Notes from Gothic after winter: low snow year, marmots, billy barr, and pollinator phenological mismatch

 Notes from Gothic as winter comes to an end:

It was an extremely low snow year this winter in Gothic (3rd lowest winter since records began). With only a few weeks left when we might typically get snow, we're sitting at 225 inches (Historic average is 405.6", max snowfall was 646" winter of 94-95 and min snowfall was 186.6" was 76-77, also known as the "Winter of None"). I was looking back at photos I took May 1st from the Gothic bridge over the East River, and the difference is dramatic.

This caused me to look over billy barr's data set. For those not familiar with billy, he permanently moved to Gothic in 1974 and has been measuring snowfall and SWE (snow water content/equivalent) twice daily (a.m. and p.m.) since that first winter of 1974. He started doing it because he was curious (and bored, being one of only 3 people out here). He has used simple methods that line up with the now more sophisticated SNOTEL (automated snow telemetry) sites. His data is publicly available at https://www.gothicwx.org/

When graphed out, there's an obvious trend in Gothic towards less snow and for an earlier melt of the winter's snowpack. In the past 14 years, there has only been one year above the long-term average!

The 2nd graph is when the winter's snowpack melts to bare ground for the first time, not the last time snow is on the ground as mid June accumulating snows aren't uncommon. The red line is the trend line, the green dashed line is the average since billy began measuring snow. This year 0 cm was marked at May 4th. The latest the snowpack has subsisted was 19 June (winter 94-95) and the earliest it has melted out was 23 April (winter 11-12). On June 1st, there is on average 3.5" of snow still on the ground.

One of the things we noticed with the early snowmelt and warmer spring was that the flowers bloomed many weeks ahead of normal. Claytonia (common name: spring beauty, pictured) bloomed and faded before any pollinators had started flying (phenological mismatch). I talked to a pollination biologist this week, and he is unsure how this will affect their reproduction this year, but he will know by the end of the summer when he measures Claytonia seed set in his plots.

The marmots came out of hibernation in early April this year (graph courtesy of a trailside sign provided by Dan Blumstein of UCLA who has been part of a marmot study at RMBL dating back to 1962: https://sites.lifesci.ucla.edu/eeb-rmbl-marmots/ It's one of the longest continuous studies of a mammal in the world) Their research has shown that the earlier marmots emerge from hibernation the more negatively affected they are.

This is just the smallest of snippets from my personal observations and the research going on here at RMBL. RMBL has been operating as an outdoor lab since 1928, so they have been documenting change and species ability/inability to adapt for almost 100 years.

Take this info how you will. Here's to a deeper winter next year!

Spring in Gothic

It was a really warm and dry winter, so the snow melt is over a month over early compared to most years. It's crazy to look at pictures from this year at the end of April that have less snow than our other years at the end of May. Because of this the road will likely open much earlier than normal, and it means that we'll get 1 less month of skiing. When we arrived back to Gothic, there was lots of dirt showing, but when I looked at pictures from other years, at the same date the snow was white and deep and the river was hardly showing through the snow. I was also still skiing amazing powder runs. Crazy the variability between years.

4/24

We chilled around Estes. Mom and dad took us out to dinner Nepal's Cafe where we enjoyed the bottomless Chai

4/25

We drove back to CB. The snow is getting thin, but we were able to ski in and pull the heavy sled full of our gear and groceries back to Gothic

4/26

Did a ski up valley

4/27

Did a ski upvalley and ran into some snowmobilers who were illegally there!

4/28

Got some snow overnight, and Elisha and I skied up valley

4/29

We started to do cabin openings

5/1 Happy May Day!

We got a nice and beautiful overnight snow. Sophia and Benn had us over (as well as Dylan, who is studying plant phenology in the changing climate) over for dinner.

The plows came through today and plowed the road to Gothic on May Day

5/5-5/6

I took my WFR recert course with Billy R in CB South. It was fun and a bit cold, snowy, and wet. As you would expect in CB, it was an elite group of talented people (SAR, ski patrol, high mountain guides, etc).

5/5 Happy Birthday Elisha! Feliz Cinco de Mayo

For Elisha's birthday and Cinco de Mayo, we went to Pita's for Carnitas Pitas and $5 super grande margaritas

5/11

We hosted a bonfire for the people here (a few plant researchers and a couple staff) with s'mores, hot dogs, and a full flower moon.

5/12

The road to Gothic opened. Benn, Sophia, Elisha, and I biked out to get our cars to bring them back in. We had a beer at the gate.

5/14

Drove to Estes and arrived to Estes in a snowstorm. Mom gave us cheesecake and carrot cake for our birthdays.

5/15

Went down to Denver with mom for my birthday. First we spent the whole day at the zoo, which I love. Then we went out to eat Ethiopian on Colfax, which was delicious. Next it was onto Fortissimo for a fun night of cocktails and Dueling Pianos. We didn't make it home until 1am!

5/16

We met Rick, Hess, and Mitch in the RiNo district of Denver for fun mini golf at a cool place that was very technological. Then we all had dinner at the Denver Central Market.

5/17

We spent the day in Estes sorting through stuff we had stored in my parents' basement

5/18

Drove back to CB and arrived back to Gothic in a snowstorm.

5/19

A beautiful snowy and white day in CB

5/20

Had a our annual HOA meeting. Found out our HOA dues would be increasing by over $450/month. Yikes. Stress city

5/22

We went to the opening day of the Crested Butte Words Festival. It was a tribute to George Sibley who was the first caretaker in Gothic, way back in the 70's. I read his memoir "Part of a Winter" this winter. One of the speakers was the woman who wrote Go as a River. At the end I had George sign my copy of "Part of a Winter"

5/23

We went to watch the the movie "High Country" which is about Crested Butte. It was playing for free at the Majestic Theater

5/24-5/25

We started moving to our new place in Mount CB as we need to be out of Gothic at the beginning of June. Moving...ugh

5/26

I went with Janelle (she studies flower chemistry and how it relates to pollinators) for an adventure. The road up to Emerald Lake is still closed with some snow drifts, so we took e-bikes and biked up to Emerald Like. We then boot-packed (me in ski boots, Janelle in crampons) up Mount Baldy. I did 2 awesome ski laps (you can still ski to the road) and Janelle glissaded on her butt with an ice ax. Afterwards we went to Emerald lake which was still completely frozen

5/27  My birthday

I worked, but then we went out to the new Thai restaurant in CB

5/30

We biked up to emerald lake. The road is still closed as there is still some snow plugs. Emerald lake is still completely frozen

5/31-6/1

Moving. ugggh

5/31 

Mr. and Mrs Schmatz (Benn's parents) had us over for an AMAZING end of winter seafood feast. They had 2 types of shrimp, Colorado lake trout, mussels in white wine sauce, potatoes, coleslaw, bacon wrapped scallops, snow crab legs, and lobster tail! We had wine with dinner and then a digestif for after dinner. Dessert was a selection of 5 types of ice cream. Awesome!

6/1

Stayed up late to watch some weak aurora borealis.

6/4 

My first day at my new job at RMBL. It's called the CHESS project (Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study). It's a NASA funded project being run by scientists at RMBL, Here's some info as detailed by the PI

Spring will soon be here in Colorado, and my team is in the final stages of planning CHESS, our big NASA-funded aerial hyperspectral imaging study, in collaboration with teams at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. 

If you haven't already heard about the project here's a synopsis: RMBL is bringing the NEON Aerial Observation Platform to the Upper Gunnison basin from mid-June through mid-July this summer. The NEON flight team will collect high-resolution aerial imaging spectroscopy (e.g. "hyperspectral") and laser scanning (e.g. "LiDAR) data over three large domains in the RMBL vicinity, including the watersheds of the East River, Almont Triangle, and the Upper Taylor Basin. In coordination with the flights, RMBL and LBL are mounting a big field campaign to ground-truth the measurements, including coordinated measurements of plant communities, forest health and soil properties. We anticipate that the data collected in this study will be broadly useful to anyone interested in RMBL ecosystems, how they function, and how they are changing over time. Datasets collected as part of this work will be publicly available, and a number of research teams are already coordinating with us to take field measurements.

 It's some really cool science and despite the fact that it's going to be an intense field campaign, I'm really excited for it.

6/5

It was our last day at Gates cabin =(  Now we have officially moved to our condo in Mt. Crested Butte

Portugal

 4/19/25

We took an early bus to Faro, Portugal. We went to the airport there and rented a tiny little stick shift car. We stopped at a supermarket to get supplies and then drove to Albufeira, a cute, but touristy beach town were we walked the beach, climbed up on the cliffs and had some lunch. Our plan was to rent the car to have freedom to explore the beautiful Algarve coast. 

After Albufeira, we hopped into the car and drove to Praia (beach) Marinha where we hiked the Sete Vales Suspensos (7 hanging valleys) trail which followed along the beautiful coast for many miles, coming across hidden beaches, lots of natural arches, and sinkholes. It was super gorgeous as the cliffs are a bright yellow and th water a pretty jade. The coast is also very rugged. To get to some of the beaches, you have to take secret passageways cut into the rock. We also peered, from above, into the Benagil cave and beach. After the hike, we found a hostal in Portimão and ate dinner (Chinese) there near the Praia (beach) do Rocha.

4/20/25 Happy Easter!

It was an off and on raining, clouds, and sun day, but we spent a lot of time at the stunning Ponta de Piedade near Lagos. Ponta de Piedade is full of cliffs, hidden beaches, and nooks and crannies in the cliffs. It has some similarities to Utah geology (like Bryce Canyon), but right next to the ocean. We hiked out to a lot of cliff points to explore the rugged coastline. We enjoyed our chocolate easter bunny and then I went for a swim at Praia do Camilo. Cold! 

We then drove out to Sagres to visit Cabo de São Vicente, which is the most Southwestern point in Europe. There is a lighthouse and really high cliffs that we walked along. We visited Praia do Beliche where we watched the surfers. 

Next we drove to the Alfanzina lighthouse and hiked a bit along the cliffs there before driving to Carvoeiro to see the beach and have dinner (Indian). It's a cute little beach town with the white buildings. We then drove to Faro to stay at our beachside hostel.

4/21/25

Enjoyed sunrise over the beach and ocean from the terrace on our hostel. We then dropped the car off early in the am and caught a bus to rainy Lisbon (Lisboa). We took the subway to near our hostel and checked in. The hostel was a really well-designed hostel (Avenue Hostel) that had unlimited FREE Hot Cocoa!

We waited for the rain to stop and then headed out to the city. We took a cool free walking tour of the old Alfama district checking out churches, squares, the castle, the famous cable cars (including cable car 28), and viewpoints of the 7-hilled city. We tried the famous Pastéis de Nata custard pastry (eh, so, so). After the tour we hiked up to several more viewpoints where we had a bucket of Sangria and a shot of the cherry liqueur Ginjinha in a chocolate shot glass and enjoyed the sunset. We then went to have a traditional Portuguese seafood meal at a food market. Then it was back to the hostel for cocoa!

4/22/25

We got up early to walk to some viewpoints in the Alfama district. It was a nice sunny day, and we had great views of the old city with its redd roofs, the river, ocean, San Francisco style bridge, and mini Christ the Redeemer statue. 

We then walked to the train station and took a train to the cute and charming town of Sintra where we hiked through a cool boulder-filled forest to reach the whimsical palaces and Moorish castle. We walked by the National Palace of Sintra, then climbed steeply up the forest to go by the Moorish castle. We then visited the Pena palace, a multi-colored palace atop a hill, with a cool architectural style that could be straight out of a fairy tale. We then hiked on the trails around the palace to viewpoints (including one that required some rock climbing) and past little lakes filled with salamanders and ducklings. We then visited the Quinta da Regaleira where we toured the inside of the palace, visited a waterfall, climbed some cool towers, then descended deep into the bowels of the earth by taking the stairs down the initiation well and then walking through cool underground passageways. 

The Quinta da Regaleira has some fascinating history and is worth a google search. It was owned by Carvalho Monteiro who had a love for the natural sciences by was also fascinated by (and probably a member of) the Freemasons and Knights Templar. He was also interested in lyrical poetry. These combination of interests, mixed with his spirituality gave rise to the magical Quinta da Regaleira. As one person put it: "But what drew me to the place, most of all, was how it seemed to have been conjured up by magic from the stones of the mountain of Sintra itself. Its towers and bridges seemed not to be man made, but created by the spirits of nature. The Quinta da Regaleira is a place half in the real, and half in an imagined world. WIth clever architecture, tapping into a multitude of mystical beliefs through time and many different cultures, the palace has managed to conjure up an atmosphere of enchantment. The genius is apparent throughout the site. THere are many structures that seem perfectly natural, but are not."

The Initiation Well which descends 27 meters into the ground, is, perhaps, one of the most famous attractions in all of Sintra. It is more or less an inverted tower. It was built for spiritual reasons. It was designed, so it is said, to represent the nine circles of Dante's inferno. It was used for initiation rites for the Knights Templar where the candidates for initiation would descend blindfolded, holding a sword close to their heart potentially representing a symbolic journey to the center of the Earth.

After visiting the sights of Sintra, we hopped a train back to Lisbon and ate at a small, cheap, and delicious restaurant (seafood). We had some Ginjinha shots, got a $2 bottle of wined and then went back to relax at the hostel.

4/23

Very early flight, so we took a bolt rideshare (like uber) to the airport. Then a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt and then Lufthansa flight to Denver (watched 4 movies!). Mom picked us up and drove us to Estes

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain (and Gibraltar)

 4/17/25

We boarded the ferry in Tangier and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Tarifa, Spain in about an hour. In Tarifa we boarded a bus and headed to Algeciras, a Spanish port city where we checked in to a hostal. We quickly caught a bus to Linea de Concepcion. We disembarked the bus and then walked across the border to Gibraltar where we had our passports stamped. Once in Gibraltar we had to walk across a runway (active) to get to the town. Of course they close the runway if a plane is coming. Once we arrived to the town it was like a whole new world--Gibraltar was established by Great Britain and still has close ties. So there were the classic red telephone booths, London style busses and buildings/architecture. There were also drunk British boys (maybe Gibraltar is a nice warm, southern Spring Break style destination for Brits). This stood out to us more than normal after having just been in a country where alcohol is basically prohibited.

We hopped on a bus to get to the other side of the town to get to a trail called the Mediterranean steps that would lead to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. When we got to the trail, there was a chain across it saying it was closed for the day. And that normally you have to buy a pass for  a ridiculous 30 GBpounds. So in a way we sort of lucked out. Plus it means we had the whole "rock" to ourselves. We just ducked the chain and continued up the really cool trail, which ascends a cliffy area with the blue Mediterranean directly below you and the mountains of Africa off in the distance. 

The hike was awesome, going up steep staired sections along the cliffs with those nice aforementioned views. When we got to the top, we were treated with 360 degree views and an absolutely gorgeous sunset! We saw monkeys, rats, and snakes, and an endangered endemic bird along the way as well. We had to share the top with a couple monkeys. We walked along the top ridge a bit and then took this crazy, long stairs along the old fortification wall straight back down the other side of the mountain to reach the town, arriving right at dark. We crossed the border again, and then took the last bus back to Algeciras where we had Kebabs and went to bed

4/18/25

We caught an early train to Ronda. Upon our arrival in Ronda, we dropped our luggage at a hotel and then walked through the old city to get to the famed bridge. Along the way we got kebabs and watched some interesting Good Friday processions through the street, complete with stations of the cross and marching bands. We walked across the bridge, which sits impressively over a deep gorge (how did they build it!?). We then walked down into the gorge to several viewpoints of the bridge. Afterwards we walked around the town looking at other sites: other bridges, famous oval bullring, castle, churches, wall) and enjoyed wine slushies and McDonald's ice cream.

We then caught an early evening bus to Seville. Seville is very famous for its holy week festivities (this is not why we were going there, it was just a transport hub on our way to Portugal), which means that basically every room was booked up. We were able to find a room for about $110 USD, which is crazy expensive for us (and it was a tiny room with a shared bathroom). We went out at night to try to see some of Seville's sights, but we just kept getting trapped by running into Good Friday processionals. We just couldn't find our way around the city without being blocked by parades! And it was incredibly crowded. The processions had bands and people carrying large "floats" that appeared to be the stations of the cross. The people in the parade wore robes and then pointed hats covering their faces with holes for eyes that are very similar to the KKK hoods/hats (though of course these costumes outdate the KKK by centuries.) So in the end we gave up and went to bed.

Morocco: Land of flying carpets and genie lamps or land of cats and tagine?

I highly, highly recommend reading In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah (not to be confused with The Arabian Nights: The book of a thousand nights and a night translated by Sir Richard Burton...also good) if you're interested in learning about Morocco AND the story in your heart.  

3/30/25

We left CB to drive to Estes. It snowed a bit overnight.

3/31/25

I went for a morning backcountry ski with Lisa Foster at Hidden Valley. We ran into Aaron Reichardt, so we skied with him 2. We did 2 laps up in the bowl. Lisa has started a new youtube channel, so she filmed me for some of it. You can watch it here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYnVz7pi_x0

In the afternoon, Elisha, mom, and I hiked up to half-frozen Gem Lake out by twin owls. 

4/1 Mom drove us down to Denver where we caught our Air Canada flight to Montreal. Then it was an overnight flight to Casablanca, Morocco.

4/2

We arrived early to the Casablanca airport. We took a train into the city center where we hopped off and walked indo the medina and through the souks. They were mostly empty, being morning. We stopped at supermarket to grab some food and then walked to the gitan Hassan II mosque (so huge!) where we took a tour of the magnificent building. It's one of the largest mosques in the world and can accomodate 105,000 worshippers (25,000 inside and 80,000 outside in the plaza). In the winter it has heated floors! It sits in a beautiful location out on a peninsula with the green ocean surrounding it. From the mosque area, you can also see the large Casablanca lighthouse. 

It started raining and we headed to a fancy mall for lunch. We then headed to the train station to catch a train to Marrakech, but we had to wait a long time (several hours) as the trains were all booked up. We eventually got a train and made it Marrakech. Upon arrival, we checked into our hostel and then had a good dinner of Tagine with olives and mint tea from a tiny little place in the souks owned by a very nice man. Cats are EVERYWHERE! and so friendly.

4/3

We started the day with breakfast on the terrace of our riad hostel that had nice views over the city and the snowy mountain in the distance. We started the day off by walking to the Djemaa El Fna (place of death in Arabic). We explored the the square with its snake charmers and monkey wranglers. We walked to the main mosque and then had 2nd breakfast on a terrace overlooking the square (also with nice views of the snowy mountais). We walked through the medina (walled city) and explored souk after souk (narrow passageways) with their carpets, lamps, curios, oils, spices, etc for sale. We visited the spice, blacksmith, and dyeing souks. We also walked by some other mosques. We went a bit outside the main part of the medina and visited a souk area more for locals, like a flea market. We excited the medina through the city walls and walked along a road where people were selling very old (and perhaps often reclaimed from the trash) wares on the sidewalk. 

We then went back to the hostel and took a nap in the hostel courtyard. After the rest, we explored more souls. We got tours of the spices and dyes, including "moroccan vicks". We watched an amazing sunset with smoothies from a terrace overlooking the Djemaa el fna. 

We then went down to the square to feast at the food stalls where we had Tagine and Tanjia (so yummy! especially Tanjia). At the meal they give you bread, olives, and mint tea. In the square, especially, the food people are fairly aggressive to try to get you to eat at their place. For dessert we had khunjul (Moroccan spiced tea) and ginger cakes. We then walked around the square a bit, looking at street performers and storytellers. There are also people selling random wares, snake oil salesmen, and difference chance games setup.

4/4/25

We had breakfast on the terrace and then moved to our new hostel (Riad Jennah Rouge), which is a cool and ornate riad. It was through a cool, winding passageway to get there. Easy to get lost! Google maps/Maps.me certainly help to navigate. When I first visited Morocco (in 2008), there was none of that GPS, so you just wandered around lost and then could pay some kid a few coins to get you to your hostel or whatever. 

We took a public mini bus to Ourika and then a taxi up the steep, winding road, full of rockfall to Oukaimeden ski resort. We were going up there to ski, but unfortunately, just like Colorado, they were having a warm and dry year, so the snow had melted early at the ski hill. We walked around enjoying the views and laughed at the ski in/ski out "condos" made out of stone. Also the "ski bums" wearing snow pants and now selling geodes and bracelets.

I tried on some skis and rear entry boots for a photo op before heading back down the hill. A tree (cherry?) with white flowers was in full bloom. We took the bus back to Marrakech and read while lounging up on the terrace. We had dinner at the Djemaa el fna (Tanjia, soup, sweet pretzel, dates, egg & potato sandwich, spicy tea, ginger sweet, and nutella/banana crepe. 

4/5/25

Today we started our trip to the High Atlas. We took a taxi to Imlil at the base of the mountains where we met our guide Said (Say-eed). We rented crampons, had some mint tea, and then headed off our on our trek. 

We started out by climbing a pass (Tizi n'Mzik--2480m = 8,136 ft) above Imlil where we had a picnic. I then climbed up a small peak with nice views of the snowy mountains and the desert. We then descended into the Azzadan Valley to our gite (homestay) at Azib Tamsoult (2250m = 7381 ft). Along the way we stopped at a small little shelter where a solitary man served us mint tea. The gite was in a cool valley with terraced agriculture and goats all below steep, snowy mountains. We read on the terrace and then at night again after enjoying a dinner of Tagine and soup.

4/6/25

We hiked up a cool gorge where there was a pretty waterfall coming down onto ice. Then it was a beautiful hike up 2 passes (tizis), with the high pass being Tizi 'n Aguelzim at 3540m (11,614 ft). We then climbed a bit more to summit Jebel Aglzim (3650m = 11,977ft). We had a picnic there with amazing views of the snowy High Atlas as well as Jebel Toubkal, our eventual goal. We did some glissading and then crossed some deep snowfields as we made our way down to the Toubkal base camp (3207m = 10,519 ft), which is situated in a beautiful and snowy valley. 

I tried my best to find skis there or have mules bring some up from Imlil (so that I could ski on my 7th Continent), but had no luck =(  We hung out reading in the mountain hut and had dinner of soup and tagine. 

4/7/25

The Gators played in the Final Four in the middle or our night, and there was obviously no way to watch them. Sleeping was in a crammed bunk room where everyone got up at 3am. They were SO loud and rude, which was annoying since our wake up call was at 4:30am. I couldn't believe people would talk so loud and turn the lights on when others are sleeping.

After breakfast, we started at about 5:15am after donning crampons. We hiked up the snowy ravine to reach Tizi (Col) Toubkal, passing all of the other groups along the way (My training for the Grand Traverse wasn't for nothing I guess =/  On the col, the horizon was a fiery red. We continued on to the summit of Jebel Toubkal (4167m = 13,671ft), arriving before anyone else, so that we had the summit to ourselves as we watched the sunrise. There were great views looking down on the snowy high atlas and towards the desert. It was very cold at the top, so we headed down and did some glissading along the way.

We had some tea at the refuge and then headed down a different way than we had come. We had lunch at the cute and tiny village of Sidi Chamarouch, with a river running right through it. Next, we hiked by the village of Aroumd, which was cool with how it was built on a hill with snowy peaks in the background. Back at Imlil, we had drinks on a terrace with mountain views after walking around town. Getting service in Imili, I learned that the Gators had won their game and would be playing in the National Championship!! We then took our ride back to Marrakech.

Back in the Marrakech medina, we checked into our new hostel (Juli's) and went out on the town for dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Tanjia place that the Moroccan king had visited. Delicious!

4/8/25

Woke up to find out that Gators had won the National Championship!!!!!!

We spent the day exploring more of Marrakech. We visited the Mellah (Old Jewish Quarter), Jewish cemetery, Bahia Palace, and an old ruined palace. We had cold drinks in a square, watching people and horse drawn carriages go by. We got a tour of a spice shop and all the spices. At the Dejma al fna, I tought some people how to do the gator chomp and took videos with them. It was pretty funny. Back at Juli's we had more cold drinks on the terrace. Dinner at a new place and big/cheap crepes for dessert (8 dirhmas = $0.80). 

4/9/25

Another tasty breakfast from Juli. We then took a bus to Essaouira, a coastal town. We explored inside the city walls (Medina) and climbed up the ramparts for ocean views. There were lots of happy cats here b/c of all the fish around. We walked to the port where there is a mess of blue fishing boats. We walked through the fish market where they were selling shrimp, huge lobsters and crabs, fish of all kinds, including various sharks (even epaulette sharks), and stingrays. We had a lunch of fresh caught fish (sea bass). Unfortunately our bus back was almost 2 hours late, so we got into Marrakech late where we had a late Tagine and Tanjia dinner.

4/10/25

Today we started our desert tour. We piled into a sprinter van early in the morning and then headed up over a pass in the Atlas to reach Ait Ben Haddou. We had a tour of the really cool Kasbah there, but the tour was slow and annoying and the guide wouldn't let us go by ourselves. So during lunch I went back and had a better time (all the tour groups were eating lunch so it was empty) and visited some viewpoints and walked in the river. Ait Ben Haddou is famous for being a place several movies/shows have filmed there, including Game of Thrones and Gladiator. 

Back in the van we passed through Ourzazate and drove through the valley of roses and the road of 1000 kasbahs. There were indeed lots of cool Kasbahs around. Then we headed into the Dades Gorge, which was really cool with unique rock formations, dramatic cliffs, a river, and cool towns and Kasbahs perched on ledges or nestled in canyons. We stayed at a pretty nice hotel. Super windy overnight. 

4/11/25

After breakfast we hopped in the van and drove to the Todres Gorge, which is a steep and narrow canyon with a creek running through it. We did a short hike, then we walked through some date palms (palms lined the valley) and walked through the narrow streets of a small village to a ruined Kasbah. Then it was mint tea in a carpet shop where we learned about all things carpet. We continued driving past more villages and Kasbahs until making our way into the flat desert (the Sahara!). Eventually we saw the big orange dunes ahead. We loaded into the back of a pickup truck and drove towards the dunes where we met our camels and berber camel herder. 

We hopped aboard our camels and went for a relaxing and scenic plod across the dunes. It was very beautiful (and quite windy with the sands shifting around). At the base of the largest dune, we got off the camels and climbed to the top. From the top it was endless dunes do the south. We then rode camels to our Berber "camp". We were staying in luxury tents that even had a toilet and shower and the biggest bed I've maybe ever slept in. But we did find a scorpion in the tent. 

We had a nice buffet dinner and then listened to Berber and Gnawa music by the fire and did some dancing. It rained at night, as crazy as that is. Supposedly in this part of the desert it only rains 4 or 5 times a year. We'd learn that a couple days later it would actually the snow, the first time it had snowed in over 13 years.

4/12/25

We woke up and got on the road towards Fez in the rain. It quickly started to rain hard. We saw flash floods and had to drive through flooded washes, which seemed rather sketchy. It continued to rain as we worked our way up the barren and dramatic escarpment. Waterfalls were coming off the cliffs everywhere. Rivers, which I think are normally dry, were swollen. Eventually, we hit trees as we drove above about 5,000 feet. We made a stop to see some Barbary monkeys (some people were feeding them to get close). 

Next, we stopped in Ifrane (the "Switzerland" of Morocco), with its trees, green grass, gardens, and buildings with pitched roofs that look European. It was pouring rain, but we walked around a bit outside and ate a Belgian waffles. We also visited the lion statue which pays homage to the last Barbary Lion killed in the area. We then drove onto Fez, arriving at dusk.

Our hostel was a super cool Riad with a fountain in the center of the courtyard and cool lanterns and stained glass window. They also have 3 cute and very friendly tiny kittens.

4/13

We took a tour guide in the morning to explore the ancient medina and the small souks and passageways of the old city. THere are 9700 streets inside the city walls, some as narrow and dark as the narrowest slot canyons in Utah. We visited a tannery, a silversmith, and a carpet shop, where we saw them weaving on the looms. We also visited some viewpoints of the city and had some fresh-squeezed OJ. The OJ is incredibly delicious right now as the oranges are in season. After lunch we explored the souks on our own and visited the university and its mosque. It's one of the oldest universities in the world. We walked out to the "middle" city and walked to the palace and its famous gates. On the way we walked through a beautiful garden.  In the evening we explored the souks some more and then had a confrontation with a guy who acted like a friend, but then wanted money in the end. You should have seen Elisha argue with him! We had a nice Tagine dinner and crepes by the blue gate.

4/14

After the big and delicious breakfast, we hiked up to some ruins and a large mausoleum via a cemetery for great views of the city. 

We then caught a bus to Chefchaouen. It was an interesting drive through rolling green hills before arriving to the Riff mountains. We walked from the bus station up the steep  hill to our hostel (Riad Baraka), within the medina. It was a bit rainy, but not too bad. We had dinner at a good and cheap place where the proprietor was really nice. 

We walked around a bit exploring the "blue city" or the "blue pearl of Morocco". Chefchaouen is famous for its blue buildings--painted blue perhaps to ward off the evil eye (muslims), b/c of peace represented by the blue sky and ocean (jews who previously lived there), or to keep away mosquitos. 

4/15

We walked around the narrow, winding, and very blue path of the Chefchaouen medina. Lots of cats!! It's a cool contrast between the bright oranges and blue walls. 

We did a couple carpet bargaining sessions: 1. You walk in  2. They give you tea v3. Small talk   4. Carpets are pulled out.   5. Which do you like?  6. Select ones you like.  7. Only then are prices offered.  8. Bartering  9. More small talk.  10. Settle on a price  

We eventually bought a carpet and blanket from Abdullah. He was very nice and sincere. He walso had these hilarious sayings and anecdotes and quips. When I asked him if he sold any magic flying carpets, he told me "When you buy it and take it home on the airplane, it will be a flying carpet". We eventually the price down from $300 to $80 for the carpet + blanket. 

The orange juice in Morocco has been amazing, and we enjoyed several glasses of fresh squeezed juice from our favorite juice stand (run by a super nice deaf man). Also, we've been enjoying the to-go hot cocoas for the chilly, drizzly days from a nice man in a little shop. We hiked up to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint and had Moroccan "tacos" for lunch.

There was a really sweet homeless looking man who had secured some sardine fish. When he arrived to the alley we were in, all of a sudden cats were jumping down from the roofs everywhere. Something tells me he does this often.

We laugh because most of the me wear jelabas around here. Jelabas are hooded robes which look like what Star Wars Jedi Knights wear. So we're always pointing them out and saying "As-salamu alaykum. May the Force be with you!

In the evening, we ate at our favorite budget place with the nice proprietor of the restaurant. We then went to cafe clock for fruit smoothies while we enjoyed live Oud music (nice sound). We hadn't seen any alcohol on our entire trip, but we had heard that there was an underground speakeasy place to get some. We found it and walked into the smoky bar where we got beer to go in a black bag.

4/16/25

I got up early and enjoyed walking along the blue streets all to myself with a hot cocoa to go on a chilly morning. 

After a delicious breakfast (oatmeal with fruits and fresh juice and pastry), we took a shared taxi to Akchour where we started a hike to Akchour waterfalls. The hike was scenic through a beautiful, mountainous canyon that had dense foliage along a beautiful turquoise river. We saw lots of flowers and some monkeys as well. There were lots of small cascades along the way, but the final high waterfall was just stunning, crashing from way up high into a turquoise pool below. We had some mint tea at the falls, cooked by folks there, and then headed back down the canyon.

I did some cliff jumping in some nice pools on the way down. We then hiked up to "God's bridge," which is a natural bridge a thousand or so feet above the river. Back down at the bottom, we had fresh OJ before taking a shared taxi back to Chefchaouen. When we got back to town, we found out that the hostel we were going to stay at had lost our reservation, but we were luckily able to go back to Riad Baraka. We had dinner in the main square by the Kasbah and then did some shopping. Elisha bought a cool lantern from a metal worker.

4/17

We got up early and took a shared taxi to Tangier. A kid in the back was vomiting from the winding roads. 

At Tangier we wandered around the medina a bit and checked out the castle and city walls. We had a last Moroccan lunch before boarding a ferry to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to Tarifa, Spain.

2025 Caretaking in Gothic at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab

 12/31/24 New Year's Eve

Elisha and I did a ski up below Avery Peak. And then mostly chilled. It was quite cold today! We skied out to billy's hill to see if we could see the fireworks on CBMR, but I think we were about a half hour too late unfortunately, but not sure if we could have seen them anyways

 In the evening we had Sophia and Mairead (former caretaker when I worked for SAIL who is visiting Sophia. She now is during her PhD in Eco Hydrology in Flagstaff at NAU) over for champagne and popcorn and to hang out and watch the ball drop in NYC>

1/1/25  Happy New Year!

It was cold last night, -10F, and 48F in the cabin in the morning. Water froze that was by the windows.

billy contributes regularly to the CBAC avalanche observations (as do I). This one in particular cracked me up:

"A substantial change in snowfall. After only 1/2" new during the day Saturday, there was extremely dense steady snow overnight with moderate, steady wind until near sunrise with just 3" new snow but a high water content of 0.36". Currently cloudy but calm and dry with 32.5" of snow on the ground. Overnight high temperature was a scorching 31 and low 22 with the current temperature a balmy 28. This wet, heavy snow sits atop a light density snow from the past few days that sits on rotten snow--not a good setup for winter snow stability--(but then who/what sits out here all winter and has much stability?)"

1/2

We did a fun, powdery ski tour up by the 403. Amazing sunset views coming home.

1/3

Today Jeni Blacklock, the new Executive Director of RMBL skied out with Steve to meet us. We heard a story today about how Gothic become unincorporated (Lost its status as a town) in the 70's. billy had been the mayor for a long time, but he said initially it was a close fight between he and some other lady, but then he required that votes be cast on election day in the town. Of course he was the only one living in the town in November since the road was closed (all other residents at that time lived from late May until October), so he always won with 1 vote. Haha

Elisha and I did a fairly long tour up above the 401 on the slopes of Avery peak. Great skiing and nice views. We finished under starlight.

1/4

It snowed pretty good most of the day, and it really snowed hard in the afternoon while I did two ski laps on Snodgrass! It was awesome and beautiful.

Today was the first day that I was able to work on all the things that I want to work on nearly everyday. I read from a novel, read from a book of poems, skied the powder, practiced piano, and organized my photos. On top of that I also watched a basketball game and chopped kindling and stacked firewood.

1/8

Bro came out to Gothic early in the a.m., and we started a ski tour up Copper Creek to head to the top of the Camel's Humps at just over 13,000ft. It was a cold morning (-16F, and we were really covered in frost from our), but a beautiful day. The high alpine valley that we skied up into was just breathtaking. As bro said, it seemed like we were in Alaska. The summit also had great views of course, including many 14ers, the Ruby Range of Crested Butte, Gothic Mountain, Crested Butte, and Gunnison. Skiing down was of course really fun! Elisha had gone shopping, and I promised to meet her 1/2 way (2 miles in) to pull the sled on the flats and uphill. She really loaded that thing up with groceries. It was super heavy! But I managed to pull it the 2 miles, mostly uphill to the cabin in the very cold night (the moon was bright enough that I didn't need a headlamp). When I got home, I was exhausted from the day!

1/9

We set up bamboo poles to mark the routes that guests and visitors are allowed to take through RMBL. Then we did a quick ski tour up Aspen Alley with Benn

1/10

Elisha and I did a xc ski up the beautiful Copper Creek valley. A very cold morning: -17F

1/11

Jack, a friend and former caretaker (while I was at SAIL), came out with some friends (8 of them in total) to stay in Maroon Hut. It snowed 6-ish inches overnight, and so I led everybody on a tour above the 401 and Art Mears cabin, and then we did 2 laps up the 403. The snow was really good! Jack came over in the evening for snacks. He had also brought Elisha 2 blocks of the Norwegian ski cheese she likes

1/12

We all did 2 really fun and deep powder runs on Aspen Alley in gorgeous bluebird weather.

1/13 Full moon---so bright

A very cold morning (-22F). I started out before sunrise--to enjoy the cold--and skied 3 laps on Aspen Alley

1/14

Yet another very cold morning (-18F). Elisha and I skied a lap out by the 401 towards the road to Rustler's Gulch. 

It was the day after the full moon, but still incredibly bright out at night. I did a lap on Aspen Alley in the dark, with no headlamp. So beautiful!!

1/15

Who'd have guessed it, another cold morning (-20F). I did a very early xc ski up Copper Creek and got to see the beautiful moonset over Gothic mountain. Then Elisha, Benn, and Benn's friend Tyler, and I skied up Red Mountain and skied down the Aspen Triangle.

1/16

I did a long, 4 lap tour in great powder up above the Miers cabin and then also by the 403

1/17

Did a tour over by the 403 and mini golf with Elisha. The power went out twice

1/18

An arctic cold front came in today with light snow, wind, and bitter cold. I did a couple laps up on Snodgrass

1/19

Another really cold day. -23F as the low. Our water bottles near the window froze! I did a very early xc ski to enjoy the cold, and then I did 3 laps up on Snodgrass. We did the thing where you throw a cup of boiling water outside and it freezes before it hits the ground. On my ski I ran into billy who had a very frosty beard.

Two interesting things to note here in Gothic:

1. It seems like whenever you go out to ski (or do rounds) you run into billy. No chance meeting with billy is short-lived. It's always a 10 minute or so chat, even if it's very cold. But it's always enjoyable! He has a funny sense of humor, and he usually has a good story or two. It's one of the pleasures of Gothic for sure.

2. Wherever we make skin tracks in the snow with our skis, the fox surely follows. I'll do a long 4 mile ski way up there, and if I return the next day, sure enough there is a set of fox tracks. This happens on all the tracks I make while ski touring, but also, the fox seems to do rounds (much earlier than us!) every morning following our tracks between the cabins, the lab, and the other buildings we check. It always makes me smile

1/20

Another cold day, especially in the afternoon and evening as a polar cold front descended in. Today, as there was a bit of wind, really felt like a cold day in Antarctica. We went for an early evening ski in the very cold. Due to how cold it was, the skis were really slow in the snow. In fact, when we got back down to Gothic Road, instead of putting our skins on in order to ski back up to our cabin, we were able to just go without skins as it was so cold that it made our skis grippy.

1/21

The coldest morning thus far (-27F...below -30F with windchill). I went for a very early, dawn, xc ski to enjoy and revel in the cold. In the afternoon, Elisha and I skied 2 laps on Snodgrass.

1/22

We skied into town for a RMBL lunch at Secret Stash pizza. We also stopped in to see Ellis, Zach, and Mary

1/23

Another -22F morning. I did a xc ski up the valley. We had some visitors (executive director, TAPP person from town, and someone from the State of Colorado who does funding). So we had tea and snacks for them. Afterwards I skied a couple cold and windy laps up on Snodgrass

1/24

I did a cool ski tour up the sluice and down the otherside into Virginia basin to return back to Gothic. We then skied out to Crested Butte to drive to Colorado Springs to visit Jake and family. We made it in time to have some dinner and play the game "how do you Meme"

1/25

We woke up to snow and hard snow all day. We did a hike up in Cheyenne Mountain Cañon on the 7 bridges trail. It was very beautiful with all the snow. It was pretty cold, so we were happy to go warm up afterwards with some food at a Middle Eastern Cafe where we got shawarma wraps. We then went to a fancy cookie place called Crumbl to get a variety box of fancy and eclectic cookies.

We spent a lot of the afternoon playing mario kart before having dinner and then playing Code Names. After the game we watched a sci fi movie (Contact, I believe).

1/26

We were meant to go help work at a breakfast kitchen for homeless and refugees in the morning; however, because it has been so cold the night before, many people had slept in the building where the food is served and thus a different group was there to help out with the food serving, so we weren't needed. Instead we went to Old Colorado City to a French Bakery and had hot drinks and croissants. Elisha went to hang out with her friend Sarah and the rest of us went to Chipotle for lunch before going home. Jake and I then went for a hike in Garden of the Gods, which was very beautiful with all the snow. Elisha eventually joined on us on our hike. Then it was back to Jake's casa where we made naan pizzas and played some more mario kart.

In the evening, Jake, Elya, Elisha, and I went downtown to Colorado Springs to Lulu's to watch a solo Josh Ritter concert. It was amazing! We were in the front row, so we could really see him well!

1/27

In the morning we met Aunt Hope and Uncle Pete for breakfast near the Academy before driving back to CB and then skiing into Gothic.

1/28

Benn and I did a fun ski down the Kraken's Arm on the side of Gothic.

1/29

I skied into Viginia Basin and up to the pass. It was a really great ski tour! Elisha headed into CB for a week to help Eleven out for their Jefe week.

1/30

I skied Zachary's (and above), and then had to xc/skate ski fast to CB to make it for a dental appointment in Gunnison

1/31

Skies some really nice powder up on Snodgrass

2/1 Alley Loop Race!

Today was the Alley Loop Race, the famous nordic skiing race in CB that winds through the narrow alleys of Crested Butte and then out into beautiful Slate River Valley. To reach the race, I had to ski nearly 6km just to get to the start of the race. I normally do the 5k, but this year I did the 10k. I dressed up in a bright costume for the race as this is a very costumed race (except for the collegiate 21 and 42k races, where they wear their spandex). I love this race, and it felt really good as I'm in pretty good shape. I started out near the back at the start of the race, but I steadily passed people the whole way and ended up finishing 5th overall, 4th among males, and 1st in my age group (40-49). My time for the 10k was 43:17 with a pace of 4:20/km.

After the race we enjoyed some of the food and beverages, they hand out, and then we watched the 5k. We stationed ourselves below the main hill and laughed at the costumed participants crashing down the hill (downhill on nordic skis can be challenging).

I then had to ski back home. I felt really good, so I skated the whole way to Gothic and made it from the trailhead to Gothic in 24 minutes! A new record for me.

2/2

I skinned up and skied 1st bowl on a powder day, but it was quite warm and the snow was more like Cascade Concrete or Sierra Cement. The snow was glopping to my skins like crazy!

When I got back from my ski, I saw a text from billy barr that he had been struck in the face and knee by falling ice in a roof-alanche. Since I'm trained in Wilderness Medicine, I headed over to check him out, make sure his vitals were okay, and that he had no brain injury or other major injury. And also to calm him down. Mostly he was going to have a major bruise on the side of his knee as well as his cheek, but he seemed okay other than that. We checked in with him regularly via whatsapp.

2/3-2/7

An atmospheric river (pineapple express) passed just north of us. It brought incredibly warm air. INCREDIBLY warm. We broke temperature records everyday, including a couple by 12 and 8F! That's crazy. We also had one low that was 33F, which was the first time a day didn't get below freezing since September 30th, and also the first time that a 24hr low in February didn't get below freezing. It was just so crazy warm, unbelievable. The heat wave made the snow pack slushy and then icy, so it wasn't great for skiing. All the moisture in the air, however, brought lots of clouds that made for incredible sunsets.

2/7

I skied up to Copper Lake this afternoon. It was of course frozen, but the trail was beautiful getting up there and the lake basin very beautiful. Elisha started her avalanche class, which is 4 days and based out of Crystal Hut in Gothic.

2/8

It snowed a bit overnight, and I did a cool ski with good snow below the cliffs of the north side of Gothic.

2/9

It snowed some more overnight and Benn and I did a really great ski below mount Baldy with great snow. In the evening, there was a really cool moon-dog (parhelia), which had a circle completely around it.

2/10

The fox came visited, right up to our door

2/11

The fox visited again, and she was very pretty in the heavily falling snow.

Tonight we booked our "warm up: trip for April. We were deciding between flying into Slovenia and flying out of Romania (traveling through the Balkans) or flying into Morocco and flying out of Portugal. We also were considering a cruise, trip to Thailand, or Turkey. In the end, we decided to go with Morocco.

2/12

Elisha and I skied 2 laps on Snodgrass and 2 laps on Aspen Alley as the snow was great. It was then to Crystal hut for the RMBL retreat. We had appetizers, yummy beverages, then dinner, icecream, and played games.

2/13

We had breakfast with the retreat down in Crystal, then Benn, Sophia, Curtis, Elisha, and I skied Zachary's.  

Then the SNOW started!

2/14 Happy Valentine's Day!

We woke up to about 16" of snow. After doing rounds, Sophia, Benn, Elisha, and I skied a lap on the Aspen Triangle. Elisha and I then did another lap. It was snowing hard the whole time. Not trying to brag, but just writing down to remember, but I am in very good shape, so I broke trail basically the whole way. The snow was SO DEEP. When it was time to ski down, even at a moderate steepness (28 degrees), it was hard to even move. But man, when it got steep enough to make some good turns, it was awesome face shots!

We took a group shot in the snow and sent it to billy as a Valentine's message.

2/15 

In the morning I got a message from billy asking if I could come break trail for him as he was feeling cooped up in his cabin, but that the snow was too deep for him to get to Gothic. So I headed out to break trail for him. It usually takes me 12 minutes to get to his house, but it took about 35 minutes with the deep snow.

It again snowed hard all day. We ended up getting 37" (over 3 feet!) Sophia and Elisha took the day off from skiing as they were very tired, but Benn and I headed up the sluice. It normally takes me roughly 1hr 30 mins to get up there, but it took us almost 3 hours! The snow was just so deep. Benn was only able to break trail for about 15 minutes, so I had to break trail the rest of the time.

2/16

It was nice weather most of the day, and we did a xc ski loop around Gothic and relaxed a bit. But then Elisha and I did a ski back up to the Aspen Triangle to do a couple laps. Even though we had broken trail a couple of days ago, the trail was filled back in with snow. The skiing was amazing today! The snow had settled a bit, so we didn't sink quite as bad, so had 2 great soft fluffy laps.

Billy keeps track of his snowfall, weather, animal sightings and such on a website if you're ever interested in checking it out.

https://www.gothicwx.org/

I thought his notes from today were interesting and worth copying down:

"What is New and other Notes:  Despite the recent storm this winter still ranks 46th of the past 51 years in total winter's snowfall as of sunset February 15, though that climbs up from being 49th.  The recent storm was 2 days with 94 cm (37") and water content of 2.85 inches.

The February 07 low temperature of ½ºC (33ºF) was the first day since September 30 with the daily low above freezing, and the first time in 51 years that a 24-hour low in any daily February temperature was above freezing.

 February has been so strange as it started out with the warmest low temperatures on February 02, 03 (tied), 05 and 07 along with the record highs on the 3rd and 4th. The high on the 3rd was ridiculous and it beat the previous high for this date by 12ºF, while the high on the 4th beat the previous high by 8ºF. Then there was the record lowest high on February 12 and the record low on the 13th (really, make up your mind already).  And not wanting to be left out, the most snow on a February 14.  These were all added on to the records by winter and the records summary tables.  

this winter, through January, has had the 3rd lowest snowfall total (270 cm, 106") of any winter since snowfall data was started in 1974 (51 winters), behind the winters of 1976-77 (188 cm, 74" ) and 2017-18 (232 cm, 91½").

With 10 winters in a row, and only one winter in the last 13, having had above average snowfall, this sadly is becoming the "new normal", not just a few dry winters."

“We never tire of each other, the mountain and I” – Lao Tzu

2/17

Elisha and I skied a couple laps of awesome powder on Aspen Alley. Irwin Guides brought it some clients today, the first people to reach Gothic from town since the big snow, which meant they had to break trail the whole way

2/18

I skied 4 more laps of amazing powder up on Aspen Alley

2/19

Us the caretakers shoveled snow off some of the cabins that don't have strongly sloping roofs. Although it's been a low snow year, there was still A LOT of snow on the roofs. We had a lot of fun: breaking off roof cornices and also jumping off the roofs into the deep snow. While we were working on one of the cabins we heard a weird vehicle noise. Turns out it was a snowcat from Vail that had come out inexplicably grooming the road. But we took advantage of it, and we skied some corduroy down billy's hill.

2/20

Elisha and I did a cool and long tour on the shoulder of Mt. Bellview in a good snowstorm. The run and powder was great. Along the way we saw a fox and moose.

2/21

I did some fun morning powder laps at Aspen Alley. Then Elisha and I shoveled the roof of one of the cabins before skiing into CB where we had to dig our our buried cars. We met mom at bro's house where we had tacos and tequila shots before heading down to the performing arts center to watch bro and Mary in Move the Butte, one of Crested Butte's signature local events. It's a 2 hour show featuring various dances of all types. We spent the night at Zach's.

2/23

I joined Benn and a few of his friends (Arly, Chris, and a CBMR ski patroller), and we skied the Gothic Mountain Tour route, which is about 21 miles. It goes up Gothic Road, then up and over Top of the World on the 403 down to Washington Gulch drainage, up another ridge and then finishes with the long haul out the Slate River Valley to the Nordic Center and eventually Crested Butte. 

When I arrived to Crested Butte, mom picked me up in town, and then we drove up to Snodgrass and we skied into Gothic. Mom would be staying with us for 2 nights

2/24

We hung out in Gothic, treating mom to cabin life. We did a little xc ski with mom, and Elisha and I enjoyed some good snow up by the 403

2/25

We skied with mom back out to CB. Due to the groomed road, I skate skied a couple of fast laps on Gothic Road. I broke my fastest time from Gothic to Snodgrass Trailhead (21:41)

2/26

I again skate skied a lap on Gothic road. I broke my all-time record of skiing from Snodgrass trailhead to Gothic doing it under 20 minutes! (18:57). 

2/27

Zach fat-tire biked out, and we skied up to beautiful Queen's Basin and up to a ridge and small peak. It was a gorgeous blue-bird day and the views were amazing. The skiing was pretty good too. The snow up there was still pretty good. Unfortunately up near the top, while bootpacking to the ridge, I hurt my knee a little bit.

2/28

Michael called me and offered me to take over a job from one of his guys working on the Baltimore campaign who is having health issues, but I declined. We skied into CB to do a couple of errands and to meet Neal and Clair (Antarctica friends). We skied in together and then had a nice night together with dinner and chatter.

3/1

The 4 of us skied up Copper Creek and hung out together. Lots of chatter about the state of the world today. Clair works at NREL (Nation Renewable Energy Lab). She does windmill research work. She said it's sadly hilarious all the lies that Trump spouts about windmills. Neal works for a contractor that works on cleaning up superfund (contaminated mining) sites for the EPA. He said with the cuts in the group he's working at they're basically going to have to stop cleaning up certain sites, and those sites tend to be where Native Americans and other impoverished people live. His group especially focuses on removing mercury, which is a very deadly heavy metal.

3/2

Clair and Neal left today after breakfast.

3/4

We had a good snowstorm overnight, so I went out and skied some great snow

3/5

Elisha and I did some skiing in the fresh powder left behind by the storm. A lap on on Aspen Alley and then 3 laps on Snodgrass.

3/6

Elisha and I skied in a very heavy snowstorm.

3/7

Elisha and I did a really long ski tour to enjoy the powder. We did a couple laps up on Mt. Bellview Ridge and then a lap by the 403

3/8

I skied 4 laps of fresh snow on Snodgrass

3/9

We did some more Snodgrass skiing on the fresh snow

3/10

I skied 4 laps up by the 403 and Elisha skied into town for supplies

3/11

I skied up to East Maroon Pass and peered over towards the Aspen side

3/12

I skate skied into town to mail some samples from our atmospheric station today and then did a couple errands in town. I wanted to test out some lightweight skis that my boss, Steve, gave to me to use in the Grand Traverse, so I skinned up to the top of Paradise Bowl. I got to ski down my first groomed runs of the whole season! I then skate skied back to Gothic.

3/13

I did a really cool tour with bro and CBAC intern Christian (from Mount Shasta area). I skied up to the Top of the World on the 403 where I met them (they had snowmobiled in from town). We then skied up a ridge on Baldy before descending a cool couloir into a basin. We then skied up another Baldy ridge to descend on a nice powder run into a big basin where a large avalanche had run that Zach wanted to check out. After checking it out we skied up a final ridge for a last awesome powder run into the Emerald Lake basin. Then it was a skate back to Gothic.

3/14

We got a good snow overnight, so Elisha and I skied several powder runs

3/15

4 more powder laps up on Snodgras

3/16

Did a few more really great powder runs up on Snodgrass, including one up higher and closer to the Kraken's arm. Red Lady (the fox) brought her boyfriend around and hung out for quite a while outside our big window looking in on us. Elisha had made taco soup, so maybe they had been drawn in by the yummy smells.

3/18

Blizzarding today with heavy snow and high wind. (and some good skiing)

3/19

Some good powder laps on Aspen Alley

3/20

Cold in the morning (-5F). Some great skiing up on Snodgrass. Then we shoveled off the deep roof of Erlich Cabin

3/21

I did a great solo powder ski up Zachary's

3/22

Big powder day, and we skied several laps on Aspen Alley

3/23

Elisha and I did a great tour up Zachary's

3/24

We had a zoom happy hour with Sherman and Emily

3/25

We watched the  College of Idaho Coyotes men's basketball team win the NAIA national championship

3/26

I skied out to CB for some errands and hung out with mom and xc skied with her as well. We then had sushi night dinner with Benn and Sophia at our house.

3/27

A heat wave has arrived. I did some corn skiing up Copper Creek in the Sluice

3/28

Jack and Elsa skied out to stay the night. Jack Snow is my Grand Traverse partner. Our team name is the Snow Guy(s).  The race is a 40+ mile, 8000 foot elevation gain race from Crested Butte to Aspen. I've been training pretty hard for it and getting all the gear for it (b/c it's a backcountry race that goes over two 12,000 foot passes during winter conditions you have to carry things such as a bivy shelter, sleeping pads, puffy pants, and stove. I'm very excited to do it.

3/29

Jack and I skied out of Gothic in the morning to the ski resort to check in for the race and to pass gear inspection. The race will start at midnight tonight. They gave us a big lunch and then we had a pre-race meeting where they told us we were doing the full traverse (to Aspen) instead of the grand reverse (up to the pass and back to CB). We all cheered. They were changing the route of the course instead of skiing down to the east river we'd be skiing around Mount CB due to a couple snow bridges collapsing.

Afterwards I went to hang out at bro's with mom and everyone to wait for the race. We watched the Gators beat Texas Tech to make it to the final 4! Then I went to lay my head down to take a nap before the race. Jack called Elisha and I heard her say "are you joking?" I immediately ran upstairs thinking he had fallen on the ice or something and injured himself. But no, he was calling to inform me they had cancelled the race. I was absolutely heartbroken. Just crushed. It was because it was too warm, and the race organizers thought it would make rescue too challenging. I was just so devastated. Zach didn't agree with their call. I couldn't really sleep that night

3/30

I was supposed to be arriving to Aspen, instead I was hearing bro on the phone talking with other snow scientists and snow safety people complaining and discussing about the bad call about cancelling the race.

We left at some point to drive to Estes.

Christmas in Colorado 2024

 12/14

Gunnison County has this cool program where they will let you test drive an electric vehicle (EV) for a week for free, and they'll pay for all the charging. It's part of their commitment to try to get the county carbon neutral by 2050 (or something like that). So we signed up for it for this week as we had plans to head to the Front Range. It's a Chevy Bolt, a small, but efficiently sized car.

We charged the car up in Gunnison while we did some errands and shopping, but we still had to charge it up again in Fairplay as we hadn't gotten a full charge in Gunnison and because when the temperatures are really cold (<10F in Gunnison and over Monarch) the battery loses efficiency.

The first reason we were going to the Front Range was to go to Bailey for VonSheibness, a Christmas party hosted by Clair Von handorf and Neal Scheib. It was basically an Antarctic Reunion with Chad (fuels) and Megan (Crary Lab), Jammee (Ship and Palmer) and McNifty (husband), Joni (IT) and Cory (South Pole Traverse), Katie (Project Software), and of course Neal (Research Assistant) and Clair (Hazardous Waste). It was a fun party with tacos as the main course, lots of dessert and appetizers and margaritas. Then there was a white elephant gift exchange. We stayed the night with Clair and Neal, while everyone else headed back down to Denver.

In the morning we had brunch, charged the EV up in Bailey, and then headed down to Denver to meet my parents for a matinee of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' ballet at the Buell Theater. After we parked, we walked by the Capitol building and then through the Christkindl German Christmas market before getting to the Theater district. 

We met my parents and headed into the Nutcracker. We tried to dress up, but most people were really fancy. It was a great show, with favorites being the Russian Dance and Snowflake Dance. But the sets were really cool too.

After the show we walked to the 16th street mall and had dinner (a feast) at the Cheesecake factory. After dinner, we dropped dad off at my parent's hotel for a nap and then mom, Elisha, and I first went to the City and County building, which is always lit up spectacularly for Christmas. And also there was a giant lit tree that had lights 'dance' to music. It was really awesome, especially when you went inside of it and looked up. It was a really cool and festive area! And then at one point they did a light show to music on the city and county building. Then it was back to the theater district to watch a very cool drone light show.

After all that, the 4 of us met at the Denver Botanic Garden for the Blossoms of Light. It's a walk (about 1 mile/1 hour) through the botanic garden amongst just a spectacular set up of Christmas lights. They also had a field with lights set to 'dance' to music.

After the Botanic Gardens, Elisha and I charged our car and then headed up to Estes. We wanted to see lights of Estes Park as well as my mom's Christmas decorations. It was extremely windy (as per usual) and there were 2 massive bull elk in the driveway as we pulled up. Mom's tree and lights were indeed nice and the snowvillage was of course the highlight!

12/15

We headed to downtown Estes to do some Christmas shopping and charge the EV. There was a giant herd of elk on the golf course where we parked the EV. Then it was a very quick lunch with mom and dad before heading down to Denver to meet Nate.

We met Nate in Denver at the Grateful Gnome brewpub. It was a surprise for Elisha as she loves gnomes. It was fun to hang out with Nate he's always hilarious. And the poor guy is hobbling around right now as he shattered his patella working on his cabin outside of Salida.

After hanging with Nate we headed to Red Rocks Amphitheater for 'Christmas in Color'. It was a really cool drive through light show. You tune your car to a certain FM frequency where music is playing and the lights are synced to it. It was really awesome!

Then we headed to Colorado Springs, but we charged the EV in Sedalia on the way. In the Springs we were visiting Jake and Elya. They were waiting for us with a yummy brownie cake thing and tea. We talked for a long while as well as watched some funny comedy shows.

12/16

We hung around Jake's in the morning, charged the EV near their house, and then headed to Jake's school so that he could show us his classroom and the school campus. He's a middle and high school Spanish teacher. We then went to a big (and too busy) shop at Trader Joe's and Costco in the Springs before heading home. We charged real quick in Salida (their S hill is lit up cooly in lights) before heading to Crested Butte. I then towed in the heavy sled of groceries to Gothic under a beautiful nearly fully moon (no headlamp required)

12/18

Did a fun backcountry ski up on the North side of Gothic mountain. Normally you wouldn't want to go there b/c it's under a huge avalanche path running off the summit, but with our dearth of snow right now, it was fine.

12/19

We skied into town to go to a showing of an episode Rocky Mountain PBS' Colorado Experience titled Gothic's Outdoor Science Lab. The showing was at the historic Majestic Theater and included free popcorn! (definitely a reason to make the trip out to town). The episode was really cool and afterwards there was a Q & A with PBS producers and RMBL scientists and staff. We skied back home under gorgeous stars

You can see the episode here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkMzdZcDrUo

12/20

We skied out to Crested Butte for a Christmas Play at the tiny Mallardi Theatre. It was a 3 person play titled "Every Christmas Story Ever Told". It was really good! And funny. And shout out to the Mallardi Theater for selling Hot Cocoa and PBR for only $2. We skied back on a chilly and starry night.

12/21 Winter Solstice

Elisha and I did a short tour up Copper Creek. We watched the sun go behind Gothic and put us in the shadows at exactly 3:33pm. That's not the sunset, it's just that Gothic is such a tall mountain right next to us that it blocks the sun early. The actual sunset time would be 4:49pm if Gothic wasn't there. Today I started reading a book of Mary Oliver's poems entitled 'Devotions'. Jake Hess gave the book (as well as another) to Elisha and I as advent gifts. He wrote in the cover "To the Guysers: Advent 2024. In hopes that these poems only expand your love for nature, its beauty and mystery"

In the evening Benn had the 3 other caretakers over for a Solstice Dinner Party at Calder. He made a super delicious roast with cornbread casserole and mashed potatoes with a mushroom gravy. Sophia made green beans and we brought cauliflower and ice cream to go with cookies we baked at his place. And we had Whiskey Mules.

I really enjoy the long nights, unlike many people it seems. So the winter solstice is a bit sad for me. I feel like it gives you more time to rest and relax and do things like reading and learning piano while drinking yummy tea. When it's sunny and beautiful out, I'm the kind of person that takes full advantage; hiking or biking until the darkness. In the summer this means not getting home until after 9, which doesn't leave much time to recharge. Plus I just really like the cold and snow!

My 8th grade earth science teacher, Mr. Adams, posted this on facebook, and I really liked it:

“The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year which is coming to a close... like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds.

Our modern culture teaches avoidance at a max at this time; alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, over spending, comfort food and consumerism.

And yet the natural tug to go inwards as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and the weather so bitter that people are left feeling that winter is hard, because for those of us without burning fires and big festive families, it can be lonely and isolating. Whereas in actual fact winter is kind, she points us in her quiet soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection, embracing the darkness and forgiving, accepting and loving embracing goodbye the past year.

"Winter takes away the distractions, the buzz, and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into a womb like love, bringing fire & light to our hearth".

.. and then, just around the corner the new year will begin again, and like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again to dance in the sunlight.

Life is a gift a Happy winter to you all...''

12/22

I started reading "Part of a Winter" by George Sibley. George was a caretaker in Gothic for 4 years in the 70s. He might have been the 1st one. He even predated billy barr. He used to be the editor of a weekly newspaper in Crested Butte. He's now in his 80s, but I had the interesting good fortune of meeting him in a very random way. Elisha and I received a grant from a local town organization to help with a small amount of funding for the condo we bought. In return, we were asked to right a thank you note to the organization in the paper. As part of my thank you, I wrote a quick poem (kind of dumb and not much effort put into it in my opinion; however, George saw it, and asked if he could publish it in his yearly locals publication. I said yes, and that started communicating with him. He's a writer, but he's also really interested in rivers, especially the Colorado.

I did a backcountry ski up the 403 near to the saddle between the East River Valley and Washington Gulch. The fox visited us tonight on our porch!

12/23

We had billy barr over for tea and cinnamon rolls. It felt like a HUGE accomplishment to get him to come out! And all 3 of us had a good time. He has such interesting stories and knowledge of the old days at Gothic and is funny to boot.

12/24

We skied out for Christmas Eve to Crested Butte. We went to a church service with my mom, bro, and Ellis. Then we all went to my brother's house where we had a Christmas Eve party with amazing food (artichoke dip, meatballs, shrimp bisque) and very potent cocktails. Steiny, Chris Miller, and Cheese were also there. We played some games: That's what she said and catch phrase. We skied back home under Christmas Eve starlight.

12/25

I did the weather station work, and then we skied back into Crested Butte in a beautiful snow storm. We met at Zach and Mary's where we had brunch and opened gifts. We eventually moved over to mom's condo in Skyland where we had delicious--as always--fondue. We then went to the hot tub and then watched a new Christmas Movie (That Christmas). Zach and Mary headed home, but we stayed the night.

12/26

We hit the hot tub in the morning and then had a chill morning at mom's condo before heading back to Mt CB to pick up Zach, Mary, and Ellis to ski into Gothic. Under snowy skies, I pulled in a big sled full of everyone's stuff (including Ellis' oxygen tanks), and Zach carried Ellis, and we all skied into Gothic on fresh snow.

For dinner we had dhal curry and we played farkle. Then we all snuggled up by the Christmas tree and snow village lights and watched Armageddon.

12/27

With 12 or so inches of fresh powder, bro and I skinned up the north side of Gothic mountain to ski Gothic's north cirque. It was awesome!! Then I took mom on a xc ski tour of Gothic, where we of course ran into billy. We had yummy ramen for dinner. It snowed most of the day and night.

12/28

I gave everyone a small recital of Christmas songs I had been learning on the piano: Oh come all ye faithful, oh holy night, joy to the world, silent night, and oh come oh come emmanuel. Then bro and Elisha and I skied 2 laps on Snodgrass in really deep powder. So deep it was actually hard to move on the lower angle stuff. We then met mom, Mary, and Ellis and skied out to Crested Butte.

We went to Nicky and cousin Emma's to watch the end of the Broncos' game (they lost in OT) and to watch the Buffs' bowl game against BYU (they unfortunately got creamed)

Afterwards, Elisha and I skied back to Gothic in a snowstorm.

12/29

I did 3 powder laps on Snodgrass. We had a most beautiful sunset!

12/30

We skied a lap below Avery Peak. A funny thing. We left a little bit of sardine juice out in a sardine can for our friend the fox. She ate the juice and then left a little poo right in the can. haha. We had left a little salmon out before, and she had also dropped a little nugget for us right by where we had put the salmon. If you've got nothing else to give, well then, I guess that's a good gift

12/31 New Year's Eve

We skied a lap below Avery peak on a very cold (-10F) and windy day.

“We never tire of each other, the mountain and I” – Lao Tzu