Another Colorado Ski Weekend

Lafayette, CO - This next group of photos are from the last weekend in February. We had another wonderful ski weekend with lots and lots of visitors. First Jennifer and Brian drove in from Moab to stay with us. Then Dave, a friend of ours from California now living in Washington D.C., let us know that he and a large group of friends were staying over in Breckenridge. And finally Jovie decide to come up from Boulder and join us for a day of turns.

It was Saturday at Breckenridge when we all tried to meet up and failed miserably at sticking together, especially when a massive storm moved in and brought the visibility down to a near white out. That and the Olympic hockey finals sent most folks scurrying towards the lodge.

Most of these photos come from an epic Sunday at Keystone, where we took the D.C. gang on a tour of the wonders of the Outback. Twelve some-odd inches of fresh powder combined with cold temps and brilliant sunshine. You can't ask for much more than that! All these photos where taken by Laura and crew.

 Most of the group at Breckenridge:  Russ, Brad, Jovie, Suwei, Karl, Dave, Brian, Jennifer, and Sean.  I think Scud was already lost by this point.

Great photos by Laura and crew

From top left: Dave on his shorties, Scud getting a taste of the trees, Brad not just making a fashion statement, the group at Keystone, Laura making boarding look easy, & Dave heads for the rocks.

Brad, Scud and Suwei

Now here is something I don't usually post, videos. Scott (aka Scud) had a fantastic little helmet cam that he was using to film folks making their way through the trees of the Outback. I'm posting two of them, one because Suwei's in it and the other because it makes me laugh every time I see it.

The first one shows Scud trying to keep up with Suwei through the trees.

This next one I find absolutely hilarious. I call it, Scud vs Tree. "Let's go do this!"

Thanks to Laura for letting me steal the photos. Thanks to Scud for sharing the videos. Thanks to Dave for introducing us to his friends. And thanks to the rest of the gang for making it a very fun weekend.

Dave being Dave

Colorado Ski Weekend

Lafayette, CO - I'm just doing a quick post this time. Between the ice climbing festival in January and our trip out to California in March, Suwei and I mostly concentrated on getting up to the mountains and skiing/boarding as much as we could. Luckily, I didn't take many photos of those ski weekends, otherwise I'd never get caught up on this blog!

That said, every now and then folks would come for a visit and take a few photos. These photos come from one of those visitors. The 3rd weekend in February Arturo, Arturo's friend Marc and Marc's wife, Jennifer, were in town hoping for some nice Colorado powder. Luckily they got it. Anyway, Marc took most of these photos and I've stolen them from his blog (which can be found here: http://marc.merlins.org/perso/snow/post_2010-02-23_3-Day-Weekend-in-Colorado-at-BreckenRidge_-Vail_-and-Keystone.html).  There are a bunch of videos there as well.

Jennifer in the Trees

Arturo at the Leap / Vail Chairlift / Karl, Jennifer, Marc, and Arturo at Keystone

Arturo at Keystone / Jennifer, Arturo, Karl and Suwei ready to hit the Glades

Marc sporting the helmet cam.

Marc seems to be quite the tech guy. Not only has he geo-tagged each photo, but he tracked our entire ski day. Crazy stuff.

Vail - http://www.mountaindynamics.com/en/sdmap.php?tid=7586
Keystone - http://www.mountaindynamics.com/en/sdmap.php?tid=7587
and their day at Breck - http://www.mountaindynamics.com/en/sdmap.php?tid=7585

Thanks Marc for putting all that together.

Marc

Ouray Ice Festival, Ouray, CO

Lafayette, CO - Has everyone finished their taxes? Do you have time to sit down and casually flip through a ton of photos? Great, because I just posted a ton of them!

This set comes from the 15th Annual Ouray Ice Climbing Festival held the first weekend in January in the south eastern corner of Colorado. This event is one of the largest ice climbing festivals in the world and is a major fundraiser for the Ouray Ice Climbing Park. Not only that, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

This was my third year coming to the event. And although I hardly climb during the course of the weekend, I do love taking photos, hanging out with friends, watching the competitions, hot springing, eating cheap lasagna, and drinking lots of Fat Tire beer.

As usual the climbing competition was incredible.  Only two climbers made it to the top within the 20 minute cut off time.  The first guy, Sam Elias, made it with only 2 seconds to spare.  However, it was Colorado-based Josh Wharton, who took the number one position again this year by  topping out with the speedy time of 14:42.  Here is a link to the results:  http://ourayicefestival.com/competition/competition-results.  And here is a link to a video of the winning climb:  http://tinyurl.com/y2k7jge.

Sam Elias starts up the Competition Route 

Ice Climbing Competition

A few more photos

                

 

As far as the photos go, my main challenge each year is getting a different perspective. There are only a few view points where you can take photos from and it is sometime difficult to do something original. I think I did alright this year. You be the judge.

Here is the link to the slideshow (72 photo in there this time):

Ouray Ice Festival, Ouray, CO

Casper Mountain Hut Trip, WY

Thomas, Joshua, Tommy, Zorra, Jessica, Tessa, Esther, and Suwei at Joshua's Casper Mountain Cabin

Lafayette, CO - I'm still like 3 months behind on my posts. I need to take less pictures!

This set comes from a trip Suwei and I took over New Years. This one started out with Tommy and Jessica rolling briefly through town around the end of the year. They didn't have a whole lot of time, but we did managed to finagle a dinner out at Sherpas before they had to hit the road again. The next stop on their tour, however, was just up in Casper, Wyoming where they had planned to drop in on yet another friend.

Turns out that friend, Joshua, had invited them and Tessa up to his family's cabin on Casper Mountain for New Year's Eve and we were welcomed to tag along. So we did.

In Casper we met up with Tommy, Jessica, and Tessa who introduced us to Joshua, his parents and another couple, Thomas and Esther who were out road-tripping on their way back to California. All but the 'rents piled into two cars and while Joshua's group searched all over town looking for a sled (a failed mission as they were all sold out), the rest of us promptly got lost. By late afternoon we had all regrouped atop the mountain and were ready to take on the grueling 1 to 2 mile hike to the cabin. It was quite chilly when we arrived, but it didn't take us long to settle into the very rustic and very cozy (once the wood burning stove was lit) cabin, where we promptly set about liquoring ourselves up for the New Year. Actually we had begun that process about half way to the cabin. As soon as the wind kicked up, the rum came out.

The Hike In

We Made It!

Anyway, we spent two great days up there kicking around in the snow and hanging out with a nice group of folks. Thanks again to Joshua who put the whole thing together and let us use his place.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Day Sledding with the Makeshift Wheelbarrow Sled

Hiking out

Here is a link to the slide show and some more photos and comments:

Casper Mountain Hut Trip, WY