A bit belated here, but in late-February I was fortunate enough to sneak into the Power of Four skimo race and successfully finish the course along with new partner and friend, Chris Tonozzi. It was one of the bigger days I’ve ever had on skis, and was super cool to finally be a part of.
Since the race’s inaugural run in 2011, the Audi Power of Four has become known in skimo circles as one of the more difficult winter endurance events in North America. Traversing up and over the four ski areas in Aspen, the course racks up over 11,000 ft of elevation gain and ~29 miles from start to finish. Like most skimo races, it’s very conditions dependent as well, which can further add to the challenge. Truth be told the full story of how I made it into this race is pretty unorthodox. With not much doing in the way of backcountry skiing this season, uphilling inbounds was sort of the only fitness option for us mountain folk through December and January. Keep Reading….
Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year as they say, is officially here. As the holiday crowds descend from all over the world upon Colorado’s mountain towns, Anna-Lisa and I have made it a tradition to escape the madness and head up to a 10th Mountain or Braun hut for a night or two on or around Christmas. This year we decided to book out the Markley Hut, which features one of the shortest approaches of any hut in the system. Keep Reading…
In the spring of 2021, Dylan and I completed the Grand Traverse Ski from Crested Butte to Aspen. Being into it’s 25th year, it’s the longest running ski mountaineering race in North America. Around a decade ago race organizers decided to add Grand Traverse summer events, namely an ultramarathon from Crested Butte to Aspen which follows a very similar route as the ski race, along with a mountain bike race from Aspen back to CB the following day. Ever since finishing the ski I had wanted to go back for the run and bike races, and finally did so at the beginning of the month. Keep reading…
For several summers now I’ve headed over to the Elks and pieced together a big wilderness loop of some kind. I’ve always felt if you’re gonna spend all day on your feet whether it’s for training purposes or not, you might as well look for something unique in a cool area to make things more interesting. With its vast network of trails, there are lots of options for these kinds of big days in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. So I decided to check out another loop in the Capitol Peak area of the northern-Elks which had long been on my wish list.
This one is a tad on the obscure side in that I haven’t noticed too many people mention it or run it over the years. One or two trip reports from over a decade ago can be found online, but generally speaking, this linkup doesn’t seem to get as much traffic as some of its more popular siblings (Four Pass, Three Pass, etc). The route goes like this… start at the Capitol Creek TH and follow the ditch trail up to Capitol Lake. Continue up and over the pass north of Capitol Peak… Read more…
