With the Telluride Mountain Run at the end of August rapidly approaching it’s time to get out there for a few alpine training runs. This past Saturday I decided to check out a route I had earmarked awhile back while looking at a map of the Sawatch in search of long loops incorporating 14ers. I’d never seen any reports or Strava logs of anyone running this particular linkup before, although I’m sure it gets some traffic as the loop makes a lot of sense. Read more…
Several years back I got an invite to join on J, Brandon and Co’s annual “Hardman Hut Trip” (some years are harder than others but there are always plenty of men). From 10th Mountain to Uncle Bud’s to Skinner we went, covering around 30 miles between the three huts with a few good turns mixed in along the way. This same crew of long-time friends has continued with this style of trip every year for the past decade or so, and I was happy to join again for this year’s outing as soon as I got the invite. Read more…
It’s been quite the start to the snow season up here, at least in the northern mountains of Colorado. It seems like it’s been snowing more days than it hasn’t since mid-November, and Vail already has 62% of its terrain open as of December 16th. I can’t recall the Back Bowls opening this early in recent memory, nor can I recall wishing I owned a snow blower more than I have this month. With snow seasons in general being pretty hit or miss these days, needless to say, we’ll take it. Read more…
For the past several years I’ve been working through a progression of mountain races, from marathon distance up to 100K, with the long-term goal in mind of giving a 100-miler a shot. And I figured if I were to invest all the time and effort necessary to run a 100-miler, I might as well pick a really cool one, even if it meant having to wait a few years to get in. Turns out I didn’t have to look very far from home, nor was it all that difficult to land on the High Lonesome 100 in the southern-Sawatch range. Keep reading…