The Pre-Vacation Update

Since I am heading to Grand Targhee/Jackson Hole tomorrow for a ski trip and just may not come back I decided I should probably post a little update....plus I haven't posted in a couple weeks.  Why might I not come back?  The forecast for the Jackson Hole area is for 2-3 feet of snow over the next four days.  Not to mention Grand Targhee reported 32 inches of snow yesterday (one day total).  As I see it there are two likely scenarios.  One, I get off of the lift at the resort sink under the snow and am never seen again....should of bought those BD Megawatts.  The second and more likely is that much snow causes a dopamine dump similar to a heroin addict's response to his fix, and I will be hooked (even more).  This will lead to a unproductive life of living in my car and chasing storms in order to relive the first 3 foot deep experience. 

Back to the post at hand...

Since my last post I have gotten out a pretty good amount.  Honestly my 1K project has really motivated me to get my ass outside and take advantage of the days I have off.  These are the highlights...

Crystal and I met some friends in RMNP for some ice climbing.  I had to drop my skis off at The shop for some repair after my Quandary miscalculation so it was a late start. Fortunately Bryan was cool with sleeping in after a long slog out to Loch Vale the day before.  Speaking of that, check out his blog for a cool video of him climbing Crystal Meth (WI4/5) in Loch Vale http://white-knuckled.blogspot.com/.  I dropped my skis off hoping I could get them to do the work the same day, which was unlikely but a storm was brewing and I was stoked to get some powder turns.

Me: I need some work on my skis...(proceed to explain how a rock had attacked me unprovoked)
Ski shop guy: Not a problem.  They should be done by Tuesday. (present day was Sunday)
Me: Is there any way I could bribe you to get them done faster?
Ski shop guy: What did you have in mind?
Me: You get them done by the end of the day and I will bring you a 12-pack of your choice.
Ski shop guy: Done!

And off we went to the Park while my skis were getting a face lift. We met up with Bryan and his friend Mike who had never been on ice before. By the time we got to the bear lake parking lot it was 1230 and we needed to get back to boulder by 6 so we hoofed it up to Nymph Lake for a few laps. Nymph Lake is great little wall if you hit it in the right conditions. There are probably a half dozen ice and mixed lines 30-50 ft tall. Unfortunately it had been snowing for 2 days and the wall was covered in a few inches of snow. At first I wasn't excited about the idea of going through the trouble to set up anchors on snow covered rock with a few ice patches but i'm glad we went through with it. We found a line that would allow a simple anchor and allow us to climb two separate lines. Bryan led the questionable ice smear/styrofoam snow pitch and got it started. The original plan was to set up a couple ropes but by the time Bryan topped out it looked as though a storm was brewing. Visibility dropped and it started snowing.  We all got in a couple laps on the climb including a short curtain to the right that required a bit of finesse to keep the whole thing from coming down.  We all kept an eye on the weather which couldn't make up it's mind.  After a couple short laps we cruised back to the car making use of luge like trough we had cut in the deep snow.  Nothing like a 100 ft glissade to cap off a day in the park.  We got back to the ski shop before close and I exchanged a case of Stella for my skis which looked brand new.

Standing on Nymph Lake.  That is Hallet Peak in the background.

Yes there is ice under the snow.

That is actually a bolted mixed line on the left side of the photo, not that you would know it

I was last in the climbing order making it more difficult since there was less ice intact.

Bryan getting first dibs on knocking down the curtain.

The next day I headed up to Winter Park solo...even got an early start since Denver was supposed to get a few inches of snow and I wanted to beat the traffic.  As I cruised over Berthoud Pass enroute to WP I stopped for a group of backcountry skiers who were thumbing it trying to get back up the pass.  Hitchhiking powered skiing is genius, all of the powder of backcountry without the cost of a lift ticket or the work of skinning.  I picked up 3 stoked guys, and we chatted up the hill.  I pointed at the thermometer in the car which read -18 degrees (that F my friends) and mentioned the howling wind.  The response..."Yup, it's pretty cold.  Thanks again for the ride!"  My day was fun with about 5 inches of fresh powder.  I got in 18,000 feet vertical of bump runs on Mary Jane (a mountain, not the recreational drug), and even got some fresh turns in the Mary Jane chutes after they dropped the rope about half way through the day.  That case of beer payed dividends.
 

This past week I have gotten Crystal out backcountry skiing twice.  These happened to be Crystal's first two times out in the backcountry and we had a lot of fun.  Both times we went to Hidden Valley in RMNP.  Hidden Valley is an old ski resort that closed in the early 80s.  The lifts are gone but the ski runs and lift cuts are still obvious.  It was a great place for Crystal to test out her new backcountry gear and for me to get my system dialed.  Both days were extremely windy, like 40-50 mph gusts.  It was quite a challenge just to get the skin on the skis without them plastered to your jacket.  Overall Hidden Valley is a pretty mellow backcountry outing with mostly gentle slopes.  *******YOU WILL STILL DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH IF YOU SKI HERE WITHOUT PROPER KNOWLEDGE, EQUIPMENT, AND THE ABILITY TO EVALUATE AVALANCHE TERRAIN.  DON'T BACKCOUNTRY SKI WITHOUT SEEKING PROPER INSTRUCTION FROM A PROFESSIONAL (if you live in this area check out http://guide.climbinglife.com/ for Avy classes, Eli is the man!)*********  We had a good time and Crystal overcame the odd movement of skiing uphill pretty quickly.  We even managed to find our fair share of powder stashes.

One of the old ski runs

Lots of smiles when you aren't skiing with tons of tourists and the powder is yours

Gotta earn your turns

This picture shows the wind sweeping the snow off of the Mummy Range in RMNP

 

Today Crystal and I planned to hike the 3 miles up to Jewel Lake for some ice climbing but decided to go somewhere a little closer to the road when we saw it was supposed to be a wind chill of -4 in Estes Park which is quite a bit lower in elevation then Jewel Lake.  As a alternative we went to Big Thompson Canyon where we apparently found the proper gully but couldn't find the upper falls.  The bottom of the creek was dry and as we hiked higher the trail disappeared into snow covered rock above a nasty gully.  We couldn't see the falls despite lots of searching and ended up giving up.  I'm not sure if the falls were melted out or if I don't have the ice finding gene.  No ice, kind of a bummer but better luck next time.

1K Project update:  11.7% complete.  My goal is 21.6% for the month of February so I'm a bit behind but this week off should allow me to catch up.

Hidden Quandary Part II

After climbing Hidden falls Brandon stayed in Silverthorne so we could get to the trailhead of Quandary Peak easily in the morning.  The plan was to skin up the East Slopes and ski the beast.  Snow was forecast to hit around 11am so the idea was to get going on the trail around 5am.  Unfortunately the best laid plans often go awry.  We started hiking the snow packed trail at 6am....snooze anyone??  After a little bit of a routefinding error (the winter trailhead is a little different then the summer one I had used before) we proceeded on the correct trail and made steady progress.  The morning was almost bluebird with just a couple light clouds noted.  The trail was well packed by the snowshoe brigade.  People frequently ascend Quandary in the winter due to its relatively easy ascent and lack of avalanche danger.  At treeline we put the skis on and started skinning up the open ridge.  The weather seemed too be holding but clouds were coming in from all directions and snow was definately falling in Breckenridge.  We kept skinning up to the first false summit at 13000ft where we noticed that the clouds had moved in completely and the summit was now shrouded by clouds.  Considering it was already 10am we decided to turn back.  The great thing about ski mountaineering is that the descent is best part.  We quickly converted to ski mode and cruised down.  Almost back to treeline I made a poor choice in choosing a line and ended up coming over a bulge and straight into a rock garden.  Grinding Skis, sudden stop, fall, tumble, tumble again, curse, curse again, swear I will buy a GoPro helmet cam so I can show the world my stupidity.  The damage assessment was a bit disheartening...a bruised knee, core shot to the skis, and a silver dollar size hole in my arcteryx pants.  I was a little pissed but tried to laugh it off.  I hiked out of the rockpile and we continued our ski down on progressively better snow ultimately finding foot deep pockets of powder.  Powder makes you forget about everything.  I jump off of a little kicker, submarine my skis into the powder falling forward into the powder and ultimately a very comfortable position.  Brandon comes around the corner and makes a comment about me being a mess...I agree shaking the snow out of my hood.  As I start picking up my skis and poles, I grab my pole and it folds in half...Curse for several minutes.  Don't know how a soft powder fall breaks a almost new BD carbon pole in half but it did.  Not my lucky day CONFIRMED.  Luckily the 2 piece pole design allowed me to take out the broken section and ski back with a short pole.  We got back to the car without further incident...Now if I can just get my skis back in skiable shape by the next storm system coming through this weekend.  We will be back to try this one again.

On the way up.

Making some turns

The damage...

On another note.
January 1K Project update:
26 Boulder problems
21 Pitches of ice climbing
2100ft Mountaineering elevation gain
42880ft Ski descent

9.19% completed
Not too bad...Unfortunately my goal for January was 11.5% but I didn't get as much ski descent or mountaineering ascent as I had expected.  Also it has been brutally cold in Denver the last couple weeks which has kept me off of my road bike. 

'til next time.

-Mike

Hidden Quandary

Hidden Falls
Sunday we headed up to Hidden Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. The "falls" are a
favorite for area ice climbers due to its short approach and dependable flow.
Unfortunately it tends to prove the casualty of the masses theory. The falls aren't
actually a true waterfall and you won't find it on the RMNP map. Instead it is a
snowmelt runoff that happens to have the right topography to form an icefall. Great
climb if you can hit it when it is newly formed. Not so great after the hoards of
climbers have gotten to it. Due its high traffic and low water flow (healing abilities)
we found it amazingly stepped out. You could climb the ~60ft climb without swinging a
tool or crampon when we found it. On our arrival we found the falls with three other
parties on the main falls, which is about 25ft across. This was entertaining to watch
several climbers rain down ice chunks onto each other. We decided to climb the small
unoccupied ice flow to the left of the main falls. It was wet but kept us entertained
until several groups vacated the main falls. We all did a few laps on both flows and
then we called it a day and headed back to boulder where we stopped for dinner and
drinks at Southern Sun. Southern Sun is a brewpub/restaurant which never disappoints.
Good food and excellent beer. I suggest the Java Porter or Annapurna Amber. They also
have some great happy hour specials similar to Vine St. Pub in Denver (their sister
store). Plus they are right next to Neptune Mountaineering.

Hidden Fall (Main Flow)

Playing around the small neglected flow

Main flow was more staircase then ice climb

Crystal giving Mel some extra weight to keep her on the ground

Viva Las Vegas....I'm really not supposed to talk about it.

So for better or worse Crystal has become a big fan of Holly Madison.  For those that don't watch the E! channel she is Hugh Heffner's ex-girlfriend, star of the show The Girls Next Door, who now has her own show on E!  So for Crystal's 29th birthday I secured us some tickets for Holly's Las Vegas show.  Which in turn resulted in us traveling to sin city to see said show.  But really, what better way to celebrate your last birthday in your 20s then going crazy in Vegas.  While we were there we met up with an old college climbing friend of ours and got some high desert bouldering in.  Unfortunately Crystal was sick for the first 2 nights we were there but she toughed it out better then I had expected.

Vegas Day 1...
We landed, grabbed our rental car which was a Korean luxury sedan (ultra compact Hyundai), and headed to the Planet Hollywood.  I love how when you rent a car they like to make it absolutely clear that if you decline the insurance coverage and you get into an accident, REGARDLESS OF FAULT, the appocalypse will occur, you will go bankrupt and you will potentially acquire a rare form of cancer and die.  Just FYI, typically the credit card you use to rent the care will cover the cost of the vehicle if you are in a wreck.  Our room was pretty sweet.  The ridiculously large bathroom with spa tub was able to compensate for our amazing parking lot view.  The Planet Hollywood casino was standard except for the scantily clad dealers and table dancers.  We grabbed dinner at Cabo Wabo and cruised the strip and got our bearings considering neither of us had ever been to Vegas.  Learning point number 1- Drinks are free if you are gambling.   I found this out when I ordered a drink while Crystal was playing slots.  The Cesars waitress looked at me a bit concerned when I asked her how much my drink was.  And considering I just paid 7 bucks a beer at dinner I was expecting it to be steep.  The only problem I found with the free drinks is making your money last until the waitress comes back with your drink.  This was a problem for me more then Crystal.  We retired to our room a bit early due to Crystal not feeling great and found a bottle of champagne waiting for us compliments of my mom (Thanks Mom!).

Day 2...
Sunday morning we dragged our butts out of bed and drove out to the Kraft Boulders outside of Red Rocks for some bouldering.  On the way we stopped at Jamms for breakfast and then Desert Rock Sports to rent a couple crashpads.  We rented 2 full size pads for 2 days for the cost of what 1 roundtrip checked bag would have cost.  The Kraft Boulders are a compact bouldering area with over a 100 problems of all difficulties with quick approach.  I got in 14 problems while Crystal primarily napped in the sun.  I was able to climb without a shirt on which was nice considering the temps in Colorado lately.  The only bummer was that I trashed my finger tips before getting to The Pearl, the area super classic V4.  Once my fingers were tenderized and Crystal was well rested we headed back to the strip, stopping twice on the way to take advantage of a few places we don't have in CO...Dunkin Donuts and of course In and Out Burger.  Oh yeah.  The evening was spent checking out the NYNY, MGM Grand, and M&M world.  Crystal was REALLY excited about M&M world since it happens to be her favorite candy.  It was such a let down.  Basically four floors of crappy M&M merchandise.  We also got some last minute half price tickets to one of the ubiquitous Vegas shows available.

I strategically wore a non-contrasting color

Crystal's bouldering session

Crystal couldn't hide her dissapointment

Day 3...

On Monday we caught up with Emily, an old climbing friend from FSU who is the cofounder of DirtyGourmet.com.  We headed out with her boyfriend Tony to Red Rocks for some more bouldering along the scenic loop road.  We had a blast and even got to see Frido Bandito, Emily's dog, who is the only cool chiuahua in the world.  Monday also happened to be the night of the big show and a lucky night for Crystal.  We had a great time and Crystal really enjoyed the show.  She also enjoyed winning $200 playing roulette later that night at the Wynn Casino.  I lost my twenty  bucks rather quickly so I just hung out took advantage of Crytal's winning streak by drinking my share of rum and cokes.  Tip well and the waitress will come back often.  On our way back to the hotel we walked throught the Venetian.  It was a bit erie to walk along the Venice canals at 2am under a blue sky with hardely a soul around.  Vegas is a wierd place.

Crystal and Holly

Pinks Hotdogs!

Nothing like Venice at 2am...So Romantic

Day 4...
On our last day we checked out and drove out to the Hoover Dam to hang out with the tourists.  It was a typical american tourist area but worth walking around.  Back in town we hit up In and Out Burger one last time (I got Crystal hooked).  Back to the airport.  Luckily we didn't scratch the Korean Luxury Sedan and therefore avoided certain financial disaster.  There are slot machines in the airport but I forewent the last opportunity to lose money via gambling.