Guatemala: In search of nature's fireworks

 10/31 Halloween

We didn't do too much. Got the tail end of the town trick or treating

11/1 Dia de los muertos

Went to work really early to work on rounds, then drove to Denver. Halfway up Cottonwood Pass, I realized I'd forgotten my passport! So sped back in the CB direction and Tom grabbed it and drove towards us, meeting up a bit past CB South. Ended up making it to DIA no problem.

We had an Aeromexico flight to Mexico CIty. Took the air train to the other terminal and then it was a short walk to our hostal. Then took the subway downtown to meet up with Chris Fahrenholz (and acquaintance from Antarctica, year 1). We met a the famous Mariachi square for tacos. As you would expect, there were mariachis playing. As it was Dia de los Muertos (Day of the dead), there were so many costumed people. They have more of a death theme to their costumes than us though. The traditional face painting costumes were really cool. There were lots of kids out like U.S. trick or treating. 

After dinner we went to Zocalo, the main square, where the presidential palace, main (giant) cathedral, and other colonial buildings reside. Also in the area is templo mayor, an old Aztec temple (ruin). On this day, even late a night, there were crowds of people for the holiday. In the square, there were offerings and fancily decorated stations for each Mexican state arranged in a circle. And also, most stunningly, were these giant women skeletons dressed up in traditional clothing looking over the square. We took an uber back to the hostal as the subway closed at midnight. There were "bomb" noises going off all night...fireworks.

11/2

Morning flight to Guatemala City. Then from there we took a small plain to Flores. The plane was decorated for Dia de los Muertos and then had a special skeleton cake for the airplane snack. After we arrived, we got in a shuttle for the drive to our lodge in Tikal; however, 10 minutes into the drive, the driver got a call that the national park was closing due to hurricane Lisa's approach. So we were driven to its sister lodge in the small town of Flores. We spent a bunch of time on the internet trying to figure things out and what to do so that we could still see Tikal. We also moved to a nice hospedaje on the 4th floor of a building with a nice terrace. We went for a traditional lunch and cocktails before the storm was to hit. It started raining hard now. 

We spent a lot of time doing business, trying to figure out what to do and trying to cancel and change flights. Not much luck cancelling and not sure when the park would open up again. We had tacos for dinner and cocktails on a rooftop terrace restaurant overlooking the lake. While here we booked 2 sets of flights (24 hours to cancel). We then found out the great news that the park would be opening on Friday. We celebrated with more tacos and ice cream. Rain and wind picked up overnight. 

11/3

The storm had passed. We had a nice and big lakeside breakfast, then we explored Flores. It's a tiny little island on a fairly large lake. (It was cool flying in over it the previous day). It has colonial style architecture and narrow, cobbled streets. We walked up to a viewpoint at the center of the island, where we saw a student using a typewriter! We then took the bridge off the island to the shopping center off the island to buy our national park tickets. Back in Flores we had smoothies on a rooftop terrace. Then we caught our shuttle to Tikal. 

After we arrived to our cool jungle lodge, we took a walk in the jungle where we saw some gators, turtles, lizards, frogs, and tropical birds. We're staying at a cool lodge in the jungle on the site of the ancient city of Tikal. We went to the pool and then had cocktails before watching a Mayan documentary video in the theater and having dinner.

11/4

Before dawn we woke up for the sunrise tour of the Tikal ruins. It was eerie to see the ruins in the mist by flashlight while the howler monkeys cried and woke the jungle up. We climbed up Templo IV (?) in the dark to watch the dawn arrive and the sunrise. From the top, above the trees, we could hear the jungle animals wake up. We could see various temple pyramids in the distance that were often shrouded in the morning mist as the sun rose. We finished the morning tour with the guide by going to the main acropolis. We had the whole place to ourselves, especially when we stayed there after the tour left. We walked around the whole place by ourselves. We were pretty much alone at each complex. This was one of the benefits of staying at the lodge is you had the whole morning in Tikal to yourself before the tourists groups from Flores arrived in the later morning. 

We saw coati (sorta similar to racoon I guess), spider monkeys, and 2 species of toucans. When the other tour group arrived, we headed back to the lodge for a packed lunch and a dip in the pool to cool off. After lunch we explored some of the more distant complexes. During our time there we climbed lots of the structures including Templo # ??. Templo V was really cool!

We had a quick swim before our shuttle back to Flores and then flight to Guatemala City. Had a bit of trouble getting an uber to Antigua, so we ended up taking a taxi. Traffic was just terrible in Guatemala City and the short distance to Antigua took forever. We had dinner upon arrival at a local taco spot near our airbnb.

11/5

Our airbnb is on the outskirts of the old central town of Antigua. It has a little deck with views of Agua volcano. It's a cute little apartment. In the morning we walked around the city, but first stopped on our way for pastries and a drink at a nice cafe. It's an old colonial city (maybe capital at some point)with cobbled streets and colorful buildings. We strolled down to the plaza central, the market (got some fruits that were new to me as well as lychee and baby bananas). We of course got smoothies and ice cream and had a local lunch. We visited the famous archway over a street near the main plaza which frames the Agua volcano. Nuns used the arch to move from one building to building without having to be on the street where they would be seen by other people. One other thing worth noting is that even the fast food chain places are really fancy, like taco bell. But the one that stood out the most was starbucks. It was by far the fanciest starbucks we've ever seen. In fact locals were there getting their bridal pictures there. Because of how fancy it was, we did stop in so Elisha could get a drink and tell her applehill girls about it via video. During the day we were also walking around checking out various volcano tours because one of the main reasons for going to Guatemala was to climb Volcan Acatenango and watch Volcan Fuego erupt. 

At night we watched a dia de los muertos/semana santa (holy week) procession around the main square. It was pretty impressive, and everyone was given candles. We had some street food, but then went to dinner at a taco place.

11/6

We started our Acatenango volcano tour with Ox Adventures. We had breakfast as a group at a boutique restaurant, which had a view of Agua volcano through one of its windows (from Antigua Agua volcano is the big dominating volcano, but you can also see Fuego and Acatenango). We then drove to the trailhead where we were given walking sticks and started the hike up.

It was a steep and straight up hike. We went through different ecotypes such as cloud forest, pine, and alpine. It was beautiful and there were flowers everywhere (where are we, in Crested Butte!?). We hiked through the clouds and then the clouds rose above us and we were hiking a bit in the rain. We arrived to camp where we would all would be nestled into cool little huts that were clinging to the side of the mountain. Each hut had 5 sleeping mats laid shoulder to shoulder and had a big window to view Volcan Fuego. It started to clear a bit so that we could see Fuego and its ash eruptions and of course hear the BOOMS. 

After a bit of a rest, we hiked down to the saddle between Acatenango and Fuego, and then up the Fuego ridge on the other side to watch the sunset and Fuego erupt. AMAZING!! We could see the eruption up close, and as it got darker, we started to see the glowing lava in the eruption. It was also lightning all around from distant thunderheads. And we even had the amazing luck of seeing a meteor fly over the volcano as it was erupting that lasted a really long time, so that everyone saw it. It was all so cool and powerful. Fog rolled in and out as we were up there. While watching the "show", the guides passed out wine that we had all carried up..well, I had certainly been tasked with carrying 2 of the bottles b/c they figured I was one of the more fit mtn climbers. As part of the tour everyone had been assigned to carry some sorts of food items up for the group. We stayed past dark and then headed on the hike back to camp.

At camp we sat by the fire and watched the lava eruptions from Fuego (fuego = fire in Spanish) and drank hot cocoa (chilly at that elevation of roughly 11,000 feet). Most folks went to bed, but Elisha and I stayed by the fire watching the volcano and shared in some local tacos with the guides.

When we retired to the hut, I stayed up the entire night watching the eruptions, save for about an hour while it rained. Sometimes there would be really huge eruptions that came with a corresponding very loud boom that would wake people. I remember during the hour that I slept, one such boom occurred and it caused me to wake up and sit up in a start. 

11/7

We got up at 3:30 a.m. to begin the climb up to the summit of Acatenango volcano. As we hiked up the slopes, there were many HUGE eruptions. We reached the summit (13,045 ft) to watch the sunrise and look down at Volcan Fuego erupting. On top there were great 360 degree views of many volcanoes, the enormous Lago (Lake) Atitlan, and even Antigua and Guatemala City. It's hard to describe how cool it was to look down on Fuego as it erupted and seeing the lava come shooting upwards and in a sense towards us.

There was a wide trail around the crater rim that went up and down as it circumnavigated the crater and was maybe 1/3 of a mile in circumference. As is tradition they do a race around the crater. If you're able to run the entire way without walking or stopping, you are given a free t-shirt. This can be challenging due to the elevation, terrain, and ups and downs. At the start of the "gun" people took off really fast, but I have a knowledge of how altitude works and started off at a more gradual pace. Eventually I passed everyone on the rather steep middle climb portion and won the race. In fact, I was only 20 seconds off the record, which I think I might have been able to do if I had really pushed it. 

After the race we took one last look and then descended down to camp by "skiing" straight down through the black lava sand. At camp we were treated to a big and delicious breakfast as the fog started to rise up to camp level. Then it was the long slog back to the trailhead and shuttle ride to Antigua. We had lunch at a tipico Guatemala restaurant and walked around a bit. We picked up our rental car for the next day and then had drinks on a rooftop bar looking down on the streets of Antigua and out at the 3 volcanoes. Then of course a taco dinner.

11/8

Drove the little rental car to Lago Atitlan. The roads were pretty crazy with all their up and down and winding around. And driving through a few of the towns was pretty challenging due to one-way roads and such. At one point a sign said "puente destruido" (bridge destroyed), so we had to ford a small river in the little car. 

The lake is a giant old caldera. We stopped at the rim to take photos and take in the vista. We then drove down to Panajachel town where we parked and had breakfast. We then caught a ferry boat to San Pablo village. From there we took a public truck shuttle to Santa Clara village. From here we started the Indian Nose trek. The trail climbed steeply up Indian Nose mountain (looks like an Indian head from a distance) arriving at fantastic views of the lake and surrounding volcanoes. It was then a very steep and long downhill hik to San Juan Village located on the lake shore. Along the way we stopped at a much lower viewpoint where there were quite a few local tourists and some nice painted murals on the ground. From here there was a good view of the Indian Nose. We then took a tuk-tuk to San Pedro village. We had lunch here and then walked around the village before hopping back on a dusk boat to Panajachel. On the lake we had beautiful views of Acatenango and erupting Fuego as well as other volcanoes. 

Drove in the night back to Antigua where I went out and got street tacos.

11/9

I took an early morning walk through Antigua. It was super clear this morning. I texted Elisha to come out and we met up on a rooftop cafe to enjoy breakfast and views of Agua, Acatenango and erupting Fuego volcanoes. After breakfast we did more walking around Antigua. We stopped in a shop for chocolate tasting and then went to the market for shopping for gifts. We had a tipico guatemala meal in the market for lunch. 

In the evening we hiked up to Cerro Cruz (mountain cross) for views looking down at Antigua and up at Agua Volcano. We treated ourselves that night to a yummy Indian dinner.

11/10

3:30am shuttle to Guatemala city to avoid the traffic. We used our Star Alliance lounge pass from a credit card bonus to hang out in the nice airport lounge. Plenty of food as well as cocktails (Mimosas and White Russians) all for free. And then, as is the them of Guatemala, out the window you could watch the planes and then Agua, Acatenango, and steaming Fuego in the background. 

Flight to LA in which we had some nice views of the volcanoes as we flew past them (as well as a big Mexican volcano). Then from LA we flew to Denver where we stayed the night at Nate Dub's place.

Spring in Crested Butte and Gothic (and trips: Page, AZ, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs, A-basin)

 In the spring, the road to Gothic is still closed. And it becomes a guessing game and something on everyone's mind: When will the road open? We got some crazy dust events that brought in thick red dust from the Yuma, AZ area that helps met the snow much quicker as it lower the albedo of snow. The resort may be closed, but the skiing is still really good! And with safer avalanche conditions, steeper runs can be had, so I skied down from the top of several peaks. And of course there was still lots of powder to come. So while in Gothic, I was still backcountry skiing nearly ever day. And at the AOS, to get to the site, I'd still have to skin up. Through most of the spring I could skin up from our condo, but later in the spring I'd have to skin up from the Prospect parking area. Everyday after work, I'd then skin up paradise bowl or the headwall to for a few laps.

As the snow starts to melt around Gothic, water flows everywhere. We have a couple little streams going by the cabin, including one that is like a cascade out the window. Beautiful and nice to hear the rushing water.

5/24

The road to Gothic opened!

5/25

Elisha and I hosted a road opening party at our place where everyone got to drive to our place (instead of ski). It was a totcho bar and was a big success.

4/18

Skied up to Schofield pass. The Schofield pass sign was of course buried under snow     

4/20

Finished my lego snowcat that Elisha had given me

4/21

Found that our resident Pine Marten had managed sneak into the Gothic dumpster

4/25

Really good powder day where I got laps in before and after work

4/26

Another really big powder day. I was off so I got to ski a couple laps on the peak behind Gothic

4/27

Powder day again, and I ended up doing laps up on closed CBMR (paradise bowl and headwall)

4/29

Brunch at the marmoteers' (marmot researchers who had just arrived) cabin. 

4/30

Hiked up Copper Canyon a bit. Saw a couple beavers in the ponds that are starting to melt out

5/5

Skinned up and skied down a peak to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Cinco de KK (Elisha's birthday)

Trip to Page, Arizona

5/9

Drove to Page, AZ over Lizardhead Pass and past the 4 corners. We're camping in a campsite inside the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, near the shores of Lake Powell. Our campsite has nice views of Lake Powell and the surrounding rock formations.

5/10

Drove into Utah and hiked the Wire Pass and Buckskin slot canyons (in the location near to the famous Wave...we tried for permits but couldn't get them). The slot canyons were really beautiful and quite narrow in places. We saw some desert superblooms from all the moisture of the winter. On our way home we stopped at this area called the Toadstools, which was really cool with these unique rock formations that looked like Toadstools

5/11

Hiked out to the exhilarating views of Horseshoe Bend created by the blue Colorado River thousands of feet below.

Took a tour of the infamous Upper Antelope Canyon. It's on Navajo Land, so you have to take a tour. It's tough to get a tour b/c it's so popular, we had booked very far in advance. But when I looked at the weather I panicked b/c the day we had picked was the one day it was supposed to be cloudy, and for this particular canyon you want it to be sunny (and between the months of April and September and between 11 and 1pm). This is because one of the remarkable things about this canyon is how the light rays come shining through in an ethereal lightbeam. Like a God-ray. But luckily I was able to finagle a way to get a tour at the right time for this day

 And it was definitely worth it! The slot canyon was super amazing and stunning with the light rays coming down. Also there are sand-dunes above the slot canyon and in some places the sand is consantly sort of falling down, which causes the beams to light up extra. Our guide said that sometimes snakes fall from the "sky" (from the dunes) and onto people. The slot canyon didn't have the remote and empty feel that the slot canyons we had done just yesterday, but especially around Utah with my brother had, but the specific depth and type of sandstone, just makes this such a stunning canyon even without the light rays. Then add those light rays and it's so magical!

 After the tour we drove to Lee's Ferry. This is the place that Mr. Lee set up a ferry system which allowed for the settlement of Northern Arizona--He was a Mormon, and it was mostly mormons that came through to settle Northern Arizona at that time. Now there is a fancy bridge to walk across and look at the canyon and Colorado River. We did a short hike along the muddy Paria River before coming back to the Colorado for a very chilly and quick dip. It was cool to tour the Lee's Ferry area as he had a little ranch and to this day, if you're there at the right time, you can pick fruit for free from his orchard.

Back at camp we had a nice sunset dinner over the lake from our campsite

5/12

We went to Antelope Point Marina to rent kayaks. Because the lake level is so low, they've constructed a steep path to get down to the floating marina and you must ride in an ATV to get down there. Once outfitted with our kayaks we paddled along the lake until we got to the mouth of Antelope Canyon (yep the same one we had visited the day before, but many miles lower. We paddled as far up the canyon as we could until we ran out of water. We then hiked 4 or so miles up the slot canyon until we reached a "dead end", a place where you would need ropes and rock climbing to scale a 30 or so foot cliff. 

On the paddle back, we stopped at a place so that I could do a big cliff jump. Lake Powell is awesome for cliff jumping! We spent the evening at our campsite

5/13

In the morning we hiked through a small an very narrow slot canyon with a little water flowing through it (called Wahweap slot canyon I believe). It was right near our campsite and we had to walk along lake powell to get to it.

Before heading home we snuck into the nearby resorts pool (it was empty) for a quick dip and hot tub. On our way out we visited the massive Glen Canyon Dam and visitor center.

 Then it was driving back home to Crested Butte. Once we hit Colorado (Cortez), it started raining pretty hard and was even snowing up Lizard Head. On the way we made it in time to stop in Ridgeway at Elisha's favorite taco join, Gnar Tacos

5/17

Big day!

I have been looking up at the beautiful East Face of Gothic for over a year now. It's a beautiful, cliffy face full of spires and colouirs. I've always wanted to ski it, but it's hard to find the right conditions: conditions where there is enough snow, but not avalanche danger. It's so steep, that it's definitely in major avalanche terrain during the winter. But spring is safer for avalanches. But often avalanches that have gone in early spring during the first warm-up take all the snow down with them.

Got up really early and skinned, hiked, crampon-ed up Gothic Mountain from the Washington Gulch side. The day before we had looked at photos and cameras that my project has to determine if there was a good route to ski down Gothic. Being late in the year and having had avalanches move snow off the mountain, not all routes were skiable down to the bottom. We had picked a route that we thought would be good, but we also brought ropes and harnesses in case there were any parts where we had to repel down a cliff.

The view from the top is of course gorgeous. I had climbed to the top in the summer before, but now all the peaks were white as far as you could see, and then of course you can look down at the Gothic town site. Once at the top, when we still had options to ski the milder west-face or a route to the north, we decided to give the East face a try. The top skiing was really great! Midway down we hit the choke where we had expected there might not be snow. And it was true. So we had about a 30 foot length of no snow with a couple cliff bands to repel. So we set up webbing and a rope and repelled down until the colouir had snow again. Then it was a long, steep, and narrow coulouir (complete with runnels) to ski down until reaching the base where the pitch becomes more moderate. Then it's an easy ski to Gothic road.

Interestingly as we were arriving to the road, a couple of graders were plowing Gothic road. This turned out to be a real boon for us as it they had plowed down to leave about 2 inches of icy snow at the bottom. This made it really easy to skate back out without having to put skins on.

As soon as we got back to the car, I dropped bro off and then I headed straight to Breckenridge to ski a couple of hours there on the lifts. After Breck closed, I drove to Beaver Creek to meet up with mom and dad and Wayne and Linda. Wayne and Linda had rented a nice place in Avon at the Sheraton and were celebrating their anniversary. It was lots of fun to see me and as per usual they poked lots of fun...of my beard, of my old car, of me being a gator, etc. We went out for a nice meal and then enjoyed champagne to celebrate at night.

5/18

I got up and headed back to Breck for some more skiing. It was good skiing with even a bit of fresh snow. But there were 2 lift holds during the day due to lightning, which was pretty interesting. After skiing, I headed back to Avon for hors d'oeuvres and some hot-tubbing before driving back to CB that night

5/24

The road to Gothic opens

5/25

Elisha and I hosted a road opening party at our place where people got to drive (instead of ski) to the party. It was a totcho bar (nacho bar except with tater tots)

5/26

Drove to Colorado Springs to celebrate Jake Hess' 40th birthday. Jake is one of my best friends from high school who now lives in Colorado Springs. He used to be a minister in Indiana, but now he teaches Spanish and Theology at a small private school. His wife Elya is a nurse for an organization that helps the refugees that come into Colorado Springs (mostly from Central America, Afghanistan, and Ukraine right now).

Jakey happens to have a birthday one day before me (we're the old guys in our class). To celebrate we first went to this old high school that has been converted into a food court. For example they have a cocktail bar in the old principals' office. We went on got empanadas in one room and then moved to the brewery area.

After dinner there we went to the Boot Barn where they just so luckily (and happily) had a dueling piano show going on (the only one of the month). I LOVE dueling piano shows. Elisha's friend Sarah also came along. It was a fun show, playing a lot of my favorites. We went home and had oreos to say goodbye to Jake's birthday and welcome my birthday

5/27 (my 40th birthday)

We got up early to climb Pike's Peak via the Barr route. It was cloudy in Colorado/Manitou springs as we started the hike, but we quickly climbed above the clouds. I was carrying my skis with plans to ski Pikes Peak, a 14er. We reached Barr Camp (about the halfway point in distance) in relatively good time. And during this part of the hike we had lots of time to talk and catch up. Shortly after Barr camp we ran into snow. At treeline the snow was pretty deep and it was going to be postholing the rest of the way. My plan was to hike to the top and then ski down and then have to hike back up. As Elya was feeling a bit tired and going slower, I split up with the group so that I could get everything I wanted done before the afternoon storms. 

I put on my skins at the about tree-line and was able to skin on a direct route up to the summit. Because of the deep snow, the rest of the crew (they had gaiters and yak trax) weren't able to follow the real trail (it was buried and impossible to follow...I eventually found one of the mile markers further up the trail, but it was impossible for them to have gone that way as the snow was so deep. Instead they stuck to a more wind blown ridge where the snow wasn't so deep. 

The last pitch of the bowl to the summit is steep so you don't see the visitor center (yes! there is a huge visitor center on the top of pike's peak as well as a road and a cogwheel train) until right as you crest the summit. Right as I reached the summit, a train went by and I think I was quite a surprise to the people on the train. Also the people on the visitor center observation deck were pretty surprised. I transitioned out of my skins and prepared to ski down. It was fun skiing! The top 500 feet was actually powder from the last storm, and I was able to ski 2000+ feet down. This meant of course that I had to skin back up those 2000 feet. I was sure they'd all beat me to the top, but I ended up getting up to the top before the 3 of them. Elisha actually arrived to the summit about 5 minutes after I did. She had broken off from Jake and Elya as they were worried that Elya might not make the train (Elya's dad had driven up so if they didn't make the 3:20pm train that we had booked they could ride down with him.

Elisha and I hustled into the visitor center to get in the long line to get fresh donuts. The donuts up there are famous b/c supposedly the high altitude and thin air makes them extra delicious. Might be true! Or was it the fact that I had just climbed over 9000 vertical feet up? (For reference, the hike up Long's Peak is about 5500 feet...Longs is much more technically challenging, but then again, this one had lots of post-holing snow and a fun night out dancing the night before). Anyways we each got 2 donuts as well as 2 for Jake and Elya. Jake showed up about 10 minutes before the train was to depart to see if he could convince the conductor to let us take the next train...it was possible, but no guarantee that there would be room. But then Elya made it to the top about 5 minutes before departure. So we all made it! And just as the snow started to fly. We enjoyed the train ride back down to Manitou Springs, very thankful we didn't have to hike the 13 miles back down

For dinner, Jake and Elya treated us to dinner at a yummy Himalayan place. A great way to celebrate a birthday and mountain climb. Afterwards everyone was pretty exhausted and we ate ice cream and then watched the new Peter Pan movie with Jake's kids Asa and Asher. They're both extremely smart. Little 6 year old Asher has every 14er memorized by look and climb difficulty and location and all that. Very impressive. Asher can solve a rubix cube in under a minute. 

5/28

Started out 40 with a ski day at Arapahoe Basin. Another high school buddy, Phil, had some extra passes to A-basin, so he met us and gave us the tickets and we skied together. A-basin in the spring has a natural pond for pond skimming, so Phil and I tried it. It was the first time I've ever pond skimmed! I was successful, so I did it a 2nd time. Phil was not so lucky and crashed into the water, but luckily didn't go fully submerged like some others did.

Winter in Crested Butte and Gothic (and trips: Avalanche Ranch-Redstone, Ken's Cabin-Como, Eiseman Hut-Vail, Arizona-Havasupai, Leadville, Vail, Beaver Creek)

 My winter was a tale of two disparate places. We continued our schedule of 2 weeks at the AOS (on the ski hill) and 4 weeks in Gothic. Though things got turned upside down for a bit. Tom, an old friend from college, had been hired to add some flexibility to our schedule, so Frank was sent to work in the Azores for 6 weeks. During that time, Wess was fired, so we dropped down to just 2 techs. Michael and Paul came in to help, which meant that I stayed longer at the AOS than would be normal until Frank came back. During this time I was also given a promotion to site lead.

Anyways, during my time at CBMR, I would ride the lift up to work and ski home at the end of the day. Our place was more or less ski in, ski out. It was about a 5 minute walk to the nearest lift and 10 minute walk to the main big lift. Then we could ski more or less to within 100 yards of our place. The job allowed for some good flexibility, so I often got to ski several runs during the day, and if I got up early and did work from home, I could spend the first hour to hour and a half skiing if it was a powder day. And we got lots of powder days this year! It was a great year for snow! I wish I had kept track of how many powder days I skied, but it was the 2nd biggest snow year in the past 20 years. CBMR is a very steep resort with lots of extreme terrain, and it filled in really nicely, so that I could ski basically anything on it. Lots of fun! The way the schedule worked when I was at the AOS was that I would work 4 days at the AOS, cover one day in Gothic (which meant skiing in and out to Gothic) and then have my 2 days off.

Then there was life in Gothic. Oh beautiful winter Gothic! When the road closed in November, the only way to reach Gothic was via a 4 mile ski. There was a once a week (conditions allowing) snowmobile resupply, but I refused to use it. So at Gothic, I'd basically ski in on my equivalent of Monday morning, stay the week and then ski out Friday afternoon. On my ski in, I'd take in fresh clothes and all my food (milk, vegetables, fruit, lunch and dinner fixings) for the week, and when I'd ski out, I'd take my laundry. I'd carry all this on a pulk sled. On the days when I was just skiing in for the day, I'd often get up early to do a backcountry run for the ski in from the top of Snodgrass (down like 2nd bowl) and also do a lap on the way out on 3rd or 4th bowl of Abby's Lane. Of course we couldn't travel the Road to Gothic if the avalanche danger was high or extreme, which occurred on occasion. I loved skiing the road b/c I hardly ever saw anyone and when I did it was often one of my neighbors, so we'd sit and chat.

So living in Gothic over the winter was the biggest crew they've ever had b/c of all the winter science going on. There was of course the famous billy barr (check this video out if you want to know about him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72G8TLtTCk ) who has lived in Gothic for some 40 some odd years and been collecting snow data all that time. Then there were the winter caretakers. Sophia and Jack (or Jack the Snow Dragon as I called him, b/c believe it or not is last name is Snow!). They are dating and lived together in Gates Cabin. Sophia is an ecologist just recently graduated from UC Berkley. Jack is a chemist who recently got his master's at Denver University. The 3rd care taker was Mairead who lived in Galena cabin. I can't remember where she went to undergrad but she was recently excepted to a hydrology master's degree at Univ. of N. Arizona. All 3 of them are very young (Mairead and Sophia being about 22 or 23). Frank and I lived in Calder cabin. All 3 of these cabins are up the slope on the east side of Gothic (upper east side). Then the head winter facilities guy (Benn) lived down in the main townsite. He's also young (late 20's I think) and is a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. Collectively we were all known as the winter-overs. Because Tom had a dog, he didn't stay out in Gothic as dogs aren't allowed, so he skied in and out of Gothic daily when it was his turn to be there.

Because of the difficulty of getting to Gothic, hardly anyone visited, so it was just us few out here. I loved it! So quiet and peaceful with the big mtns and the snow and the foxes and pine martens. I loved when Frank was at the AOS (meaning he stayed in Gunnison) and it would just be me at the cabin for 2 weeks. So amazing. I just loved it. It was a dream come true for me.

Daily life in Gothic revolved around being on skis. You couldn't go anywhere without skis (or at least snowshoes, though they are less effective in the deep snow). I sort of describe it as if we (each cabin, building, lab) were islands on an ocean. If you were to step out of any of these without your skis, you'd instantly sink past your waist. So like being on islands in an ocean, you'd have to put on your skis (take a boat) to move from one place to the other, even when going a short distance. For example, when Mairead hosted the super bowl party, even though Galena cabin is only 150 m from my cabin, the only way to get there would be to put on skis. This also adds a certain isolation. As Jack said when his family was going to come visit: "I told them not to bring shoes"

I of course cross-country skied every day to our main site, or to take out the trash, but I also back country skied every day I was in Gothic, sometimes twice a day (before work and after work). On days when the snow was really good, I'd get up before dark to put in some laps before work. And after work I basically always skied until dark and often found my way home by the light of my headlamp (and my Christmas lights that I kept up all winter on my cabin). We had runs for days with higher avy danger that aren't in avalanche terrain (like Abby Lane and Aspen Alley), then we had my go-to runs 2nd, 3rd, and 4th bowl) and then some other unnamed runs off of the Snodgrass-Gothic ridge and one called the Kraken's arm off of the side of Gothic. These all required a bit of a skin to and from the slope. Behind the cabin were runs like the sluice (Avery glades), Zachary's, Wolf's Lair, Elk Basin, Virginia Basin, and others that I could ski right back onto my porch from! And b/c of all the runs around CB and the ski to get out here, these runs all stayed untracked between storms all winter. I just loved it! Overall we got over 30 feet of snow.

 Here are my winter totals

# of days downhill skiing = 81

# of days backcountry skiing = 85

# of days cross country skiing (cross country skiing often overlapped with the other types of skiing, and I didn't include it as a day of xc skiing if I was just using xc skis to move around Gothic on my daily work activities tehre) = 49

11/16

First day of backcountry skiing. Up above Emerald lake with Tom

11/17

Mountain biking in Gunnison with bro with just a touch of snow here and there in Gunnison.

11/20

A really good day of backcountry skiing with Tom up on Purple mtn

11/23

Opening day at Mt Crested Butte. Of course skiing in costumes. Then also some really, really fun ice skating on the giant Blue Mesa reservoir with Tom and Frank. Wearing life jackets of course in case we came upon thin ice!

11/24

Skied at the resort, ice skated at peanut lake, and then ice skated at Long Lake

11/25

Solo ice skating on Blue Mesa Reservoir

    11/24-11/26 or thereabouts. Cat sitting!

11/29

Road to Gothic closes!

11/30

Powder day and first of many first chairs

12/2

Fancy Irwin holiday party at the center for the arts complete with a life 80's cover band. Elisha wins the cookie competition

12/14-12/15

We journey to the Crystal River (the Aspen side of things) to stay at Avalanche Hot springs where we stay the night in a covered wagon. Elisha wears her prairie dress. The hot springs are really cool and the wagon is cute. We also do some some xc skiing by Redstone

12/16-12/18

I take an avalanche course that also allows for some fun backcountry skiing during the course

12/19

We cut down our Christmas tree for the condo up in Washington Gulch

12/21

I cut down my Christmas tree for the cabin up above Gothic. She's a beaut! And I decorate my cabin for Christmas with lots of lights!

12/24 - 12/28

Mom and dad visit for Christmas. We go out to slogars and do other fun things. We enjoy the hot tub at the guest house where they are staying as well as some of the breakfast treats. Mom skis out for a night at the cabin in Gothic.

12/31

Torchlight parade down the ski hill and fireworks

1/6

Elisha gets a free snowcat ski day with her company on a great powder day

1/17- 1/19

A 2 night ski hut trip to Ken's Cabin on Boreas Pass. We skied in from the town of Como. Because we had to work we ended up skiing a lot of it in the dark in a snowstorm. During our time there it was super windy, which made it nice to be in the hut. We were all alone up there as the cabin is only for one small group. So that was really cool! We did some backcountry skiing, but it wasn't the best with the low angle, the wind, and how much snow there was in the wind-sheltered areas.We did some Montucky skiing on the road (car pulling skier) when we got back to the car    

 

2/4  

Alley Loop nordic ski race. I did the 5K. It was so much fun! It goes through the streets of town and people are cheering you on and offering you bacon and beer and other things. And of course everyone is in costume. We ran into a friend, Eric from Antarctica, who was skiing the race (his cousin lives in CB)

2/8

Skied at Cranor Hill, Gunnison's little ski hill with just one poma lift.

2/9

Took Elisha on a backcountry ski tour of Coneys

2/12

Superbowl party at Mairead's in Gothic. Ski-to party

2/16

Some car-served backcountry skiing with bro where one of us shuttled the rest using the car while the rest skied

2/19

Free really fancy dinner at Taylor River Lodge that Elisha won from winning the cookie competition at Eleven's holiday party

2/22-2/24

2 night ski trip to Eiseman Hut outside of Vail in the Gore Range. Skied into the hut in a big snowstorm, and made it just before dark. About 14 other people staying in these really nice hut. Some Germans and a lot of Durango. The skiing at the hut was fabulous, and I did LOTS of laps there as did Elisha     

3/2

Ran into Bill Jirsa (from Antarctica) on the mountain     

3/8 

Finished my Liberty jigsaw puzze of Gothic Mountain and RMBL that is the EXACT view from my cabin

3/9

Skied at Keystone and then met Chris Sherman and Michael Coenen at the ski in ski out condo that Michael's mom had rented. Went out to Thai dinner with Sherman

3/10

Skied at Breckenridge with Sherman and MC. Mexican dinner with the Coenens.

3/18

Yotes basketball wins the National Championship! 

3/23

On our way to Havasupai, we spent the night just outside of Cortez. It was rather snowy. 

3/24

Drove to Seligman, AZ via the 4 corners monument and also visited monument valley. Had dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant in Flagstaff before continuing on to stay in a cute little cabin thing at an RV park in Seligman AZ.

3/25

Seligman is famous for being one of the main stops on Route 66. We had breakfast in Seligman at the "roadkill cafe". Drove to the canyon rim of the Havasupai Reservation to begin our journey to Havasu falls. We hiked down until we reached Supai. Such an interesting little town. Almost felt like we were in a different country. Then 2 miles below that we got our first look at Havasu falls. Unfortunately, b/c of all the recent snow, there had been flash flooding and the water was a chocolate brown instead of the normal emerald blue/green. We walked the entire length of the long campground before pitching our tent on the cliff overlooking Mooney falls. So breathtaking! In our tent, we could hear the water thundering below us, and from our tent we could see the falls

3/26

Spent the day exploring the upper falls of the area (Havaus, Mooney, Navajo, 50-foot). Also got some Indian fry bread from a little stand and grabbed lunch at the cafe in Supai Village. We explored Supai village a bit and also took a hike up a side canyon. The hike to the base of Mooney falls is really cool b/c it goes through lime-stone tunnels and then requires going down steeply on somewhat sketchy ladders. We had a fire right on the rim of the cliff by the waterfall (fires are normally not allowed but b/c of all the rain and the desire to get rid of all the flood debris that had come down, they were being allowed)

3/27

 Hiked down to beaver falls which is several miles below Mooney falls and required several somewhat deep river crossings. Then hiked into the Grand Canyon NP.

3/28

As the rains had ceased and the flood waters lowered, we noticed a marked change in the water color--to a more greyish green. Still a far cry from what it can be, but cool nonetheless. Hiked out of the canyon and drove to Flagstaff where we stayed the night

3/29

Made it back to CB, still in time for me to do a skate ski and then join Elisha at a party her company was hosting with a live (and good!) bluegrass band

3/31

Went to a disco party, but we couldn't get tickets for the adult disco so went to the "family" one and it was just kids and was kind of awkward

4/2

Closing day in CBMR. We skied in costumes and hiked up to the peak. CBMR closes on a set date that has nothing to do with the amount of snow as Vail Resorts determines they don't make money after this date. Sad to see it close as there is still so much snow!

4/4

Drove to Leadville to stay at a hostel there (Inn the Clouds Hostel). A really cool hostel.

4/5

Drove to Beaver Creek to ski a nice (but cold!) powder day. Then back to Leadville

4/6 

Went to Vail to ski. Grilled bratwurst at the free grill's that Vail provides in Blue Sky Basin (like the only good deal at all of Vail resorts)