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…
The White Rim Trail is a 100-mile long dirt road that carves out a massive loop around the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. The route weaves and winds through some of the most dramatic canyon country Utah has to offer and has slowly but surely evolved into one of the more famous “century” mountain bike rides in the U.S. Parties oftentimes take two to four days to complete the loop, camping at various locations along the way, but it’s also become a popular option to ride the entire thing in a single day push, which is what we decided to do. Read more…
Fall has officially arrived in the Colorado high country. Days are getting noticeably shorter now, nights are chilling down and we’re past peak for fall colors with dustings of snow in the high alpine across the state. It’s always nice to get out around this time for those last few dry-ish peaks of the season, not knowing when things will definitively be snowed in for good. Steve was up for getting out as well, and so we decided to head to the West Elk Wilderness northwest of Gunnison to hike its namesake high point, West Elk Peak. Keep reading…
I think the only reasonable way to make yourself sign up for a 100 mile race is to do it in a moment full of impulse, peer pressure, and some sort of other life high. A bold declaration of “f*ck it” helps too. Or at least, that was my experience. When I signed up for the Bear 100 back in late 2021, it took all of these things to make me finally pull the trigger.
I’ve been a runner and a climber for pretty much all of my adult life. Over the past few years I have discovered the joy of combining the two together. What began with an eye opening first 50k at the 2018 Dirty 30 quickly evolved into a slew of follow up races, long mountain running days, and many, many hours on the trails. By my count, I had run a marathon or longer 19 times before doing the Bear. So, in many ways, I definitely felt like I was ready. But 100 miles sure felt different. Because it is. Keep Reading….
