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…
With the Dirty 30 in the rearview and the San Juan Solstice only a week away, I was looking for a good training option to bridge the fourteen day gap between the two races. My eye landed on Mt. Elbert and the natural loop that can be made out of its two primary hiking routes. It wound up being a near-perfect run in the sun with Jax and a fine way to revisit the roof of Colorado on foot for the first time since 2003. Read more…
With the spring snowpack winding down and summer on the doorstep, it was time to make the annual pilgrimage to the north side of Torreys Peak. For about a decade now a group of us have ended our ski season here with a 3,000 ft corn run down either “The Emperor” or the Tuning Fork (or even both of them some years) capped off by a BBQ in the sun. It’s become somewhat of a tradition of sorts, and one that doesn’t seem to be in danger of falling by the wayside anytime soon. Keep Reading…
