Alright...camera is busted. Don't know why but I'm not happy. I am happy about potentially being half way done my obligation for the day however. Four laps down, four to go. With the exception of the first lap, where I got way too excited, I've been pretty steady and feel like I have four more just like it left in me. But who knows.
The team is surpassing all expectations, currently in line for a podium finish in the Mens Senior Category and a top-1o overall finish. But again, ANYTHING can go wrong seeing as though we're only seven hours into this thing.
My next two shifts will be at roughly 11PM and 12:40AM. Ouch.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
24 Hours of Sunlight: Update #2
That's me in the middle. The one with the qualtity hind quarters.
Time: 12:48.
We're two laps in. I went out WAAAAY too fast and clicked off a 37:35, and Nick came through clutch with a strong 41:46. Right now we're sitting in 11th place overall, but more importantly, we're coming through with good times, and if we keep that up, the rest just takes care of itself. The climb is pretty mellow, easier than some of the local climbs we train on. The descent, on the other hand, is a bit hairy. Fast and steep in parts, with 300+ racers on it, it will be an ice rink by about 9 PM.
Todd is out there now. In the meantime, I need to get my boots dry, skins dry, body dry, and refuel. Next lap coming up in an hour or so.
24 Hours of Sunlight: Post 1
Time: 9:10 MST
Just arrived at our B&B, and it is PLUSH. Fireplace, two bedrooms, heart-shaped hot tub*, the works. But most importantly.....WIFI. So I will do my absolute best to live-blog from the race when I'm not out climbing or descending. Here are a few pics of our posh pad.
That's Nick. He's a key part of the squad, and he's been sick as a dog all week, so he's got a tough task ahead of him. We're still waiting on our other two guys. We've got 1 hour until the race meeting, then I'll be starting my climb at 11:00 sharp, so I'll get back to everyone soon after!
Wish us luck!
* May not be true
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Silverton Trip Report
So I wrangled up seven other guys from Aspen to make the five hour trek to Southwest Colorado in order to ski the lift-accessed backcountry terrain of Silverton Mountain. Skiing Silverton is as close as most of us will ever get to skiing the big lines of Alaska, and it's always worth the trip.
We shot down on Saturday after work and pulled into town soon after six. When I tell you that this photo captures all of downtown Silverton, I'm not kidding. The town is literally five blocks long. Five blocks of stunning beauty, but five blocks nevertheless. That is NOT the ski resort in the background.
The architecture on Main Street has remained untouched for about a century or so. The main bar in town still has bullet holes in the walls.
Sunday morning, it was up at seven and at the "resort" by eight. This is the base village. Seriously. It's a yurt where you sign in, prove you have avalanche gear, and sign numerous release forms absolving the resort from blame should you go out and get yourself killed.
There is one lift at Silverton, and really all that does is save you a two hour hike. There really is no skiing under the lift. Instead, the lift grants you access to a ridge, which grants you access to acre after acre of unbelievable hike-to skiing. There really is no other place like it in the U.S. This time of year, all skiing at Silverton is guided, so you basically go where the guide recommends. On this day, our goal was this large couloir in the middle of this photo, aptly named the "Grande."
In order to gain access to the Grande, we had to hike to the high point along the ridge, to an elevation of roughly 13,000 feet. Here is just one of the dozens of breath-taking photos I shot from the top on a typical bluebird Colorado morning.
From the top of the ridge, we had to ski down about 1,000 feet, then traverse over to the bottom of the Grande, before beginning the long and arduous boot up the couloir. This was the line we dropped into to access the traverse. Snow was nice but variable. If you loook in the middle-left of the photo, you'll see the precipice of a cliff band. The other side of that cliff drops over 100 feet straight down. Don't want to catch an edge up here!
Once beyond the cliff, we traversed over to the start of the 2,000 foot climb up the Grande, strapped our skis to our packs, and started the long, slow boot up the shin-deep snow. About 500 yards from the top, I turned around to shoot this pic of the guys behind me. Sorry about the quality, but my camera was in my chest pocket and the lens got some condensation build up.
From the top of the Grande, at roughly 12,700 feet, the view down the line we would be skiing. Relatively steep at 42-45 degrees, but not as steep as some of the bigger lines we skied locally here in Aspen last spring and will be skiing again soon in a couple of months.
Finished up around 2:30. Looking back at the Grande. Green line is our ascent route, red line the descent. Snow was a mix of powder and breakable crust, not the greatest skiing in the world.
At the end of the day, though, a trip to Silverton is usually more about the experience than the snow qualify, and this one was no different. Good buddies, great skiing, amazing views. I'm already looking forward to next year!
We shot down on Saturday after work and pulled into town soon after six. When I tell you that this photo captures all of downtown Silverton, I'm not kidding. The town is literally five blocks long. Five blocks of stunning beauty, but five blocks nevertheless. That is NOT the ski resort in the background.
The architecture on Main Street has remained untouched for about a century or so. The main bar in town still has bullet holes in the walls.
Sunday morning, it was up at seven and at the "resort" by eight. This is the base village. Seriously. It's a yurt where you sign in, prove you have avalanche gear, and sign numerous release forms absolving the resort from blame should you go out and get yourself killed.
There is one lift at Silverton, and really all that does is save you a two hour hike. There really is no skiing under the lift. Instead, the lift grants you access to a ridge, which grants you access to acre after acre of unbelievable hike-to skiing. There really is no other place like it in the U.S. This time of year, all skiing at Silverton is guided, so you basically go where the guide recommends. On this day, our goal was this large couloir in the middle of this photo, aptly named the "Grande."
In order to gain access to the Grande, we had to hike to the high point along the ridge, to an elevation of roughly 13,000 feet. Here is just one of the dozens of breath-taking photos I shot from the top on a typical bluebird Colorado morning.
From the top of the ridge, we had to ski down about 1,000 feet, then traverse over to the bottom of the Grande, before beginning the long and arduous boot up the couloir. This was the line we dropped into to access the traverse. Snow was nice but variable. If you loook in the middle-left of the photo, you'll see the precipice of a cliff band. The other side of that cliff drops over 100 feet straight down. Don't want to catch an edge up here!
Once beyond the cliff, we traversed over to the start of the 2,000 foot climb up the Grande, strapped our skis to our packs, and started the long, slow boot up the shin-deep snow. About 500 yards from the top, I turned around to shoot this pic of the guys behind me. Sorry about the quality, but my camera was in my chest pocket and the lens got some condensation build up.
From the top of the Grande, at roughly 12,700 feet, the view down the line we would be skiing. Relatively steep at 42-45 degrees, but not as steep as some of the bigger lines we skied locally here in Aspen last spring and will be skiing again soon in a couple of months.
Finished up around 2:30. Looking back at the Grande. Green line is our ascent route, red line the descent. Snow was a mix of powder and breakable crust, not the greatest skiing in the world.At the end of the day, though, a trip to Silverton is usually more about the experience than the snow qualify, and this one was no different. Good buddies, great skiing, amazing views. I'm already looking forward to next year!
Hello??? Is Anybody Out There?
Slacking on the updates. It's been an epic winter, and with the snow finally relenting for the past few days, I thought I'd get everyone up to speed.I've spent far too much time in ski boots this year, and my poor feet have bore the brunt of all this playing. They're more or less destroyed. Doctor's advice: they'll heal over the summer. Thanks doc!
Last weekend, me and seven other Aspen locals took the five hour trek to Silverton Mountain for some quasi-Alaska big mountain skiing. I'll post a trip report in a separate blog entry.
Lauren has been doing quite a bit of skiing as well, and is really starting to improve. She did her first black diamond yesterday, though it may have emotionally scarred her for life. We'll see how she rebounds.
Maci is having a blast in all this snow, and celebrated her 1st birthday on February 11th by sharing a big steak with her daddy. Good times.
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