Winter in Gothic (2nd half)

 2/5

I had a big day of skiing--a quadrathlon.  I cross-country skied early in the morning to CB. I then downhill skied at CBMR for 2 hours before heading down to the nordic center to skate for 90 minutes with a skate ski lesson (the nordic center was offering free skate lessons). I then went back to the mountain to downhill ski for 2 hours. After the resort closed, I visited Bro and Ellis for a bit and then I ski-mo'd up to the top of Paradise (beautiful sunset). I then xc skied back to Gothic under beautiful stars

2/6

Olympics started!

2/8

After a ski tour up the valley, we hosted a Super Bowl party with Benn and Sophia

2/9

Elisha and I skied toured up to Copper Lake and then up to the top of East Maroon Pass.

2/10

I did a long ski up to Schofield Pass and then up the 401 trail. From the top of the 401 trail I skied now powder down to the West Maroon Pass. I then descended down to the trailhead in Schofield park before ascending back up to Schofield Pass and then skiing across Emerald Lake and down the canyon back to the East River drainage. It ended up being 15.16 miles.

We've been watching the Olympics as we subscribed to NBC for the month to watch.

2/11

We started to get some heavy snow, so I did 3 powder laps. I lost my phone in the powder on a jump when it fell out of my pocket. But luckily I used my headphone which connect via bluetooth to get near the phone. Once I started hearing music in my headphones, I knew I was in the vicinity. Then I used my watch's "find my phone" function to make my phone ring. It was buried a foot in the powder and wouldn't have been able to find it without those helpful devices.

2/12

It snow a foot overnight. Elisha skied 2 laps with me, and then I skied 2 more. It was a super heavy snow, like an April snow, so it was beautiful in the aspens, as it stuck to the aspens. Unfortunately the greenhouse effect with the the fog really heated the area up by my 4th lap. The snow started to really glop on my skis so I was lifting incredibly heavy skis. I don't know if it was that or skiing in the heavy snow, but somehow I pulled my quadricep. I was feeling really bummed as I've worked myself to be in incredible shape for my race, and I had a lot of things planned in the next few days, so I was pretty bummed.

2/13 (Friday the 13th).

Because of my quad injury, I just sat on the couch and iced my leg all day. In the evening, Elisha and I skied out to Crested Butte to go to Ryce (we had a gift certificate) to celebrate Valentine's Day. We stayed in the hostel overnight.

2/14

Happy Valentine's Day

Jake and his son Asher and Asher's 2 friends had skied at Monarch the day before, and they met me at the 4-way in town early in the morning. I skied 4 runs with the 3 boys at CBMR. I skied super guarded because of my injury. It was okay on blue runs, but when I tried the steeper International, it hurt. I was relieved that Jake wasn't skiing because after showing the boys the layout of the mountain I met Jake who had gotten a coffee at the Coffee Lab and we headed to town. We skied 2 laps of the town loop, which has such beautiful views of all the mountains and is a flat, easy ski. We then watched the Gators beat Kentucky at Pitas over some happy hour food and beer. 

At the end of the day we picked the boys up from the ski area and then we cooked pizzas and watched the Olympics in the hostel and had some deep talks.

2/15

I got up super early (4:15am) to ski with Bro as Forerunners (basically breaking trail and making sure the route was set up) for the Snodgrass to Top of the World portion of the Gothic Mountain Tour Race. I started ahead of Bro (and late joiner Jake Barron) since my quad was injured. They had planned to skate from Snodgrass to Gothic and I couldn't skate. But they had a little bit of a boot problem, and I just cruised, so I ended up getting to the 403 far before them. It was sub zero, and I had to wait for 40 minutes for them to get to me. It was so cold that all of us had our hydration systems freeze. It was a gorgeous sunrise though with the frosted bushes. (Jake Hess told me he had a great sunrise xc ski on Rudy's Rollers with the frosty willows that glittered to him like trees with Christmas lights). When I met them, we began the ascent up to the Top of the World. Top of the World of course has beautiful 360 views of the snowy mountains. We then descended via Washington Gulch and we all met up (including with the Hesses and Mary and Ellis) at Butte Bagels for celebratory bagels.

I then helped load all of the Hess' gear from the hostel and we headed up to Snodgrass. I pulled in the sled full of gear and we skied into Gothic. After some tasty lunch that Elisha made and some chilling, Jake and I did a sunset xc ski upvalley to the 403. We had a tacho bar for dinner and then watched the Olympics.

2/16

I had a chill day to try to rest and let my quad heal. I skied the sled out for Jake and his crew. I met mom at the trailhead and hung out with her for a bit after saying goodbye to Jake. Mom had brought a lot of food and items for us, so I pulled them back into Gothic.

2/17

We woke up to Con 1 style blizzard. It was crazy windy! So windy we couldn't have a fire, so had a cold cabin. It was snowing hard, but a lot of the snow got blown away. I still skied 4 laps up on Aspen Alley in decent pow.

2/18

We woke up to High Avalanche danger and a foot of snow. I skied 3 laps over at the 403 in heavy falling snow. High Avalanche danger means we're not allowed to ski on Gothic Road or out to town

2/19

Still under High Avalanche danger. We woke up to more snow, and some on and off snow showers. We skied a couple of laps up by Deer Creek trail. We also watched local CB resident Cam Smith in the skimo sprint race

2/20

More heavy snow and blizzard conditions. I skied 3 laps up on Mt Bellview's shoulder and then a 403 lap

2/21

Elisha and I skied a couple of laps below Avery Peak and then did a 403 lap. We came home and watched Cam Smith and Anna's mixed relay skimo race. We then cross country skied out (Avalanche danger went down to considerable) to town to watch Bro and Mary in their Move the Butte Dances with mom. Zach was in an Eminem complication dance and Mary and Zach in a Bad Bunny dance. 

The ski out was interesting. We had to break trail a good chunk of the way due to the last storms. But after breaking trail for a bit over a mile, we came upon moose tracks. The moose then proceeded to break trail and post hole for 2 miles.

It was really cold (below 0), so Elisha stayed in town, and I did a frosty ski back into Gothic. It was also slow as there still wasn't much of a trail, and it was really cold.

2/22

I skied 3 laps up below Avery peak early in the morning and then skied out towards town to meet mom and Elisha who were skiing in. Mom made it, despite the tough snow conditions and stayed the night. We had lettuce wraps and some deep discussions.

2/23

I skied 2 laps early in Aspen Alley and then we all skied out to town. Mom took us to a Thai place in Gunnison, we shopped, and then I skied a little run (part of the Gothic Mountain Traverse) to reach Gothic road where I then took over the sled.

2/24

So warm today! But also windy. I skate skied out and back twice to Snodgrass Trailhead. It was a bit brutal with the headwind and slow, warm snow.

2/26

I did a long ski up to Rustler's Gulch where I skied a couple of laps

2/27

I skied a couple of laps up on the shoulder of Mt. Bellview

2/28

I skied up to a small summit above Rustler's Gulch and skie another cool area I hadn't been to before

3/1

I skied into town and met Elisha (who is in town to help out at Scarp Ridge Lodge), Mary, and Ellis. I then did a run before skiing back into town.

Unfortunately I dropped my phone checking a cabin, and broke the screen.

3/2

I did my first tour of the year up the sluice and up to the little peak above the sluice

3/4

I did a nice tour with good snow up East Maroon Pass.

3/7

Snowed a bit, and I did some powder skiing on Snodgrass

3/9

Bro fat-tire biked out, and we did a really nice tour up one of Gothic's cirques. Both good powder skiing on north-facing aspects and corn on southerly aspects

I then skied out (via snodgrass) to CB because Elisha had been working at Eleven. They let her stay in one of the Eleven apartments, so I skied out to stay with her, which was nice

3/10

To get back to Gothic I skied from Washington Gulch, up and over Abby Lane to get to Gothic. It was funny because I was ski touring with a gallon of milk, some fruit and other food, and 3 DVD's from the library. Not your average ski tour!

3/11

I did a long (15+miles) ski tour up to Copper Lake and then over East Maroon Pass and then 3 laps on soft North Facing snow on the Aspen side of the divide in a really cool area!

3/12

I skied into town early morning to join a CHESS workshop from my fieldwork this summer. We were working on data processing and analysis. We had Matt Santor's new deli company cater lunch and then the project took us out to eat at Sherpas. 

After dinner I skied 2 laps up on the mountain before staying at the hostel (aka the hibernaculum)

3/13 Friday the 13th!

Another day at the CHESS workshop. They took us out to lunch at delicious Thai Smile. I skied a lap on the mountain before heading back into Gothic. In a first I skated the whole way in with my touring skis while pulling a sled!

3/14

I did a lap on Zachary's and half a lap on dust on crust, which had some nice south facing corn

3/15

It was cold and extremely windy overnight. We lost power, and I had to reset some breakers in our ski huts. Since the road was frozen solid, I went for a run to Snodgrass TH and back. About 2 miles away I CAUGHT the gunnison county electric utilities snowcat who was out to fix a downed electrical wire. Felt good to run faster than a snowcat!

3/16

I did my last and longest ski tour. I skied up to Schofield pass, then up to the 401, then down into West Maroon Drainage, then up until about 1 mile from the West Maroon Pass summit (turned around due to approaching darkness. In the end it was 18.37 miles in 5 hours and 5 minutes with 3774 feet of elevation gain. I felt really good and was able to speedily skate back to the cabin. It only took 45 minutes to get from Schofield pass back to Gothic!

3/17

Zach, Sam, and I skied the Spork run off of the summit of Gothic. I skied up to the Snodgrass/Gothic Ridge (Abby Lane) and then skied down to Washington Gulch to meet Zach and Sam before we skinned, then boot-packed up to the summit. The Spork is incredibly steep and has a very narrow chute, but it was a lot of fun!

3/18

We installed some black tarps for Amy Iller's project. The tarps help to melt snow earlier than normal to simulate climate change for her flower projects.

I met my forme GT partner, Jack Snow, at CBMR to ski a lap together on the mountain. Then I walked across the road and up the hill where we were having dinner and a sleepover with Tom and Donna, some of our best friends in CB, which we laugh about as they could be our parents. They served an amazing dinner with raw salmon appetizers and artichokes. Then delicious corn beef and hash in honor of St. Patrick's day. They also made some strong Margaritas. We hot-tubbed on their deck under the stars at night.

Their house is a huge and beautiful mansion up on top of the hill looking across at Mt. CB. Definitely stunning. We met them b/c Donna volunteered with me while I was working for RMBL on the invasive species project. Since they live in the town of Mt CB, like we do, we often see them at town picnics and events. They're really cool. Donna is into weeds, fly-fishing, painting, and her greenhouse. Tom has lots of hobbies including guitar, fishing, 3-D printing, dressing up as a yeti and making igloos. They also have a cool airstream outback.

3/19

We went to Gunnison for some shopping, and I hung out at the library and went for a run. IT HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY HOT. INSANELY HOT.

3/20

Jack, Elsa (newly engaged), and Elsa's parents skied out to Gothic and brought us tasty Butte Bagels for lunch. It was great to catch up with them. They'll be getting married in Maine in 2027.

3/23

I skied out to CB and did a speedy skin up to the top of Mt CB, where I saw my usual friend up there, the fox. We stayed overnight at the hostel after visiting Zach, Mary, and Ellis and then using a gift card to eat at Thai Smile

3/24

I helped Neil Losin, a filmographer (he filmed billy's Snow Guardian feature), sled in hundreds of pounds of camera equipment. He'll be doing a longer film here at Gothic.

You can learn more about Neil here: https://www.neillosin.com/