Never Ceases to Amaze Me

My apologies for the posting drought, but I thought it best to show my newest niece (I'm on a six-neice streak, by the way) her due respect by alloting her plenty of time at the head of the blog. Plus, I know how the ladies like baby pictures. And at the end of they day, it's all for the ladies, isn't it?

Of course, all that was once new becomes old, and sadly baby Megan is no exception. From what I'm told, she's already begging to get her ears pierced, sneaking cigarettes behind the local library, and defiantly informing her mother that "she didn't ask to be born." Circle of life, I guess.

That being the case, it's probably high time I get back to some blogging. Lauren and I were plenty active this weekend, and we've got the pictures to prove it.

Saturday morn, I picked up my buddy Jay under the cover of the last darkness 6 AM will provide for quite a while in these parts. (Thank you very much, Daylight Savings Time.) Our goal was to once again hike to the top of Ajax Mountian, only rather than taking the circituitous route I ascended the previous Sunday, this time we would head straight up Spar Gulch. What we gained in ascending speed we would lose in comfort: the climb up the gulch is steep and unforgiving, particularly with 15-20 pounds on your back.

We got started before seven, and by nine, we were still in the gulch and still yet to see the sun. The gulch, as you can see in the picture above, sits squarely in the shadows cast by the surrounding peaks, and with a swirling wind also commonplace, it can be a cold, dark place.

The hike was too damn steep for a lot of picture taking, so there's nothing else until we reached the top. Total climbing time was a shade under 2:45, meaning the straight shot up the gulch saved us about 30 minutes over Summer Road. The trade off, of course, is tired, tired legs. By the time we reached the summit, the sun was high in the sky, and Jay and I were slowly roasting under all that gear.

The picture above is the view from the summit, and the object of my desire is Highlands Bowl -- the home of the most epic in-bounds riding Aspen has to offer. It's super steep, it holds incredible snow, and it's made with bits of real panther, so you know that it's good.

The bowl should open sometime in mid-December, and with the ridiculous early season base our "October Surprise" storms have left, it should be great riding from the get-go. The red lines you see mark some of the more famous chutes found on the Bowl, and I must say, I'm giddy at the prospect of exploring each and every one of them. Lauren? Not so much.

The skiing on the descent was good, though not great. Of couse, it is only October, so perhaps I may be guilty of losing some perspective. After all, ANY skiing this time of year is good skiing, isn't it??