Winter Caretaking in Gothic at The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

This winter (Sept-June 1st), we'll be winter caretaking in Gothic. Gothic is an old silver mining ghost town that has been a research station--Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL)--since 1928. The majority of the research here happens in the summer when it's a bustling station full of scientists, grad students, and undergraduates studying everything from marmots to flower phenology to hydrology to pollination to stream ecology to tree transpiration. My advisor, Todd Palmer, actually worked here one summer and some of the famous pollination ecologists that I cited in my paper work here in the summers now (ex. Alarcon and Brosi). But the winter is very quiet. Sometimes there is climate and snow science studies going on, but mostly, like this year, there is not much science going on. I did spend 1.5 winters here when I worked for SAIL (Surface Atmosphere Integrated Laboratory), which was studying climate, the atmosphere, and precipitation in mountainous areas.

But due to the harsh winters and heavy snows, there needs to be people out here taking care of the station. The typically closes at the end of November and opens June 1st, so there needs to be caretakers living out here as it's about a 4 mile ski from Gothic to the road (Snodgrass Trailhead). And the road isn't always passable. If avalanche danger is high or extreme, you cannot travel on the road as the road passes below several large avalanche paths. 

This winter, Gothic will have a population of 5. Three caretakers: Elisha, Sophia, and myself. Benn the head of maintenance. And then the infamous billy barr who has been living out here year round since the 80's taking meticulous measurements of snow. 

Billy also does finance stuff for RMBL. He's an interesting guy. He's a "hermit", but at the same time, he'll talk your ear off if you run into him skiing around town. He's got a funny sense of humor, is really into movies, including Bollywood, and likes cricket. He's from New Jersey and came out here straight out of college (Rutgers) and hasn't left since then. He's very scared of infectious disease, so covid was tough on him, and we still wear masks around him when indoors. He has a classic mountain man beard. He enjoys skiing, reading, recording birds, and movies. He also likes to bake. There are tons of news stories and videos about him, but below I pasted in a few of the best. At his office he provides an assortment of 10 or so different types of chocolate, all from Hershey's. He has a sign explaining why it's all Hershey's, bc Hershey's is owned 80% by an orphanage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72G8TLtTCk&t=11s  (Snow guardian by National Geographic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0JHpGst84U  (Hermit of Gothic by 9 News of Denver)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8noEWvfRChQ    (Citizen Scientist by the Associated Press)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Z--SJHXTA  (A Colorado Mountain Man)

There are 53 or so cabins, a community center (cafeteria/meeting area), and a couple lab buildings that need to be watched/taken care of throughout the winter. So 3 times a week we do rounds where we ski around to the various cabins checking on them. We go into the labs, community center, and a couple of the winterized cabins to check that the heat is working, water is running, and then systems like the solar panels are working. We also check the water treatment plant to see how much water is being used, and we perform a test to check for the amount of chlorine in the water. Once a week we perform tasks at the weather station where we mail of samples to the University of Wisconsin and University of Florida who are monitoring pollutants such as ammonia and ozone and also checking on contaminants in the snow. Then we also do other random maintenance tasks as required. And as you might imagine, there is shoveling when it snows.

There are 2 modern cabins (Maroon and Crystal) that can be rented out by the public for a hut trip. To me they're not super idyllic compared to huts like the 10th mountain hut division, but for others it might be really nice. They have heat (no need for a fire), hot showers, flush toilets, internet, a big screen tv (though you would need to hook it up to a computer or phone to play something), refrigerators, microwave, etc. Anyways, one of our tasks is to look after those and interact a bit with the guests. Just like more true backcountry huts, the guests are responsible for leaving the hut as they found it, so we don't really have to do any cleaning or anything.

Something that I find interesting in Gothic is that it feels like each cabin/building is its own floating island in a sea of snow. It's impossible to move between buildings without having a snow travel device such as skis or snowshoes. Fat backcountry skis with skins is the best method. If you try to go just in your boots, you'll quickly be wallowing in snow and won't be able to move. So when doing rounds, or going to visit the neighbors, you're doing a lot of clipping in and out of skis. The fox and hares that are around are really good at staying on top of the snow, the moose is not!

We're staying in Gates cabin, which is perhaps the nicest cabin in my opinion. It has giant windows that have an amazing view of Gothic Mountain and of part of Gothic town. You can hear (and see) Copper Creek from the cabin, when it's not frozen that is. It also has a shower, flush toilet, washing machine, and woodstove for heat. It's 2 stories with an attic. It has a little office space and 2 bedrooms and then a large living/dining room. 

Benn lives in Calder, which is where I lived when I worked for SAIL. Calder doesn't have a wood stove, but instead a propane heater. It also has a flush toilet. Sophia lives in Galena (though she is dating Benn, so it seems like she spends a lot of time there). Galena is similar to Gates, except it has no flush toilet. But it has a wood-heated small hot tub. Both Benn and Sophia must take their laundry down to the Johnson Lab where there are a couple washing machines. 

All 3 cabins are on what I call the Upper East Side and have great views of Gothic Mountain. We're on the East Side of the East River, up about 100 feet in elevation from the mainstreet of Gothic. We get a little bit longer afternoon sun then the cabins down by the river, but not much. Gothic, being a huge massif to the West of us, really blocks that afternoon sun. When it hasn't snowed for a while, the ski track down to the town is pretty fast on cross country skis.

Billy lives down in the valley at the foot of Gothic Mountain by the East River. His cabin is surrounded by weather and snow equipment.

There is good cross country skiing and backcountry skiing right from our cabin. And being that we're a 4 mile hoof from the nearest road, it stays pretty quiet out here. In fact, after the storm, it was 4 days before someone arrived to Gothic (we could tell b/c of the fresh snow and no one's tracks showed up for 4 days).

As it's quiet here and not a ton of work, some caretakers have historically also done remote jobs. I think Elisha will do a bit of remote work for Eleven. I have some plans to slow down a bit from busy life. I will ski a lot, and I hope to read more. I also want to try learning piano again and maybe Spanish too. I also have some project like catching up on my blog (this!) and sorting through my photos. If I have time, though time seems to fly, I might see about trying to figure out a way to make some money writing. I also still would like to publish by last chapter of my thesis in a scientific journal. But we'll see. I also think Elisha wants to work on some crafts and projects of her own. We're so busy in normal life that it just feels really great to slow down. There are not many negatives to living in Crested Butte, but one negative (though it's also a positive) is that you stay extremely busy. Outside of work there is just so much fun stuff to do: hiking, biking, camping, paddling, skiing, etc. And that's just the outdoor things. Then there are all the fun community events and such. Long story short, it feels like there is hardly time for catching up on life after work, play, and sleep. So we're really looking forward to it!

11/13

Got back to Gothic. Was able to drive to Gothic, but quite a lot of snow on Gothic Road. Elisha is still in Montana visiting her friends and family.

11/14

I went for my first cross country ski of the season

11/15

Frank is in Gothic doing some research for his advisor

11/21

Mom is in town to visit Ellis. Today mom and I went for a cross country ski above Gothic. Frank held a party at his cabin as a goodbye. Benn, Sophia, Elisha, myself, and Kyle (the last remaining work crew person) were all there. The only person missing was billy barr

11/22

We had Frank and mom over for brunch and mimosas before Frank had to leave for Montrose to catch his flight. Elisha and I went for a xc ski and mom came over to Gothic for taco dinner

11/24

Got 6 or so inches of snow

11/25

We drove our cars out of Gothic this evening to park out at Fantasy Ranch in Mount Crested Butte. With a storm on the horizon, we figured the road would close. We skied back to town in the dark after dropping off our cars

11/26

We woke up to 8 or so inches and heavy snow. The road was undoubtedly closed for the winter! We did our Tuesday weather station tasks and then we bundled up and broke trail to ski to Mt CB for the town's free Thanksgiving dinner. When we got to our cars, they were completely buried. You wouldn't know whose car was whose. But we managed to get my car out of the unplowed parking lot (about 20" by now) and onto the road. We met Zach and Mary and Ellis at the town dinner as well as Katie (from RMBL), Sam (our former neighbor and volleyball friend), and Alexis (who was almost a roommate of ours). Dinner was really great. Then we skied back to Gothic with our tracks from before quite covered. Also lots of small avalanches on the steep parts of the road cut

11/27

Avalanche danger was raised to high, so we just stayed around Gothic. But I had fun skiing around town in all of the powder

11/28

Happy Thanksgiving!

We did our first ski tour of the year behind our cabin, then cooked dinner. It was delicious! We invited billy barr, but of course, being the hermit that he is, he politely declined.

11/29

We did a longer ski tour today up by Red Mountain. Then billy trained us on how to operate his snow station. He also gave us a tour of is cabin, which is very hermit like. But it does have a nice growhouse and a sweet movie theater. He has over 3000 dvds because he used to not be able to stream out here. But now he has subscriptions to all the major streaming devices, including one that is from India for Cricket. He also has tons of cassette tapes of old radio shows. 

He skis down to Gothic every morning to work after he does his snow station first thing in the morning. In the afternoon, he has a decent little hill climb to get to his place, but he continues on past it up valley for some exercise before going back to his cabin. He then does chores, cooks (he likes to bake too), drinks tea while reading the New York Times, reads from a book, and then watches a movie. He told me he goes to bed about 11pm and gets up at 4:30am.

11/30

We noticed that the heat at Maroon cabin wasn't working and that the water was frozen. We put in some heaters to warm it up

12/1

When we checked Maroon again, a pipe had split from the freeze and was shooting water. We dug in the snow to access the main water line and shut it off

12/2

Benn and Sophia got back from their Thanksgiving trip to Santa Fe. With Benn we fixed the frozen pipe by replacing a part of it. Luckily that was all that was it!

We went up valley and found ourselves a perfect Christmas tree. We cut it down and hauled it by sled through the deep powder back to the cabin

12/3

We skied out to Crested Butte to watch Gladiator II (The historic Majestic Theater has $5 movies on Tuesday). We then went out to Ramen to warm up with Sophia before skiing back under a basically zero moon, meaning the stars were just amazing.

12/4

We did a ski tour up valley by the Gothic campground. The area is called Gothic Mini Golf

12/7

We did our first ski tour of Snodgrass. Benn and Sophia left for a week or so to go to the Geophysical conference in D.C. We had our first guests to the Gothic ski cabins (They rented both floors of Crystal). A weather station nearby reported that since the storm, the average temperature during the past week was -5.6F (time-weighted average) with an average low of -18.3F.

12/8

I skied a couple laps on Snodgrass, and then I set up the Snow Village.

12/10

Elisha and I skied a lap on "Aspen Alley" below the big face of Gothic, which has nice views back towards the townsite. The sunset was also really cool as there was a small storm that made the whole valley glow in red-orange. On our way back we saw one set of footprints going towards Gothic. This is highly unusual due to the fact that it's a long way from the trailhead to be without skis or snowshoes. We followed them, and they led to Gothic to the lab where they disappeared due to the fact that there is no snow under the giant awning surrounding the lab. We were a little worried that this person was in trouble and too tired to head back, but also a little creeped out considering the cold-blooded CEO killer is on the loose, haha. We tried to find the guy, but with no luck. We were talking about him and mentioning killer and stuff. And as we started heading back up to the cabin, we saw him emerge from one side of the lab that we had not checked. He was hiding!

This is what I sent to the other caretakers who are at a conference (Annual American Geophysical Union) in D.C.

Humorous story:

"Yesterday we did a sunset lap out by the avalanche cabin. On our way up, Elisha had seen a guy just walking on the road--no skis, no snowshoes. On our ski back to Gothic we saw his footprints, going just one way. They started to head up mainstreet, but turned around and headed up to the GRC. We followed them, but then lost them in the melee of footprints that is billy's territory. It looked like he had gone maybe into Willy, but also onto the pavement of the GRC. We poked around but couldn't find him. It was brutally cold with high winds, so we were initially a bit worried it might be a tired hiker out of his element that would freeze to death. But after not finding him, and with the news of cold-blooded CEO killers about, we were entertaining the idea of a more sinister reason to be visiting Gothic. We openly were talking loudly about killers and whether he was out here to get billy or hideout from Gothic due to some crime committed downvalley. But with no luck finding him, we skied started to ski back up to Gates, and then we saw him emerge hiding by the GRC mech room door. We yelled to him if he was okay, and Elisha thought he said "Just looking at the sunset" and I thought he said "Just resting a bit", but we confirmed he had a headlamp, and we headed back up, but we were laughing that while he was hiding he probably heard us talking about cold-blooded killers. hahaha"

Started piano lessons tonight with playground sessions. Elisha was saying it sounded terrible, and she was thinking the keyboard sounded out of tune, but we didn't think electronic keyboards could get out of tune. But we found a hack on youtube to re-set the keyboard, and now it sounds great

12/11

I went for a backcountry ski today. The route I was taking already had a well established skin track, and I could see the fox had followed the skin track all the way up from the road to the top of the ski run. It always cracks me up. We also say we should hire the fox because it always does nightly rounds. You can follow its footprints as it goes to our cabin, then Benn's, then Sophias, then down to the lab, then Maroon Cabin, then Crystal cabin, then trotting up towards billy's.

12/13--Friday the 13th

Snowed decently hard for a couple hours today while we were out skiing, which made for some nice turns.

After our skiing we put on Christmas movies and constructed and decorated gingerbread houses. Then we watched a new Christmas movie that we liked, Red One

Oceanic Society Trip: Raja Ampat

 10/27

I had been having a pretty bad sore throat the last few days, so I went to urgent care to confirm it wasn't strept throat. It wasn't. 

10/28

Drove early morning to Gunnison. First time flying out of GUC. Fancy and quaint as you might imagine. Only need to be there 40 minutes early, and even then you're through check in and security in under 10 minutes. A very scenic flight over the Rockies to Denver.

Layover in Denver with some Einstein Bros bagels. I'm getting over being sick. Very long flight from Denver to Tokyo Narita. Good food, good movies. During my layover in Tokyo, I had some Ramen.

10/29

Overnight All Nippon Air flight to Jakarta. Still feeling a bit sick. I arrived about midnight to Jakarta. The airport is now fancy. While trying to get money out of the ATM, the machine ate my card! Luckily I carry a spare. Took the shuttle to my fancy hotel, FM7. Nice big bed and great AC, almost too cold!

10/30

FANTASTIC included breakfast with Thai, Indo, American, and European specialties. Special ginger drinks too! Took a moto taxi with the app 'Grab' for a 55 minute "white knuckle" weaving through traffic (and pollution) ride to old town Jakarta. Ahh, the Jakarta I remember from my backpacking years. Old town Jakarta was quiet--Old Dutch buildings and architecture. I met many friendly people. I walked to the port though small, smelly alleyways full of cats and people. I took a little wooden boat ride to view the ships of the port. They're of the old style--wooden phinisi--and it's amazing they can float. A young boy and his young brother took me on the tour. 

I then walked back to Kota Tua (Dutch Old City), then to Chinatown where I bought some mangoes and visited a Buddhist temple. I walked past Little India, then meandered local streets to reach the monument nationale. Along the way, there were lots of waves, smiles, and "hello mister"s. My favorite thing was a little kids ride, like what we'd have outside a store for 25 cents that is electric, but this one was powered by a guy pedaling. The national monument was interesting--tall phallus like our Washington National Monument. I next visited the largest mosque in SE Asia, which was adjacent to a beautiful Catholic cathedral. I then took a grab cab back to the hotel which took 80 mins! Jakarta traffic is no joke!

At the hotel, I enjoyed a delicious dinner with Roti Chenai for appetizer, Thom Yum for main, and coconut ice cream in a young coconut for dessert. I had sour sop juice for drink. I was pretty tired, so I turned on the TV and fell asleep. 

I can't get over just how friendly the Indonesians are. I know that I knew this (about most SE Asians) during my backpacking years, but I guess one forgets.

10/31 Happy Halloween!

 Again, an amazing breakfast. After breakfast I worked on my lectures. I had a delicious lunch of Laksa (similar to a Thai curry) and mango ice cream. Drink was a "spooky" (devil horns) strawberry mocktail. 

I then had a great (and much needed) spa day. I ran 4 miles on the treadmill, then hit their really nice pool. I then had a 90 minute massage ($20). Then I had a pedicure ($6). For dinner I had curry, satay, and a young coconut for drink. 

I met the Oceanic group at the airport at 10pm. I was wearing my Halloween costume, which they liked and I gave out candy for those who said 'trick or treat'

11/1

We had a very late overnight flight to Sorong on Irian Jaya (The Indonesian side of Irian Jaya). When we arrived to Sorong, we were met by Dalton and some crew. I worked with Dalton the last time I led a trip here. He's the Indonesian, local guide. He is very nice! We shuttled to the port and then hopped aboard tenders to take us to our fancy Phinisi boat, "Dancing Wind". There are 8 cabins total, and it's a very nice boat. I have my own ensuite cabin located near the bow. There are 13 guests, me, Dalton, and 17 crew. We had breakfast and then set sail.

In the afternoon we had a 'checkout' snorkel where we saw lots of bumphead parrotfish and some reef sharks. Delicious lunch and dinner. I gave a quick presentation that was mostly and intro about me. Nice sunset from the top of the boat.

**When I note the fish we saw, I'm just noting the especially interesting (to me) or rare fish. Of course, on every snorkel, we saw just tons and tons of classic reef fish**

11/2

Yummy breakfast and then a morning snorkel. Saw a huge cuttlefish and some trumpet fish. Huge school of scads. Lunch was lots of political talk with the upcoming election. Everyone on the boat is very progressive as you might expect from an ocean conservation society trip. The afternoon snorkel was great. So many good coral and fish! I found a nudibranch, juvenile angelfish, and manta ray! The manta ray was awesome! 

In the evening we went to a place to hike up to a viewpoint. Looking at the mushroom karst islands and blue water is just amazing! We had a young coconut to drink and eat for refreshment. Gorgeous sunset as we left and headed back to the boat.

11/3

We took a dawn boat ride around more cool karst islands and landed on a small white sand beach. Once back, I convinced Dalton to let me go with a couple crew to hike up to a viewpoint in the area this is more treacherous (not suitable for this group!) as it climbs steeply on karst rock and even utilizes rope. It had an amazing view of course! 

On the morning snorkel we saw cuttlefish, bumphead parrotfish, and tons of HUGE giant clams. No luck finding mantas at the manta point. In the afternoon we went to shark beach where we had happy hour with the sharks (black-tipped). As we had our beers, lots of sharks swam around our and threw our legs. A pretty unique and crazy experience. I gave my first talk. Lobster for dinner.

11/4

We had an early morning small boat tour through the islands; beautiful water an islands. We saw a hornbill, eagle, and dolphins. We also stopped by an area with ancient hieroglyphics. Our morning snorkel was along an amazing wall with lots of nudibranchs. Also saw stonefish, lionfish, a turtle, and lots of cool corals.

We took an afternoon tour to a pearl farm, which was pretty interesting. We got to see them remove some pearls from oysters. 

We had a very productive night snorkel: 2 wobbegong sharks, 1 epaulette (walking) shark, frogfish, seahorse, flounder lionfish, scorpionfish, 2 blue-spotted rays, giant school of scads. When we got back to the boat, we had a dance party on deck before dinner.

11/5

We had a morning snorkel along a cool wall with tons of nudibranchs. They were all over the place. We also saw a crocodile flathead fish, pipefish, and scorpionfish. And there was just unbelievable corals and sponges. The afternoon snorkel had more nudibranchs, and a couple cuttlefish. I did some sunset journaling and hanging on the ship deck. As we were sailing we saw a sperm whale and breaching calf right at sunset. Amazing!

11/6

We took a morning bird boatride. We saw some cockatoos and hornbills as well as a couple of dolphins. Our morning snorkel was near mangroves. We saw archerfish, nudibranchs, juvenile flathead crocodile fish, a sea turtle, huge school of scad (that were fun to swim through!), and a banded sea snake. 

I saw an oceanic manta ray from the bow of the boat after lunch. After lunch we were able to find the manta and swim with it a couple of times! Awesome! It was very big and rather white, so it glowed like the manta in Moana.

During the afternoon snorkel we saw a cool epaulette (walking) shark. And lots of pretty and larger fish (ex. angelfish, triggerfish). We also got to swim in a huge school of scad, which was a lot of fun. We saw dolphins from the deck of the boat at sunset. 

It was a somber mood here on the ship due to the election results. As you might imagine, folks on a conservation focused trip aren't fans of Trump.

11/7

We had a morning snorkel where we saw some Napoleon wrasses, a couple giant pufferfish, cuttlefish, moray eels, lobster, and a flathead alligator fish. On the afternoon snorkel, more cuttlefish and alligator flathead fish. Lots of really nice soft coral.

11/8

A very early (4:30am) departure for the hike to see Birds of Paradise. It's a decent uphill and hot and humid. One lady had a lot of trouble and nearly passed out. Myself and one of the crew laid her on the ground, and I fanned her. But she wanted to keep going, so I fanned her the entire way up to the bird of paradise lek, and she made it. 

We saw 19 birds of paradise really putting on a show. Back in the village we took a tour of the school, and the kids sang for us, which was cool. 

On the morning snorkel the highlight was a walking shark. The afternoon snorkel was along a cool deep wall. We saw some alligator fish and nudibranchs. 

In the evening, Bob and Karyn told me that Karyn tested positive for covid. A big stress added to the trip. Seems like everyone is getting sick! In the end everyone got sick, except for me. Though I got a minor runny nose for a day on my flight back.

11/9

On the morning snorkel, we saw a couple black-tipped reef sharks (one pretty big), a young hawksbill turtle, a scorpion fish, and some squid. The best thing was probably these 6 teeny-tiny sergeant-major juvenile fish (smaller than my pinky fingernail) that swam right alongside my (by my mask) for a really long time (~1/2 hour). The afternoon snorkel along some nice coral.

Before sunset we took a boat to a small island to watch the sunset and giant fruit bats (flying foxes) emerging from the trees for the night with beers and snacks. Sunset was just incredible! And it was especially cool with the boat silhouetted against the red sky. As it started to get dark, thousands of fruit bats took wing into the sky.

11/10

We had a really great morning snorkel. Such clear water and so many fish!, including lots of big ones. We saw a couple turtles, reef sharks, barracuda, unicornfish, lots of big triggerfish, angelfish, etc. The afternoon snorkel was also nice with turtles, giant sweet lips, and more. 

Dinner was on the top deck in the open air with lobster and ice cream! I gave my last talk

11/11

In the morning we visited another village and the school. More song and dance. The morning snorkel had lots of sea turtles (both green and hawksbill), a couple sharks, barracuda, and giant sweetlips. I gave some travelogues (about Antarctica and Mpala). 

In the afternoon we set sail for Sorong. After arrival to the harbor of Sorong, we had our last dinner. At night I hung out with the crew a bit. Egand was so nice as he gave me a book he had made with drawings of dive sites around Raja Ampat. It really touched me. It would have been a lot of work, not to mention money for materials to bind the book. Some other notable crew members were Fauni and Gusti (dining staff); Maria (assistant chef), Egand and Andre (assistant dive masters); Michael (engineer and helper and biggest and happiest smile); and 'Muscles', (tender operator). 

11/12

Early morning departure from the Dancing Wind to the Sorong Airport. Flight to Jakarta. I stayed at the Anara Hotel, which is basically right in the airport. So I spent part of the afternoon just exploring the airport and eating good Indonesian food. And I watched some movies at the hotel before going out for a last dinner (Balinese cuisine)

11/13

Had a 4am wake-up to catch my flight to Singapore. At Singapore I had a couple hours to explore its magnificent airport. They have some cool gardens and then realistic video projection things on the ceilings and walls, including a cool waterfall. I didn't have time, however, to make it to the actual true waterfall--the largest indoor waterfall in the world. I exited the airport into actual Singapore, but Singapore no longer gives stamps on passports =(

Long flight to San Francisco, but I had a whole row to myself and lots of good movies.  After a layover in San Fran, I flew to Denver where I had a really long layover. Mom met me, and we went out for dinner and Christmas themed tropical cocktails at the hotel restaurant attached to the airport. COLD in Denver. 

Then it was the flight to Crested Butte. The plane was basically empty. Just 5 of us on it. The flight was cool though as it was a near full moon and it lit up the snowy mountains. We arrived to an empty, of course, airport. I walked the 1/2ish mile to billy's house where my car was being stored. It was definitely cold! The drive back into Gothic was on a snow-covered road (about 5" of fresh snow) and a chilly cabin since Elisha was in Montana

Fall in Gothic and Gates Cabin (and Sneffels Traverse hut trip in the San Juans) (and trip to Portland)

 9/8 MOVED to GATES CABIN in GOTHIC

Hiked over West Maroon pass again for my shuttle. The fireweed is in its full red of fall colors

We had started moving our stuff into Gates cabin earlier in September, but tonight was our first night in Gothic. We had been living the summer with Zach and Mary at their place in Pitchfork

9/11

Bro and I biked Teocalli Ridge. The high peaks are white with snow! A little bit of yellow in the Aspens

9/14

Aspens are starting to turn yellow around the valley now

9/16

Biked the 401. It was really awesome as CBMBA had just did trail maintenance, but then at the end I got hammered by hail and snow. 

We drove to Salida for some fun fall mountain biking. They have lots of good purpose built trails. We had yummy burritos at Mo Burrito in Salida and camped in Gunter outside of Salida

9/17

Did a fun loop trail, but on the way back to the van, I really got poured on! Went to taco tuesday in Salida for lunch. They have a great deal $2.50 tacos for large tacos (not just street tacos)

9/19

Colors are really popping in areas. Had a great ride on Strand

9/21

First day of significant snow in Gothic. We walked around town in the beautiful snow

9/22

Super beautiful with the yellow aspens, white snow on the ground (~4-6") and blue sky as well as fog lifting. I hiked up to near the top of Mount Crested Butte for amazing views. Later in the afternoon, Elisha and I did some hiking up Washington Gulch

9/23

I did a long bike ride today (27.7 miles) to maximize fall colors. I started over at Walrod Gulch by Cement Creek, went over the pass to 409, up and around Strand, and then Deer Creek trail to Gothic

9/24

We went on a local camping trip to Brush Creek where the aspens were just popping. We had such a beautiful campsite. We of course also did some mountain biking in the area and had a campfire at night, watching the stores

9/25

I did another long bike ride doing concentric circles in the brush creek area: strand loop, strawberry loop, ferris loop, and strand bonus loop. The aspens of course were amazing

9/26

Zach and I did a spectacular fall color ride on waterfall trail up cement creek

9/27

Did one last gorgeous fall color ride in CB before driving over beautiful Kebler pass to Montrose to meet Mel (our friend from shuttles in Antarctica) and her boyfriend Kevin. After a dinner of Taco Bell, we met them and their dog pickles at a hotel in Montrose

9/28

We drove to Ouray, where we parked our cars and hopped in an SUV to be taken towards Telluride over Last Dollar Pass. Near Last Dollar Pass we were dropped off to begin our Sneffels Traverse backpacking trip. The first day we hiked to North Pole hut, nestled below a cool mountain with beaver ponds around

9/29

Today we hiked to Blue Lakes hut, near the foot of Mount Sneffels. There was a super beautiful meadow with views of Sneffels right before we got to the hut

9/30

Elisha and I started early and did a side hike up to Blue Lakes. We had been there before, but it is just so amazingly beautiful that it was worth the trip, especially since it will soon be permitted. The lake just shimmers are most amazing blue. We hiked up above the lake for even better views. We then hiked back to the cabin and began the hike to Ridgway Hut. To get there we went over a pass with amazing views of the Sneffels range.

10/1

I got up early and hiked back up to the pass, and then continued on to climb a peak that had tremendous views of the Sneffels Range as well as back to Montrose. Back at the cabin, we had a fancy breakfast with waffles and bacon.

The hike to Burn Hut was absolutely amazing. We went through grove after giant grove of aspen trees all right at peak, or maybe just a day or so past as it was actively "snowing" yellow leaves. We found Burn hut situated in a little grassy area surrounded by yellow aspen trees. After settling in, we went for a hike amongst the aspens and for some beautiful views. We came back and just laid in the grass looking up at the aspens. For sunset, we went back to the viewpoint with some wine.

10/2

Mel and Kevin took a shorter route to Ouray as they were feeling tired and not as in much of shape. We took the long route that went up and over a pass and had nice views. We hiked past some old mines eventually had some cool views looking straight down at Ouray. After arriving in Ouray, we drove to Ridgway and had Gnar Tacos, one of Elisha's favorite places. We then drove to Estes Park

10/3

We spent the day hanging out in Estes. We biked to town and then on the bike trail to the golf course to watch the Elk rut. We had lunch at the Nepalese restaurant. In the evening we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park to watch the elk rut

10/4

We got early morning burritos from Kissing Moose Cafe and then did a really cool hiking loop. We started at Bear Lake, hiked up Flattop Mountain, past Hallett Peak, and up Otis Peak before descending via Andrews Glacier to Andrews Tarn and eventually Loch Lake. Once up on the divide, we passed by Tyndall and Chaos Glaciers to get to Andrews Glacier.

We then hustled quick to get ready to head to Fort Collins to meet Jake and Elya Hess to go to the Bluebird Music Festival featuring Josh Ritter. It was awesome! And we got to meet Josh after the show and talk to him for a while. We finished the night with Dairy Queen in Loveland before heading back up the hill to Estes.

10/6

There was still some color left up on Kebler Pass, so we took a hike up by horse ranch park

10/7

We were treated to a nice Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) show in Gothic

10/9

I started working more full-time at RMBL doing caretaking duties. These first few days I focused on hauling and stacking wood for the winterized cabin. I also helped with digging some trenches and laying pipe

10/10

We were treated to a really spectacular Aurora show in Gothic

10/13

I finally biked the RFBD (Reno Flag Bear Deadman) loop. It was the last major trail in the Gunnison Valley that I hadn't biked

10/14

Elisha hosted a chili and pumpkin carving party at Scarp Ridge Lodge. Mary and Zach also came. I carved a fox; Elisha carved a gnome bat, Mary carved a snowflake; and Zach made a Trump pumpkin.

10/15

We went comet hunting. Over the first several days the comet (Tsuchinshan) had been too low on the horizon for us to see with our towering mountains. When the comet got higher, we had cloudy skies for a couple days. Today it was fairly cloudy but some areas of clear sky. We finally were able to find it just on the other side of Kebler Pass. 

10/16

After a rainy day, it cleared up a bit and I did an out and back bike ride to the top of Deer Creek. I finished the last couple miles in the dark, but was rewarded with seeing comet Tsuchinshan over Gothic Mountain. As well as an amazing sunset

10/17

Got some more snow at Gothic

10/18

We had a late night flight to Portland to go to my second cousin, Desiree's,  wedding (My cousin Michael's daughter). We got in late, met Johnny, and drove to the house Uncle Kenny had rented. We crashed on the floor in the poker room

10/19

We had a chill day, visiting a pumpkin path and just hanging out. I also went for a run. Then it was off to the wedding at a nice venue. Good dancing as would be expected with the Halbachs. Then it was too the afterparty at a dancy bar

10/20

We had a free day and drove a loop out to the coast. It was very wet weather. We took a hike in the rain and wind to a coastal beach, then drove to Cannon beach and had clam chowder. The storm cleared right at sunset, and we took a small hike along the cliffs at Ecola State Park where we witnessed a fantastic sunset over the rough ocean and rocky islands. Back in Portland we stayed a cool hostel (Rated #2 in the world or something like that) and walked in the rain to eat Thai food.

10/21 We had a really early flight to Denver. We drove to Buena Vista where I dropped Elisha off for a work retreat. I then drove over snowy and foggy Cottonwood Pass. A little bit of the snow on the ground in Gothic

10/22

Started doing cabin closings today. There are about 54 cabins, some built as early as the late 1890's and some as recent as the early 2000s. Most are cute, and all are very interesting and have their cool little quirks. For cabin closing, our job is to board up the windows and doors, unplug various electronics and internet, turn of propane, and shut off electricity.

10/24

Nephew Ellis was born in the Gunnison Hospital

10/25

I had to go to Gunnison for bloodwork. While there we biked at Hartman's and then visited Zach, Mary, and Ellis in the hospital.

10/27

Today we voted by mail from Mount Crested Butte.

I tallied up my number of days skiing for the '23-24 season.

Downhill days = 64

Back country days = 9

Cross Country days = 13

Total days on skis = 86

I was curious how this compared to my '22-23 season when I worked for SAIL and lived both in Gothic and Mt CB. Here is that info:

# of days downhill skiing = 81

# of days backcountry skiing = 87

# 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

Total events on ski = 217

The rest of the Summer 2024

I spent the rest of the summer doing a whole bunch of mountain biking, but also some hiking and other things interspersed here and there 

7/24

We hiked up Rustler's Gulch which had just fantastic flowers

7/28+29

Hiked over West Maroon Pass back to back for work

7/30

I hiked the 4 pass loop in one day. It's a beautiful loop that can be started in Aspen or Crested Butte. I started in Crested Butte and went clockwise over the 4 passes (Frigid Air, Trail Riders, Buckskin, West Maroon). I also added a small peak to the loop. The flowers were just unreal!! And the view from the top of Trail Riders to Snowmass Lake was spectacular. At the shores of Snowmass Lake, I dipped my feet into the beautiful cerulean lake. I started right before sunrise and finished after dark as I took my time enjoying the flowers and the views In total it was 31.2 miles with 10,033 ft of elevation gain.

8/5

Did a beautiful flower hike up into North Pole basin

8/6

I biked up to Green lake today. And the rainbows around Mount Crested Butte were so amazing

8/7

We hiked up Frigid Air pass today to enjoy the flowers

8/10

Hiked over West Maroon Pass for work and got hit by some decent rain

8/11

Hike over West Maroon Pass for work again

8/15

Bro and I biked the 403 together

8/17+18

Hiked over West Maroon Pass for work

8/19-20

Took Gunther on a camping trip to Summit County. Elisha really wanted to see Moon Tricks in concert again (we had seen them in CB), so we saw them on the shores of Lake Dillon. We also did some fun mountain biking.

8/21

It had rained really hard overnight and in the morning. I had a shuttle scheduled to take a group of Scarp Ridge Lodge folks to the West Maroon trailhead. The road was a disaster of mud, but I managed to get the Sprinter up to the trailhead and back down without incident, but I witnessed lots of other vehicles slipping off the road and getting stuck in the mud. Reminded me of the old days driving the "road to plagusus" in Antarctica when the temperatures would get warm and the ice road would turn to mush.

8/24

Saw a black bear and cub on Kebler pass during my drive over to Aspen

8/26

I'm helping RMBL out with some mountain top weather stations. Sophia and I climbed up Treasury Mountain to work on two weather stations. It was really cold! It also POURED rain when we got back to Gothic.

Berry season is in full force. We went out on the mountain picking raspberries and got a ton. We also saw a young porcupine

8/28

Elisha helped me with a weather station on top of Cinnamon mountain

8/30

Worked on a weather station on top of Ruby Peak with my boss Jennie's son Cormac. (Named after Cormac McCarthy). The hike up to Ruby Peak goes by Green Lake, which is always beautiful. Saw a mama bear and 2 cubs on our way down Kebler

9/4

Elisha and I went to Estes to celebrate mom's birthday. We brought carrot cake from Crested Butte (thanks to Aunt M). 

We drove down to Denver and biked one of Denver's many greenbelt bike paths along the creek. We also biked to Washington Park where mom showed us where she first lived in Denver. That part of Denver is really nice. We then went and got Ramen and Sake at Uncle in the Highlands. From there we went to the Ogden Theater to watch the musical artist Passenger (Famous for the song 'Let Her Go')

9/6

Had a weed pulling day with RMBL and volunteers up at North Pole Basin. Famous flower expert Rick Revis was with us

9/7

For my Aspen shuttle today I ran the whole way up to Maroon Pass. It took me 53 minutes! Did it under an hour

"Tout Bien, Tout Schuss, Tout Poudre"

As you probably know, Elisha works for Eleven which has amazing skiing and fishing resorts around the globe. Well, she recently had won MVP (employee of the year). This gave her the chance for an ALL-EXPENSES paid trip for a week to one of Eleven's properties for her and me. But due to seasonality and such, she couldn't choose just any place at any time. Our number one choice was France, but we thought with how things would work out it would probably be Iceland or maybe the Bahamas. France would be hard to go to because it usually requires a total buyout of the lodge, as opposed to per room. But we were amazed to find out we had been super LUCKY and another Eleven award winner (Laura and her boyfriend Joe) wanted to go to France and there was a free week open in the spring!! So we were going to France! To Chalet Hibou in the Savoy Region, surrounded by 6 ski resorts.

4/9

We were in Houston after seeing the eclipse. We did some errands in the area (like mailing our camping equipment home) then caught a flight from Houston to Munich on United (most uncomfortable seats ever), but good food and movies

4/10

Arrived to Munich. Took a short flight to Geneva. We picked up a rental car (paid for by Eleven) and drove to Le Miroir, France. On the way, we stopped at a cool little place to get baguettes and pastries. After the 2.5 hour drive or so we arrived to Chalet Hibou situated with great views of snowy peaks (Mont Pourri) and lush, green valleys in the quaint and very tiny village of Le Miroir in the province of Savoy.

We were greeted by Thomas, the experience manager for the Chalet. He gave us a tour of the magnificent chalet. It has 4 or 5 bedrooms and a bunkroom. It has a beautiful living room with a fireplace and another living room and dining area also with fireplaces. It has a media room, a kitchen, exercise room, spa room, dry and steam saunas, and a music nook. It has a fancy ski locker area, and each of us was assigned a ski locker and given welcome gifts (hat, goggle cover). The Chalet also has a game room and 2 open access bars (you can take and make whatever you want!). There are several nice decks (including off of our room) and of course a hot tub with a cold plunge. There are also several areas with a variety of fancy snacks and cold drinks in a fridges (ex. coke, fruit juices, special teas, beers). At the hot tub, they also put out cold drinks in an ice tub for us. Two other people are staying at the Chalet with us. Laura from Eleven (marketing) and her boyfriend Joe.

Our room has a fancy shower that includes a steam shower. The room is of course very fancy and has buttons to control all the lights and to pipe music. Wide double doors open up to a deck with great views of the alps.

 We got organized and settled, hit the hot tub, then had cocktails. There is a lodge staff who will make cocktails whenever you want if you don't want to make your own. We had hor's devours by the fire. We also popped some champagne (when in Rome..err..France)

For dinner, chef Philippe comes out with his heavy French accent to explain what each course of the meal is. Tonight the first course was zucchini cheese pastry salad. 2nd course was scallops with garlic potatoes. Dessert was a half-baked chocolate cake with ice cream from a local creamery. And of course dinner comes with wine to go along with the cocktails.

Before dinner we each met our private ski guide. Ours is Antoine. 

4/11 

We had a breakfast prepared by the morning chef (Anna). She also explained everything in her thick French accent. Almost all of it was locally sourced (like really locally sourced from this village of Le Miroir or a neighboring village). You start the breakfast with a ginger lemon shot (for health...and it wakes you up!). Then fresh sourdough bread (200 year old starter), croissants, and other pastries. There was an amazing fruit bowl, handmade granola, and cheese and ham board. There were eggs made to order as well as hot drinks to order. Fresh homemade yoghurt as well.

Then it was time to get ready for skiing! My first time in Europe! I was extremely excited. We were whisked away in a fancy Mercedes van (with to-go tea in hand) to our first ski area. It has snowed overnight, so we were extra excited for the skiing. We drove to Val d'isere ski area. We started the day by taking a funicular. At val d'isere we would take all kinds of lifts (funicular, tram, gondolas, chairlifts, platter tow, magic carpet, t-bar).

Val d'isere is just HUGE! ANd the views are absolutely incredible!! (including Europe's tallest, Mont Blanc) It's so wide open! With no trees for the most part. And most people ski only on piste, so the incredible off piste terrain is untracked powder all day! In Europe, they don't do avalanche mitigation off piste, so we skied with shovel, probe, beacon, and an airbag pack (that Eleven gave us). We skied a lot of good powder and only hiked a little bit. We skied a small glacier.

We had an outdoor lunch at a cool mountain chalet (exactly how you would imagine in the Alps). We had beers and delicious pasta meals (thanks to Elisha's company for paying). At the end of the incredible ski day, we saw some endangered ibex type animal on the last run and then had beers in the sunny weather at one of the base areas. 

Back in the fancy mercedes there were snacks and more beers. And then back at the chalet it was cocktails, hot tub, and aprés (goat cheese tart with smoked duck and bruschetta with some french named thing on top. Then it was dinner (definitely a theme in France, besides skiing, was eating and drinking. I was FULL all week!). dinner 1st course: white asparagus with eggs and sauce. Main: duck over mashed sweet potato with honey glaze and a small baked casserole (cassorette) . Dessert: Lemon curd puff with raspberry sauce!

4/12

Today started with a similar breakfast, except that there was also pancakes. It was then off to the ski area of Tignes. We took a funicular and then a larger tram to get to the top of the resort. From here we put on harnesses and prepped for skiing the Grand Motte Glacier. We skied down to the glacier area and then faced a super steep pitch (~55 degrees). Elisha actually got roped in as a security measure in case she fell while side-slipping down. But I was able to make turns down it! 

We skied around the resort going to cool couloirs and off-piste areas. We had a snack of sausage and cheese from a cool viewpoint where we laughed because there was some bdsm style lady getting her picture taken in a near nude state. We then skied to an area where we repelled through a cool little hole in the wall to get to another area where we had a really long ski to get to the bottom. We then worked our way back to the Val D'isere ski area. 

They were having a paragliding and speed skiing (skiing with a small parachute) competition, which we watched while having apres. It was pretty awesome! Then it was back to the lodge for hot tubbing and cocktails. Max, a travel agent is also staying with us, just for the weekend.

In the early evening we did a 40 minute hike up to an alpage (sheepherders cabin). When we arrived there was a roaring fire outside, which was surrounded by torches. Hors d'oeuvres were awaiting us (some shrimp things) as well as moscow mule type drinks in large stines. They had games like ax throwing and team sawing. 

We eventually moved inside of the cool and rustic cabin. There was no electricity, so it was all lit by candles. There was also a fire inside. We had *TONS* of delicious fondue and wine. I've never been so full off of fondue. But wait, there was more! After we finished the fonde, we moved downstairs to another fire, and a set table  where Philippe was cooking sirloin and delicious french mac 'n cheese. We had a dessert of chestnut cake with mascarpone. We then ended the meal with a local digestive , Genepi, which was very strong. We spent some more time outside drinking and watching the stars before hiking back to the chalet.

4/13

Another great breakfast. But before breakfast I got up before dawn and sat in the hot tub for the alpenglow and sunrise. Then we were off to the closest ski area to the chalet, Saint Foy. 

We took some lifts up, and then did a ski tour up a small peak where I proposed marriage to Elisha again with the rinf I had originally proposed with. She had given it back at that time as she wasn't sure, but then had asked my mom about it later after we were married. I surprised her extra by hiding it in a snowball. From the top where I proposed, there was a spectacular 360 degree view, including Mount Blanc. We then finished the tour and skied a few runs to a wonderful chalet to have a fancy lunch (duck and steak and champagne and beer) on the deck with views. 

We then skied a few more runs and watched a poullet race where TWO people were on either one pair of skies, one snowboard, or one monoski. Pretty crazy! I also did a pond skim. 

Back at the chalet was cocktails and hot tubbing with some special cocktails made by Elisha. Apres ski included some raw salmon kebab things and then ham and cantaloupe. Dinner was celery root and prawn soup, veal saltimbocca, and lemon tiramisu.

4/14

Breakfast today was the usual but also with crêpe bretonne (buckwheat crepe with ham, cheese, and egg). We then went to the La Rosiere ski area, complete with a red (rose) colored road up the base area.

From here we skied from France into Italy to La Thuile ski resort. In Italy we went to a fancy Italian restaurant where we had a variety of cheeses, meats, and pastas and of course dessert. Then we were served an amaretto digestive in a chocolate "shot glass". We then skied back to France and past a fort built by Napoleon Bonaparte. On the way back, in the van we stopped at a really cool church perched high up on a hill. 

Back at the chalet, we had lots of cocktails and of course had a hot tub and a cold plunge. Apres ski with some duck finger food and asparagus wrapped in egg. Dinner was a puree of white beans and seasoned vegetables (like a hummus), grilled salmon with leek fondue. Dessert was panna cotta with a sour raspberry sauce

4/15

The weather wasn't quite so good, and Elisha wanted to stay back to enjoy the chalet, so Antoine and I went to Val D' Isere to do a cool ski tour. We took a couple lifts to access our tour, then toured up a pass and small peak. We skied down an awesome and huge bowl on the other side. Really amazing and good skiing. We skied down to a refuge (Refuge du Fond des Fours) in Parc Nacional de la Vanoise where we had a pepsi (French brand) and the best cheese omelette I've ever had! The refuges here are kind of like 10th mountain division huts except that they have a refuge manager who cooks meals. Her kids were also living there and are homeschooled there. The refuges are cool because for about $65 USD, you can get a bed and breakfast and dinner. The refuge manager and assistant manager clearly had crushes on Antoine and flirted with him. 

We then skied our way back to the base area where we took the van back to the chalet. We had yummy pizza with Thomas before heading out in our rental car to the town of Annecy. We drove the town of Albertville which hosted the 1992 winter Olympics. 

At Annecy we checked into our hotel and then walked the 2 miles to the center. Annecy has cool old buildings and canals. It's also on a huge lake with mountain views. The water of the lake and canals are a beautiful glacial blue/green. After exploring around, we had an outside fondue dinner before walking back to the hotel.

4/16 

We had a slow morning and then walked back to the Annecy center to have a picnic lunch by the lake. We walked around and explored the city. It was much cooler today. We had hot cocoa in a bakery and cafe and also got a raclette panini from a street stall. We had drinks along one of the canals for happy hour before heading back to the hotel. Chilled at the hotel and worked on my journal. We had dinner from the nearby supermarket.

4/17

Drove to Moutiers this morning. We got there pretty early, so we couldn't check in. So we drove to Brides des Bains and then up a steep and narrow road to the cute mountain village of Feissons-sur Salins. We then hiked to a couple viewpoints including Croix de Feissons with a steep view down to Moutiers and another one looking at the Three Valleys ski area. It was kind of cloudy with some sun to start, but then started to snow. Picnic lunch on our hike and had dinner at a Kebab spot in Moutiers

4/18

Due to bad weather forecasted in our area, especially at the ski resorts, we drove South to Briançon. On the way, we went over a snowy pass near Alp d'Huez (famous climb in the Tour de France) and past La Grave ski area. Briançon is a cool, walled medieval town. The streets are really narrow and the buildings colorful. The town is near the Italian border and surrounded by fortresses. We hiked up to 2 different fortresses for views and crossed a cool old bridge over a deep gorge. After our hike, we got some ice cream (even though it was pretty frigid) and walked around the cool medieval town. We met a very nice Frenchman in the town who we tried to converse with, and he gave us some chocolate. Then it was time for the drive back to Moutiers, mostly in the dark.

4/19

Today was the big day that we skied at Les Trois Vallees, the largest ski domain in the world spanning 3 valleys and 7 or 8 villages. It has 159 lifts!! One of the cool things about European skiing is that every resort has so many unique lifts. We'd take trams, gondolas of all sizes, funiculars, cogwheels, 6-pack lifts, chair lifts with bubble covers, side by side surface lifts, magic carpets, etc. The French (Europeans?) are also funny about requiring that the bar on the chairlift comes down immediately!

We started the day at Les Menuires the skied to Val Thorens then to Orelle up to the highest point (3220m=10,600 feet) back to Val Thorens to Meríbel and then to Courchevel. The 3 valleys are Thorens, Courchevel, and Meríbel. It had snowed the day before, so there was LOTS of powder off-piste all day. The views were of course incredible until a storm blew in during the afternoon. 

After skiing we drove by the Olympic ski jump and then to Faverges where Elisha had visited previously with her friend Megan. We visited a couple small villages near there and also an Abbey. We then drove to Chamonix, arriving in a light snow to our hostel (Vert Lodge) on the outskirts of Chamonix. The hostel had unlimited tea and cocoa! and cool little pods to sleep in.

4/20

It was foggy when we woke up, but as we were having breakfast all of a sudden we could see a huge glacier appearing out the window. Eventually it cleared completely to reveal beautiful and glaciated Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe. We then got ready and headed to Grand Montet to ski.

It was another powder day, and we had lots of fun. It's a small little resort. From the resort we could see a cool, giant glacier. We had aprés ski outside on the mountain before heading down.

We walked around Chamonix town, a cute town where they held the 1st winter Olympics. We had crépes, then hamburgers for dinner.

Zach was arriving by train, but was going to miss the train connection to Chamonix (thanks Swiss!), so I drove up the pass to Vallorcine to pick him up. I also squeezed on other guy into our tiny Mitsibishi who also missed the last train to Chamonix. We then hung out in the hostel, making plans.

4/21

We got up early and took the train up to the Aiguille du Midi, which is this cool spire on the shoulder of Mont Blanc where they have crazily built this big structure with a cafe, viewpoints, and exhibits. It sits at 3842m (12,605 ft). We walked around a bit, looking at the views. Then Zach and I headed won the steep, snow walkway to access the skiing. We skied down to a point and then skinned up to a pass on the Italian border. We then skied down a crazy steep couloir into Italy where we skied an awesome powder run to Glacier de Toula to a tram in Italy. We took the tram back up and then skied back into France to ski the famous Valle Blanche, a 7 mile run down glaciers (we had glacier travel equipment like rope, harness, and ice axe) to reach the valley floor of Chamonix. The glaciers include Glacier du Géant, Glacier du Tacul, and Mer de Glace.

When you reach the end of the glacier after the 7 mile run (6000ft descent), you take a gondola out of the valley and then a cogwheel back to Chamonix. Bro and I went for a crépe (me) and burger (him) before heading back to the hostel to meet Elisha. We had apres at the hostel and then went out to Ramen in town. On the way back, we saw 2 amazing light shows: the first was natural, and it was the full moon coming out behind clouds, illuminating the clouds and the tall peaks; the 2nd was a really cool light/movie show on the town church.

4/22

We all went to Grand Montent with the intention of doing the Le Tour glacier ski tour, but it was so foggy--soupy fog--that we just skied a few runs and called it. 

Elisha and I took the cogwheel to the Mer de Glace glacier and toured the ice caves that they had made into the glacier. Zach went to the spa. 

For dinner we went to a really nice French restaurant and had Raclette with 750g (~1.7lbs) of cheese and lots of potatoes and cured meats. We got very full and the raclette heating device kept us warm and toasty.

4/23

The 3 of us again tried to do Le Tour, but it was still pretty foggy. However, bro and I still decided to do it, while Elisha stayed back. We took the Gondola up on the Grand Montet, then continued skiing up to a pass. We eventually broke above the clouds to have great views above the fog! We got some nice powder turns in the sunshine before we descended into the fog. We did some foggy pow turns that were completely disorienting and we had to ski side by side to keep some semblance of up and down and of course used GPS to figure out where we were going. But soon we got below the fog and skied onto the giant Glacier d'Argentiere. 

We put skins on again and ascended up the other side, eventually boot packing up a steep couloir on part of the Haute Route. Once on the pass, we descended down on Glacier du Tour for some great powder turns. At the very bottom, we lost enough snow to ski and had to descend a steep, rocky, bushy area with skis on our back. We ended up in the tiny village of Le Tour where we walked through the town to catch the bus back to Chamonix. Again we had aprés at the hostel. We went to Thai dinner in Chamonix.

4/24

As the weather was nice, Elisha and I went once again up to the top of the Aiguille du Midi for the fantastic views. It is definitely spectacular 360 degree views from the top, including view of Mount Blanc, other 4000m peaks, and the Matterhorn. 

After coming back down, we had lunch at a kebab place and then drove over the pass into Switzerland. We checked out one small Swiss town on the way to Visp. The town had a cool church, castle, and narrow, cobbled streets. At Visp we parked and bought an expensive train ticket on the glacier express to Zermatt as no cars are allowed in Zermatt. It's a nice train ride up to Zermatt in a deep gorge, passing by cute villages with view of white peaks. Once in Zermatt, we lugged our gear the mile up to our hostel. Our hostel has nice views of the Matterhorn. It started peaking out of the clouds when we got there. After checking in, we explored around Zermatt, which is a cute ski town. There are no cars allowed except for a few small electric taxi carts.

4/25

We woke up to a beautiful bluebird day. After breakfast at the hostel we hit the slopes. There was still lots of nice powder to be had! Views everywhere were amazing, including of the Matterhorn. We rode a cable car up to the top of their peak area that sits on a glacier. We skied down the glacier to the border of Italy. We went to another area where we did a small hike to ski lots of powder and down a long glacier run. Near the bottom of the glacier was a really cool ice arch that we skied through. 

At the end of the day, we took the cogwheel up to the dop of a different area with awesome glacier views and an astronomical observatory. We then took the train down to Visp and drove til around midnight to a hotel outside of Geneva. 

4/26

We drove to the Geneva airport and flew to Washington Dulles and then on to Denver where mom picked us up. We got Taco Bell and then drove home in a snowstorm to Estes.

4/27

We woke up heavy snow with 14" already accumulated. The power was out. In the afternoon, Elisha and I skied some great powder up at Hidden Valley. We went out to Byrd and Jim for Elisha's birthday.

4/28

I woke up early for 3 awesome powder laps up at Hidden Valley. We then went to church with dad before driving down to Erie to watch the Avs game with Rick.

4/29

Went for a hike with mom in the snow in the park around Sprague Lake. We had a fancy skirt steak meal with cocktails and bananas flambé for dessert.

4/30

We left Estes in the van in a snowstorm to head to Heron, Montana. It was very windy through Wyoming. We drove through Lander and over a pass into the Teton Valley with nice views of the Tetons. We watched the Avs at a bar in Jackson and spent the night up on Teton Pass in a snowstorm.

5/1 Drove to Idaho, then into Montana and to Heron.

I kept a couple of statistics from our trip:

# of days skiing: 11

# of days eating cheese: 16

I tallied up my number of days skiing for the '23-24 season.

Downhill days = 64

Back country days = 9

Cross Country days = 13

Total days on skis = 86

I was curious how this compared to my '22-23 season when I worked for SAIL and lived both in Gothic and Mt CB. Here is that info:

# of days downhill skiing = 81

# of days backcountry skiing = 87

# 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

Total events on ski = 217

Anniversary Trip. And we did a thing (bought a condo!)

 7/14 Anniversary celebration trip

Elisha met me in Carbondale and we drove to Glenwood Springs where we biked a really fun trail on Red Mountain. We then went to dinner at a yummy local burger joint. We had plans to go to the hot springs, but they charged what we thought was an excessive amount, especially for the 2 hours left of opening. Instead we grabbed a pint of Ben and Jerry's at City Market and then the kids running the cashier at the hot springs let us shower for free. We camped the night in Günther in Glenwood Canyon, alongside the Colorado River.

7/15

We sent in our money to pay the downpayment for the condo we're buying. We did this at the West Vail City Market. We then went to Vail Village and biked up on the mountain all the way to the back bowls. The flowers were great and the trails super fun! Back in Vail we got margaritas and the giant nachos at the Red Lion. This was enough to satisfy us for dinner, so we drove to Avon to visit the rec center. It was only $10 to use the rec center which included a lazy river (nice and warm like a hot tub), pool, jacuzzi, steam shower, and sauna.

After relaxing at the pool for a couple of hours we drove Günther up to the Piney Lake area to camp the night.

7/16

We took a hike from Piney Lake up to a waterfall. Piney Lake sits at the foot of the Gore Range, so the views are splendid and the flowers were very nice.

We then drove back to Vail and had a nice outside lunch at an Italian place. I then biked another trail on Vail Mountain while Elisha explored Vail and Lionshead. Vail is super beautiful in the summer due to all of their incredible flower baskets.

After our time in Vail, we headed to Eagle. Our plan was to bike another trail there; however, it was raining pretty hard, so we just went shopping at Costco. When we came out, there was a vivid double rainbow. It was still too wet to bike, so we drove back home via Kebler Pass, stopping at an authentic (need to use Spanish to order properly) Mexican restaurant in Glenwood.

7/17

Drove to Gothic to see the beautiful flowers and to have some Chai tea at the Coffee Lab. While there we met with Benn, our future winter-caretaker boss and chatted about the job.

On our way home we stopped at our new condo and grabbed the keys hidden under the mat. Our realtor, Alex, had left us a nice card and a bottle of fancy champagne.

7/18-19

Helping the lead ecologist Jennie with an experiment she's working on to deduce whether weeds can be controlled and natives given advantage by different nutrient treatments. She has 21 plots, with 7 blocks of  3 treatments: control, nitrogen added, carbon added. So I helped her REU student Catherine determine counts and percent cover of species in the plots.

7/21 I had to pick up a vehicle (Range Rover) at the Maroon Bells trailhead (instead of the normal Aspen Highlands parking lot, so I got to spend some time at Maroon Lake admiring the views of the Bells. And I did an incredibly beautiful flower ride up by Cement Creek.

7/22

Elisha and I did a very flowerful bike ride on Meander before doing some work on the condo. Elisha is working hard (and doing a great job) getting the condo in shape.

7/23

We got up really early and did part of the West Maroon Pass hike. The flowers were, of course, spectacular. We then biked the 401 for more beautiful flowers