The mountains call, and I must go.

a gaze upwards

ultimate. ultimate. ultimate. blue sky blazing. plane contrails streaking, broken, a bird, a blimp, a helicopter with fish eyes. lost, the contrast, white, blue, green, dead stark trees, aliens. Have a cookie, rage, dance on the snow. Up, to the sky, to heaven, to ecstasy. The sky scape opens up, raging, peaks surround, up the next ridge, the legs burn, the heart beats...pound...pound...pound. Up, a perfect line in the snow, zig. zag. forever. top reached. smiles. transition. anticipation. nervousness. laughter. down. tag team. arc one turn, then another. feeling it. feeling it. float into the bliss. weight back slightly, dive in, ski slice through powder. airborne, as alive as you can be. human beings as perfect. dancing forever. gaze back. art on snow. creativity through the pines, the snags, the aspens.

silence.

silence.

silence.

listen to the silence.

solitude.

look into the sky. clouds hang high. the next bowl awaits. up the other ridge. through powder, driven by a bit of...fire. push the powder, drive the legs. forward. the trees shrink. the world swirls. the rocks grow closer, the horizon, everything in life drops away. alien landscape. wind blown. shrunken, shriveled limbs. raw, raw, raw. smile. relax. drop. down. through the lewis. and clark. on steroids. and then it happens. it opens. into...ahhhhh. dive left, dive right, float. more bliss. accelerate. leave. limits. behind. a land where they don't exist.

down now. sun. warmth. warmth. relaxation. goodness. happiness. above it all. where heaven. belongs.

Training Grounds

While I've been BC a fair bit, it seems I've always had the mentality of follower as others have sort of picked agendas and places to go. That's changed the past few times, as I've been "training" a never-ever the various things necessary. Fun stuff.

Variable day out there...some sun, some snow but never the predicted 40 mph winds. Skiing's better than sitting on I-70 traffic on President's Day weekend too.

Skin application 101. A little icing on the last run up, but overall a darned good job with a set of crap skins.

Before you know it, the religious zealots will want to declare this spot a shrine.

Bob from Broomfield Award of the Day

This is good for a laugh. So I was doing a little nordic skiing orienteering race up at Eldora and just as I was getting done I looked up and saw this scene.

Apparently this guy thought the nordic trails were actually the road out of Eldora. He proceeded to drive his mini van about 1/2 a kilometer onto the trails - Dixie Cup to be specific - blasting past the nordic center at 30 mph through Saturday crowds, kids learning groups and pterodactyl skate skiers before getting hub deep stuck. Hence the tow job out of the nordic center courtesy of the snow cat. When questioned about it, the guy was reportedly belligerent. Lots of incredulous chuckles and head shakes from the locals. I even got a chuckle out of George, the ski lift manager who pulled my pass a few years back for the whole torch incident, when I commented, "hey, this guys even makes me look smart!" Another typical day with a bizarre twist at the rock.

On a more positive note, the orienteering race, my first one ever. Map skills and nordic skiing on snowshoe trails suits me well. I like the sport. There is sort of some direction about where to go, but the method of attack is up to you. Granted, it's a lot easier when you know the trails system by heart - having a compass was a joke - but even so it was fun to be on a Lord of the Rings-type scavenger hunt. I could see getting into this sport, especially in the summer when trails are sort of a non-factor. Check it out here.

Hope you had a good day with mountains and adventure wherever you are.

Fire on the Mountain

Le Future

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are nice to listen to before 6 am. A nice mellow, happy vibe. Found out that I can't take a NOLS Instructor Course this summer, as the deadline was January 4th and they are all filled up. While that's a small bummer, it's not a death knell, as it wasn't really going to change anything I was going to do next fall and winter anyhow. But I am now focused on beefing up my outdoor resume so I can take a NOLS Mountaineering Instructor Course come early next summer. Lot's of expeditions, and not just on the bike. I want to do a solo or maybe semi solo jaunt of the CT this summer, but also want to do a shit ton of backpacking. Basically, I emailed my NOLS contact and she told me I should spend this summer going on big adventures where I hone those NOLS skills I learned a few years back. Ummm...OK, game on. That's a tough assignment! Ahhh...and the Packraft looms in the corner of my room, ready to dump me in some rapids no doubt but also hopefully ready to do some pretty cool shit. OK, time to pack for today, prep some matte and go for a sunrise ski.

Adventure blog...weeeee!

This blog is lame! Anyway, it's been a busy couple weeks here with skiing everyday, a jaunt up to the gulch for some BC turns and my first mountain bike ride of the year! The skiing has been good...lots of classic skiing up at Eldora, and got to take a friend who is a never-ever on her first backcountry ski. That's always fun, and the newbie stoke gets me fired up too. You know, teaching important life skill lessons! Those AT Trekkers work semi-OK, but they are a bit bulky. Mountain bike ride: ouch. It felt like I had not been on a bike for months, which, in essence, I have not. But it was enjoyable being out their at dusk with the deer and getting to experience a phenomenal sunset. We're slightly past midway point on the nordic season...the night hawk races are done...and there are a slew of marathons coming up in late-February and March. Coaching ends next week, as our team heads to state championships in Steamboat. Check out the latest Mountain Ear if you are up in Ned: we dominated the local Eldora race and are sending 14 kids to states, more than triple our previous high. Pretty cool. Getting stoked to take a bit more care of myself and have a bit more time to do some things that I'm into right now.

Virtual everything

Screw actual riding. Why would you take your bike outside and deal with the elements, bugs, traffic, sappy trees and wild animals when you can do all your riding using this! How cool is that? Virtual riding! The possibilities are endless. Indeed, Jill from Alaska could do the entire Iditabike virtually, and Dave Nice could log 20-some-odd straight days shredding the GDR – fixed – all from the comfort of his own living room! Timmy P and Meriwether could commute to work on a regular basis, virtually, yet never actually have to go to work. Fucking sick. Could we get one for nordic skiing too, and backcountry skiing as well?

Back to reality, thankfully. A great ski early this morning with a friend around the Brainard Lake trail system, which had a nice fresh coating of snow and nothing more than a gentle breeze (a big factor...the wind at this lake can get UGLY). It was good to get away from Eldora and into the psuedo backcountry.

Coached the kids at the classic race in Devils Thumb yesterday. They kicked ass - girls came in 3rd and the gentlemen came in 4th. Many highlights, including one of the girls who has worked so hard but had some bad luck - crashes and such - skiing like a bat out of hell to qualify for state championships. Gets me stoked. We're hosting a skate race Tuesday, so come on up to the nordic center at Eldora at 11 am and cheer the kids in neon.

No Slumber Bowl viewing here tonight. Cancelled TV...maybe a late ski is in store instead.

Neptune blah

Last night I went down to Boulder to attend a Neptune Mountaineering presentation by a couple who snowshoed around Yellowstone National Park. Cool concept, and I'm sure the adventure was pretty good too, but the presentation was pretty dry. About a dozen slides and a bunch of talking about how vapor lock socks are the shit. It was cool to see a rather elderly couple embark on such an adventure though - they were probably in their early 60's - and it was actually neat to see how content and happy older folks can be, especially since I'm surrounded by what seems like increasingly troubled teens all day. Skiing and teaching is a great lifestyle, but I think I need to diversify a bit, as my world seems to be getting smaller and smaller to the point where it becomes almost a bit of a head game. Chris Davenport - skier of all 14ers is at Neptune next week. I think that will be a must see. Might want to get their early, as it'll be packed.

Skiing up to Tennessee Mountain Cabin tonight. It's snowing...I'm stoked. Maybe racing Frisco Sunday, maybe a BC ski day...it all depends.