain passes to free range high altitude plains. The weather was a bit suspect, with thunderclouds rolling in and out of the mountains. As we drove into the Buena Vista valley, we could see the Collegiate Peaks in the Northernmost point of the Sawatch range across the plains. The clouds surrounding the peak of Mt. Shavano (b) did not look very inviting, but we hoped for the best and continued the drive along a dirt road to the trailhead.


After gearing up in the parking lot, we headed out on to the Colorado Trail for a short distance and then onto the Mt. Savano trail for about an hour hike (3/4 mi.) up some steep terrain to a perfect camping spot. We enjoyed a camp meal of Mountain House mac and cheese and a game of Farkel by the camp fire and then headed to bed.


Sunday started early, 4:30 a.m.! It was still dark as we ate a hearty oatmeal breakfast and packed up camp. We left our large packs at camp and headed up the mountain with day packs as the sun rose. The trail provided numerous great views of the Southern Sawatch range and the blue skies were very promising, however the weather in Colorado can turn on a dime at elevation, so we kept an eye out for incoming storms. We hit tree line at about 11,700' and could then see most of our trail up to the saddle, still covered with snow. Fortunately the snow was firm so we did not have to worry about the agony of postholing on our way up. There were about seven others behind us on the trail, but due to our campsite in on the trail and early rising, we were pretty much alone till we hit the summit.


The last climb off the saddle was a tough one, with a steep grade and deeper snow. As we hit the top, one other gentleman joined us. And soon seven others. Usually you can see anywhere from 40 to 60 or more people on the trail of a 14er, but due to the early season timing, we were able to enjoy the mostly solitude trip.


It took us four hours to ascend about 3,600'. The views from the top were amazing. I've been up here before, about six years ago. Mt. Shavano was my first 14er. This was Melissa's first time up Mt. Shavano, so she now has eight under her belt, while I stayed at nine (11 total ascents with two doubles). There are 54 14ers in Colorado, so we still have a ways to go.

There is an option of traversing along the ridge and down to another ridge that leads up to Tabeguache Peak (pronounced "tab-uh-wash," with the accent on the first syllable) at 14,155'. We pondered over heading that way to bag another peak, but the clouds were starting to grow in size and were very dark. Our decision to head back down was a good once, since it started to get socked in and hail as we hit tree line again.

The descent was uneventful besides the bit of hail, and we were glad to arrive back at camp. However, we now had to load back up with all our overnight gear and hike out the last mile. We hit the car with a total round trip time of seven hours and fourty five minutes, not bad for our first 14er of the season.

Which one will be next. Evans, Sherman, Lincoln? Keep your eyes on COAdventure.blogspot.com to see where we head to next!

Map of trail
See photos and video from our trip HERE
See a video compilation from our hike HERE