On Monday I was able to pull off a big loop in the northern-Sangres that had been on the short list for a few summers. The loop collects seven 13ers around Cotton Lake between Mt. Owen and De Anza Peak just north of the Rito Alto group. Armed with a near-perfect weather forecast and a day off work, I finally decided to pull the trigger. Things went pretty smoothly overall and it turned out to be the big, satisfying day I was hoping for. Read more…
A few weekends back Rick and I headed into the Holy Cross Wilderness to tag a pair of 13ers on its northwestern edge – Gold Dust and “Pika Peak”. It turned out to be a fun day, with a neat traverse between the two peaks and a stop off at Lake Charles for a dip before heading into Eagle for some cold ones. We started out from the Fulford Cave Campground and followed the trail southeast up into the East Brush Creek drainage. Keep Reading…
Last week I motored over to the Elks with the goal of exploring the Conundrum Creek drainage south of Aspen. My plan was to summit Hunter Peak and then run the ridge south as far as I could. I wound up nabbing six 13ers along the way, finishing with “Triangle Peak” above Triangle Pass, then jogging back down the length of the drainage to the TH with a pit stop at the hot springs along the way. It was a really cool day out there and a fun way to finally see this area. Read more…
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…