Twas the Night Before Christmas: Aspen Snowmass Style

 

For those not familiar with some skiing terms

-bomb = ski fast

-microwave = very shiny ski outfit (check out microwaves of Aspen Instagram account for a good laugh

-tele = abbr for telemarking (free-heal skiing)

-6-pack is not only the showing of abdominal muscles, but a chair lift that holds 6 people

-schussing = another word for skiing

-C-punched = ski down the center

-kicker = jump

Twas the Night Before Christmas, Aspen-Snowmass Style

Twas the night before Christmas when all through Snowmass,

A blizzard was raging, it flew down from the pass.

The collective was sanitized with the greatest of care

In hopes all the elves soon would be there.

The lights in the selfie-den illuminated such style,

And cameras were at the ready to capture every smile.

Irresistible smells wafted from the plates of Mix Six,

And drinks from moxie bar were ready for a cold night’s fix.

The ice on the skate rink shimmered from a fresh buff,

While the game room sat waiting for the sporty and tough.

And ‘Lisha in her fleece, and I in my goose down,

Were about to clock-out after completing our last roun’.

When out by the gondola there arose such a clatter,

I sprinted up the stairs to see what was the matter.

I pushed open the doors like an angry brown bear,

And nearly choked on the frosty and oh so frigid air.

Christmas lights shining through powder laden trees,

Softly lit the plaza, adding a sparkle to my skis.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a gleaming snowcat piled high with ski gear.

With a little old driver so lively and gleesome,

I knew in an instant it was Santa the ski bum!

He pulled out a map and pointed to a run,

“I can’t wait to bomb this, it’s gonna be fun!

How ‘bout Ruthie’s or Walsh’s, Sneaky’s or Free Fall?

I’ll try Tiehack or Teaser, Kesslers or Big Wall

To the top of the lift, to the top of the peak,

Ski the trees, the chutes, and the pow, ‘til you’re weak”

As snowflakes that before a blizzard do fly,

When they meet with the jet stream, mount up to the sky.

So up to chair 2 the snowcat did skid,

And out jumped St. Nick as though he were a kid.

And then in a twinkling, I heard on the run,

The laughing and giggling of that chubby ski bum.

As I peered up the slope and was turning around,

Down the moguls came St. Nick, hardly touching the ground.

He was dressed as a microwave from his head to his toe,

All in great effort to keep out the snow.

An avalanche kit he had flung on his back,

And a cookie or two stuffed deep in his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled, that gleam—how merry,

Despite being masked up, he was the farthest from scary.

His long, wavy hair peeked out through a beanie,

His après ski beverage, surely a martini.

Slightly bent poles he held tight in his mitts,

With freshies below how did he control his wits?

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

The result of too much beer and giving up tele.

The closest he would get to approaching a six-pack,

Would be the big burn lift, way out in the back

His turns were so fluid, his style top shelf,

And I clapped and I “whooped” in spite of myself.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Told me he was jonesing to get out and shred.

He spoke not a word, but pointed straight down the hill,

And soon he was schussing with incredible skill.

Champagne powder flew straight in his face,

As he navigated the terrain of this magical place.

He C-punched a bowl, then glided through glades,

And found powder pillows near the frozen cascades.

He lined up a kicker and picked up his pace,

And he sailed high in the air, zooming towards space.

But I heard him exclaim ere he flew out of sight,

“Corona virus sucks, please mask up tonight!”

[Happy Christmas to all, and please mask up tonight]

Glaciers: Enchantments and Glacier National Park

 8/13

We drove to Leavenworth, WA and camped up icicle creek road at a great campsite with lots of shade and a little creek running right by our tent. We are in the area to hang out and hike with Conrad & Whitney, Chad & Kristy, and Hanna. They are all staying in a fancy condo.

8/14

Up at 5am to start the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Enchantments hike. Incredibly beautiful. Glaciers, jagged peaks, streams, and lakes everywhere! The density of alpine lakes was just crazy. So beautiful. We did lots of swimming and rock jumping. We also climbed up Little Annapurna. From the summit we had amazing views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Glacier Peak, and Mt. Baker. Additionally we looked down upon the lakes of the Enchantments core area. Pizza and margaritas for our recovery dinner.

8/15

Tubed with the group down the Icicle River in Leavenworth. Lots of fun! Visited with Cory and Chandra who we met in Antarctica our first seasons but now live in Leavenworth. They were both mountaineers in McM. Now Cory is a Physician's Assistant and Chandra teaches NOLS courses as well as studies the desert tortoises in Nevada.

8/16

Had a picnic with Jeff and Kiersy along the Wenatchee River above Leavenworth. We spent the night at Kiersy's parents' house in Wenatchee. 

8/24

Drove to Kalispell. Bob and Leslie are selling their house, so it would be the last time we'd be staying there. It was at this house that we held our pre-wedding reception. Very smoky. 

8/25

Up really early. Elisha and Sue drove me up to Logan Pass so that I could hike the Floral Park Traverse. Even with some smoke, it was so beautiful! The route started by going up to the Hidden Lake overlook, then down to hidden lake, then up a pass between Hidden Lake and Avalanche Lake, then down to Mary Baker Lake, then up to the Sperry Glacier melt pool area, then up to Sperry Glacier, then up Comeau Pass, then down towards Sperry Chalet via Gem Lake, Akaiyan Lake, and Feather Woman Lake, and eventually finishing at Lake McDonald. Along the way I saw lots of wildflowers, a black bear, bighorn sheep rams, goat kids, deer fawn, and lots of turquoise tarns. The glacial tarns were such and otherworldly blue! Gorgeous. I walked on the Sperry Glacier and into an ice cave. There were waterfalls all around (including one on the glacier). 

When I finished at Lake McDonald and met back up with Sue and Elisha, I went for a swim and then we had burgers along the lakeshore. Sue and Elisha and hiked up to the Hidden Lake overlook and also a bit of the Siyeh pass trail. They also floated part of the river

Summer in Montana

 7/2 

We went to the Noxon Reservoir camp. There were deep puddles and mud on the road, but the suby made it.

7/3

Hung out at the camp

7/4 Independence Day

Hiked up to Engle Peak and then performed a cool and tricky ridge traverse to Flattop Mountain. According to the summit log, I was the 1st person there ins 2016 and only the 11th since 2006. I then went cross-country to get to Engle Lake. From the peaks there were nice views of several lakes, including Wanless Lake.

7/5

Hiked to Rock Lake, which was very beautiful

7/9-7/10

Anniversary backpacking trip to Upper Cedar Lake with Elisha. Beautiful but TONS of mosquitos. Hung out in hammocks by the lake, hiked up above the lake, and built a big fire to keep the mosquitos at bay

7/10

Went to CDA to meet up with my brother and get a new timing belt for my car. Slept in my car at Elisha's cousin's (Henry) house. 

7/11

We had breakfast at the Frank's house with the Strunks. We were practicing social distancing b/c one of Elisha's friends that she had gone to a baby shower with had been exposed to covid. So we decided to protect the Franks and Strunks not to go on the boat with them. Turns out we later learned that Whitney and then Conrad tested positive for Covid and that the hangover feel Whitney had felt that morning was in fact covid.

So Elisha, bro, and I went cliff jumping at Tubbs hill. We had an outside dinner with Tom and Hannah (delicious). We heard gunshots during our dinner and found out there had been a shooting at a bar downtown. Slept in the suby again

7/12

Bro and I biked the CDA Mtn mountain bike trail that I love. We had dinner in Heron, and then we drove to Libby and slept in the car at the train station as bro had a 4ish a.m. train to catch to Kalispell

7/13

Hiked up to Granite Lake. Super beautiful!!

7/14

Started quarantining because we heard that Whitney tested positive for Covid. We almost bought a Sprinter van, but then decided against it.

7/18

Watched a beautiful sunset from a viewpoint over Lake Pend O'reille and also watched Comet Neowise, which was very cool

7/19

Drove to the Kalispell area and slept in the suby with a view of Neowise comet

7/20

Biked a cool alpine trail with my brother, part of the alpine 7 trail. There were beautiful flowers and views! There were also lakes and a waterfall we jumped into. There was still quite a bit of snow crossings. It was a challenging trail of 31 miles. Zach's girlfriend Mary was running a 29 mile trail but got lost and ran 36 miles, so she was late. We were worried, but they showed up right as we were calling Search and Rescue. We are staying in a pop-up camper trailer at the Nolan's (Mary's parents) place in West Glacier

7/21

Started the morning waking up to a black bear ripping up a stump outside of our camper trailer. After a nice breakfast, we headed to the big bridge that goes over the middle fork of the flathead river in order to jump off it into the icy water.

Then Zach, Mary, Elisha, and I drove up to Logan Pass and hiked up to show my brother where Elisha and I had gotten married as he sadly wasn't able to attend the wedding. Then we hiked along Reynolds Ridge and climbed to the summit of Reynolds Peak. Super stunning and amazing views from the top! Looking down at all the jagged peaks from up high. Glaciers in the distance as well as lakes. We saw many goats and even some bighorn rams. 

On the way down from Reynolds, we heard someone yelling for help. We ran to him. He (Chase from North Carolina) told us his friend had fallen off the cliffs towards Hidden Lake while trying to retrieve a backpack (that they had dropped several days ago). Elisha and Zach ran back up towards the summit to get cell service and call 911. Mary and I ran to try to find the fallen hiker (a young man named Josh from Kansas, age 20). I found the backpack but could not locate Josh. We determined he must have fallen off the top cliff band and then rolled down the short, steep grassy slope before falling down the bottom cliff band to near the lake's edge. We relayed this info back up to Zach who made sure they brought the helicopter in. Elisha during this time was told to hike back towards the visitor center to intercept the NP SAR team. She ran into some additional drama: a grizzly had been seen on the trail. We were alerted of the accident around 7:10pm and the helicopter arrived around 9pm with not much light in the day remaining. We watched the helicopter search until it was pretty clear they had found Josh. We finished the hike up in the dark. 

Later we found that the helicopter did find the body where we had predicted, but unfortunately Josh had passed away. 

We got back really late, but thankfully Mrs. Nolan had made us delicious taco salads.

7/22

Zach and I biked a nice trail on Desert Mountain. Then we all took canoes and paddle boards to lake McDonald and floated down McDonald Creek. For dinner we cooked a bit Thai feast.

7/23

Elisha and I hiked up Goat Peak. It had beautiful views and we walked through a gorgeous basin full of wildflowers! The steep view down to the lakes below was very impressive

On our way back down Going-to-the-Sun Road, while in our car, we saw a mama bear and 2 cute cubs, just feet away. So cute! They were just a few feet from us!

Back in West Glacier we visited Elisha's colleague from Antarctica, Lonnie

7/24

Drove back to Heron after buying Michael Bestwick's bike. Fish Fry and frisbee beer bottle game at the Kaysers

7/25

The sardine can festival hosted by the neighbors

7/28

I drove back to Glacier National Park. I climbed Pollock Peak with Greg and Zach. A beautiful sunset from the alpine.

7/29

I hiked from Jackson Glacier overlook to Gunsight Lake up to Gunsight Pass. Stunning! So many flowers and such a beautiful day!! And the lake really sparkled below. I then hiked up to Jackson Glacier and walked up on the glacier. So much water running everywhere! This dream world of waterfalls and streams. Lots of mosquitos on the walk back to the car, but also tons of huckleberries. A really amazing day! ~25 miles in total

7/30

Easy hike to Stanton Lake. Chilled, read, and swam at Lake McDonald

7/31

Hiked up Iceberg Peak with Mary. Super steep. Stunning views! Especially down to turquoise Iceberg Lake with it's brilliant white icebergs floating in it. Ran into a large group of bighorn sheep. Along the North Highlight trail there were so, so, so, so many flowers. Definitely the most wildflowers I've ever seen outside of the big hitters in Colorado. It was also incredibly hot. We saw where a bear at recently tried to roll around in a snowfield to probably cool off. Near the end of the hike we just sat under a waterfall to cool off. In the evening we had Sweet Peaks ice cream in Whitefish

8/1

Drove to Libby and did a hike in the Cabinets. HIked up to the lower lake in Hanging Valley. I went for a swim, and I was surprised at how warm it was. I then went up to the upper lake in Hanging Valley. Lots of huckleberries! I then bushwhacked to gain the top of the ridge above hanging valley and sky lakes. TONS of mosquitos! Crazy. From there I hiked a bit to a high point on the ridge for views. Next I descended down a steep avalanche chute to reach upper sky lake. As it was still super hot, I went for a dip. It was then another bushwhack to get to lower sky lake. I finished the 18ish mile hike right at dark. Slept in the car at Cedar Creek TH.

8/2

Short hike up Cedar Creek trail to a huge patch of thimbleberries. Thimbleberries are my very favorite of the berries. Spent time reading by the Clark Fork River

8/6

Elish and I drove to the Cabinet Wilderness and slept in the suby at Lake Creek Trailhead

8/7

Hiked to Lower and Upper Geiger lakes and then up lost buck pass for views down to Wanless Lake. Not the warmest day, but still went for a swim in Lower Geiger Lake. Way too windy at the upper lake to think about swimming.

Back in Heron, we had a Kazakhstan style dinner party for Sue's birthday

Roadtrip from Colorado to Montana

 6/8/20

We left Estes Park in the morning and drove to Thermopolis, Wyoming where my advisor Todd and his wife Christina live. They have this really sweet property right on the Bighorn River with a nice yard and lots of trees. They live in a small 5th wheel trailer, but they have an awesome covered porch where they cook and do their computer work. It's a pretty sweet setup. He calls it the TroutHog Ranch. His place in Gainesville is called the PRT (People's Republic of Toad). 

We had delicious steaks and free-flowing fresh margaritas. We had a lot of fun talking and hanging out. He had set up a tent for us along the river, which we slept in

6/9/20

We drove to Teton National Park. Going over the pass, there was fresh snow. We drove to Jenny Lake and did a short walk, but it was kind of cloudy. We drove through Jackson and on to Pocatello to see Lucas.

6/10/20

Elisha and I went to the zoo with Sari and the kids (Theo, Hudson, and Griffin). In the afternoon I went for a mountain bike ride into the foothills with Lucas. It was great chatting

6/11/20

We drove to Heron via Salmon

Our cabana at the Trouthog Ranch

Todd and Christina's office

Social Distance dining

Our accommodation at the Stringfields

Early Days in Montana and the Guysers visit the Geysers of Yellowstone

 6/12-6/23

Spent the first couple of weeks hanging around Heron. I did do some hikes however.

-I hiked up to Scotchman's Peak in Idaho and climbed another nearby mountain. Did some fun snow glissading

-Hiked up to lower and upper cedar lakes then up to Dome Mtn. There was lots of snow and beautiful views of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness from the top of Dome Mtn. Bushwhacked up to the top of Grambaeur mountain. It was quite a challenge with the snow and bushwhacking. Then hiked the Gramauer Ridge. Occasionally a trail here and there. Climbed Scenery Peak, then it was back down on the trail down to the car. A great day! About 23 miles in total

-Hiked with Elisha to the gorgeous Leigh Lake at the base of the Cabinet Wilderness' tallest peak, Snowshoe Peak

6/24/20

Drove to Yellowstone National Park. Camping at Madison CG. S'mores and brats for dinner. It's a nice campground by the river.

6/25/20

We visited the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. W went to many viewpoints of the canyon and the 2 big waterfalls. The waterfalls were super impressive with all the water and their force. We also took a beautiful hike to point Sublime, along the super colorful canyon with the raging river below. We also hiked down into the canyon and took another hike to the "brink of the upper falls"

After lunch we went to Norris Geyser basin, which was really cool and is home to the tallest geyser in the world (Steamboat Geyser). The Norris Geyser basin had lots of springs and bubbling areas, and we witnessed Veterans (I think was the name) Geyser erupt. Next we visited an area called Artists Paintpots, which was an area full of bubbling mud. Back at camp we walked to the river before enjoying a Thai dinner by the fire.

6/26/20

We first drove on the Firehole Lake Drive and saw white dome geyser erupt. It was really cool. We raced in the car to get there. We then visited Midway Geyser basin with the unbelievably beautiful Grand Prismatic spring that is multicolored like a rainbow, and the steam rising has the colors of a prism. We then hiked up to a very impressive viewpoint on the Grand Prismatic spring! 

We had lunch along a meadow and then visited Biscuit Basin where there were some gorgeous pools and where we saw a cool geyser erupt several times. Next we headed over to Lower Geyser Basin. In this basin there were some pretty pools and bubbling mud as well as a really fun geyser, spasm geyser.

Next we headed over to the Old Faithful area (Upper Geyser Basin). We watched old faithful, which was cool and of course a must do. We then walked the Geyser hill area and saw some stunning pools. We got super lucky and saw Grand Geyser erupt. It was so impressive and powerful!! It's the tallest predictable geyser in the world. We also saw sever other smaller geysers in that area erupt, including spasmodic geyser, tardy geyser, and penta geyser. We then finished the trail through the upper geyser basin that goes along the Firehole River (what a great name!). So many geysers! Many with cool "towers" such as Castle Geyser and Grotto Geyser. And we had a good chuckle at the name economical geyser. There were also many gorgeous pools including the cleverly named "beauty pool". The most wondrous of the pools was Morning Glory pool. On the way back we saw the Lion geyser group erupt. 

Next we started the drive to Yellowstone Lake. We stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin, which was cool because it was along the lake. The lake was so calm with a backdrop of snowy mountains. There were also several elk in the thermal area, including some cute calves. We then drove along the lake shore until we arrived at our camp: Bridge Bay

6/27

Our first stop today was the mud volcano area, which had really impressive bubbling mud and some fieresome roiling areas. Next we went to the Mammoth Springs area. We first walked the upper terrace oop, then the lower terrace loop. There was the beautiful canary spring and some cool red terraces, including Painted Terraces. We had lunch at Arch Park below Teddy Roosevelt's large entrance arch. There were 7 cute elk calves in the area. We walked a bit through Gardiner, MT, had ice cream, and took a shower.

In the afternoon we drove to the Lamar Valley. What an amazing afternoon we had there! We saw black bears at to separate locations, saw 2 grizzlies together up on a ridge, lots of pronghorn, and hundreds and hundreds of bison. We also saw a wolf pack in the far distance feeding on a bison carcass. Later, right before darkness fell across the land, we saw a black wolf harassing (and in return being chased) a bison. We got back to camp really late

6/28

We went back to the Old Faithful area. Saw Old Faithful erupt again as well as the Beehive Geyser at the same time. The Beehive geyser was pretty cool as it was a powerful and noisy jet of water. I then walked the basin trail in the rain (Elisha stayed back at the lodge to get a coffee) and then saw Daisy Geyser erupt (I had to run to make it in time as it erupted earlier than predicted). 

I had a strong memory of a spooky geyser from our trip as a family when we visited Yellowstone for Christmas. Bro and I had skied up to it. We were sitting next to this quiet pool surrounded by thick forest and deep snow when all of a sudden the pool produced a huge bubble. Well, I hiked up to Solitary Geyser and watched it's bubble eruption, and I'm 99.9% sure that's the geyser I remember from my childhood. On the way back down to meet Elisha at the car, I witnessed Old Faithful erupt yet again.

We had a lunch of ramen under the porch of the lodge as it was still drizzling. After lunch, we walked back out to see Riverside Geyser erupt, and we were again lucky to see Grand Geyser erupt again (and after a brief pause, and awesome and powerful encore).

There are a handful of large geysers that can be reliably predicted +/- 90ish minutes, which makes it possible to time when to see them (ex. grand, riverside, daisy). Other geysers erupt quite regularly, so if you just wait for a bit you'll see them (they are typically smaller ones), and then there are geysers that aren't predictable and some whose last eruption could have been 2 years ago (like steamboat geyser)

Next we visited Black Sand Basin, which had some nice pools and a couple erupting geysers, including the cool cliff geyser that kept on erupting. We got back to camp early for fire, beer, and jiffy pop. It then started to rain, but we sat by the fire all the same.

6/29/20

It poured rain all night, and it was very cold in the morning. A Chinese-American couple in the spot next to us, couldn't get their fire started and thus couldn't cook, so we boiled some water on our stove for them so they could make their noodles. We drove to some of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone vistas again---in the snow! 

After leaving Yellowstone, we drove to Missoula via Big Sky and had dinner with Elisha's friend Hannah.

Great Sand Dunes, Royal Gorge, Cañon City, and Garden of the Gods

 6/2/20

Drove to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Camped at a cool campsite looking down on the San Luis Valley and the Sand Dunes with 14ers all around. Took a short hike up to Zapata Falls, which still had ice inside. Had a nice campfire as we gazed upon the sunset

6/3/20

We drove to the town of Blanca where had had breakfast burritos. We then hiked up High Dune within the National Park. It was very surreal with the dunes extending all around and snowy 14ers surrounding the dunes. And then the creek flowing through the base of the dunes was one big beach scene with people and their umbrellas, castle building equipment, and boogie boards. After hiking around in the dunes, we took a trip to Alamosa for shopping and ice cream. 

In the afternoon we went back up High Dune to see the dune shadows and the sunset and have a beer in the sand. We had dinner in the National Park, and then I hiked up by full moon into the dunes again. It was really cool b/c the moon was so bright on the dunes you definitely didn't need a torch.

6/4/20

In the morning we rented sand boards and did some sand boarding. We then drove the Cañon City via Westfield. We REALLY liked Westfield and they had cheap property...  We had ice cream in Cañon City and then drove up the canyon above Cañon City to camp on BLM land. We watched the full moon rise, which was beautiful

6/5/20

We took a little hike in the canyon that had explanations of the fossils and dinosaur bones found in the area. It's famous for the dinosaur skeletons found in the area.

We then visited the Royal Gorge and Royal Gorge Bridge. The gorge is very impressive. It's so deep and such a long way down to the Arkansas River below that walking on the bridge is a bit nerve wracking. Crossing back across the gorge, we took the gondola as it was included in the (over)priced admission fee.

We then drove to Colorado Springs where we met Elisha's friend Sara at the Garden of the Gods for a social distancing picnic lunch. Elisha went to college with her, and Sara lived in Jordan and France previously. After our lunch, Elisha and I hiked through the beautiful geologic formations of the area. 

Ever wonder how Garden of the Gods got its name?  Well here is the story according to their website

"It was August of 1859 when two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite, soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. M. S. Beach, who related this incident, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden" when the country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a "young and poetic man", exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." It has been so called ever since."

When we got back to Estes, Zach was there. The next day we went golfing. I, sadly, hit a goose straight in the head with a fast 3-wood drive. Zach had it all on film. We ended that night playing trivial pursuit.

The following day, Mom, Zach, Elisha, and I drove over Trail Ridge Road. We had #mimosaswithjudy on top of the pass. In Grand Lake we rented a motor boat to go around the lake, had ice cream, and hung out on the swings at Grand Lake Lodge. Back in Estes we had Thai Take-out.

Sand Dunes by night

Zapata Falls

Sand boarding

sand boarding

West Cliffe

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