Summer is more or less over in Colorado, with snow starting to accumulate in the high country as winter’s grip slowly tightens. But as per usual the late-summer/fall window made for a nice venue to bag some peaks and ultimately hit my 500th thirteener summit this past Sunday, a nice milestone to reach just ahead of ski season. As I fell behind on keeping up with blog posts throughout the fall I figured I’d summarize things in one go. So without further ado, here are the highlights… Read more…
“I’ve definitely done sketchier things in my mountaineering career. But not many.” That was the feeling I had looking back at up at my summit one gorgeous summer evening in Iceland. I had just returned from a successful climb of Kirkjufell – one of the most iconic peaks in the country and the source of much anxiety over the past couple of hours. My journey had taken me out the front door of our Airbnb all the way to the top of the towering mountain across the bay. Keep Reading…
The “Three Apostles” are a trio of rugged peaks in the central-Sawatch Range about 8 miles to the northeast of Taylor Park Reservoir. The most prominent peak in the trio, Ice Mountain, is one of Colorado’s Centennial 13ers and is perhaps best known for its classic snow/ski route, the Refrigerator Couloir. It is flanked on either side by North Apostle, also a Centennial, and “West Apostle” peaks. The three of them together make for a fun scramble traverse that was only first completed in 1954 according to Roof of the Rockies. Keep reading…
I have tried, and failed, to run the San Juan Solstice ever since I got into trail running. Ben always talked about what a great race it is, and I certainly knew it went through some of the state’s best areas, so I was keen to try it for myself. But year after year, it just kept not happening. Suffice it to say, this was a long-awaited race that I was very excited to finally run. Last year we actually still made it down to Lake City on the days of the cancelled race. We had our reservation in an Airbnb saved, so we figured why not make the best of it? Keep Reading…
