For the past year or so, Ben has been telling me about the Golden Gate Dirty 30 ultra marathon in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. He had a really good experience last year during his race, and he knew I would like this race given my running and trail running background. I kept it loosely on the radar throughout the year, but never too seriously. 32.2 miles on single track is a big commitment to train for. Keep Reading…
Time in the mountains has been difficult to come by for me so far this year. Between selling and buying a pair of homes, preparing for Anna-Lisa and I’s move out of Denver, and training for a series of trail races in June/July, it’s been a thin year for ski descents. I haven’t been particularly broken up about it though, because it’s also been a thin year for the Colorado snowpack. Conditions have seemed rough up high for the better part of a month now, not helped by the fact that our base was disappointing to begin with. Keep Reading…
Longs Peak is a special mountain. That’s obvious to say, but every time I go up there, I’m reminded of why this one is the big poppa in Colorado. It’s only two hours from Denver. It’s the peak biggest in the Park, by far. It has over a hundred routes to the summit; many of those are Colorado classics. It has enough variations to keep climbers, skiers, hikers, and mountaineers busy for years. Its legacy is about as rich as any mountain in the US. And of course, The Diamond is a world class wall that is worth every penny (or at least, so I’m told). Keep Reading….
Earlier this month Rick, J, and I headed into Dry Gulch looking to get up high and make some turns down something resembling a ski line. With either Snoopy’s Collar on The Citadel or else Hagar Mountain in mind, we chose to go for the latter after seeing the snow coverage in the area firsthand. The southeast face of Hagar was a line I skied in May a few years back that I always figured would make for a good repeat. Tough to find a line more reliable and close-to-home than this one. Keep Reading…