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Published: February 2nd 2005
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Ice Climbers
Look at 'em go! Hey everyone, I guess I have some catching up to do. The last time I wrote was about Telluride, I’ve covered a lot of time since then.
So, the next stop after Telluride was a little town called Ouray for a day. This is a tiny town nestled in a box canyon but with no ski area, just a really cool public hot spring and an ice festival the weekend we were there. Ice climbing is an interesting sport, the climbers are equipped with crampons and ice axes, and they basically just attack the ice as they climb, with a constant spray of ice chunks, some bowling ball sized head hunters, raining down. But these guys were impressive, the speed climbers got up the ice faster than I can climb a ladder. We also toured the demo tents for climbing related companies and ran into a tent company (Nemo, interesting inflatable tents) which was partially founded by an classmate at Dartmouth, Sanjay Madan. We only spent half a day at the ice fest, and spent the other half driving up Red Mountain pass, just to say we have driven one of the most treacherous passes in America and try to
get another view of the San Juans. I have never seen so many signs for 10 mph corners and such a lack of guard rails on a state highway. We had a quick lunch at the top, and then drove down to the jazz stylings of Cal Tjader which Dave played photographer by sticking his head out of the sun roof and snapping photos as the mountains rolled past. Good times.
From Ouray we stopped in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison for a quick hike and a chat with a park ranger who seemed a little starved for human interaction. Then it was off the Crested Butte.
We had some good luck in CB. As we drove into town Dave called up a friend, Chris, who had generously agreed to put us up for a few days, but found out that the water heater in Chris’ place had popped its top and soaked the rug (not good luck for him). But the property management company rented a condo for a few days, and this place just happened to have two extra beds! Crested Butte not only is a really cool mountain, but also is a fun little
town as well. Our ski days we spent following locals, Chris was a great guide. He introduced us to a new style of skiing, at least for me, which he called “billy goat skiing”. Crested Butte is full of tight little chutes and gullies, but in true Colorado form they all seemed to have trees and rocks sticking through all over the place, even after some big storms had hit earlier in the season. So the idea is not so much to link turns, but instead to avoid obstacles, skiing one jump turn at a time. We had two great days at CB, and I have to recommend one of the local pizza places, The Secret Stash right on the main street. They make some really creative and tasty pizzas, plus the drink specials are “unique”. They had a good beer selection, including Mickey’s 40’s in a brown paper bag, and the drink special the night we were there was a PBR and a shot of tequila for $3. What a deal, any guesses as to what I drank!
So, after CB we spent one day at Arapahoe Basin before making our way to Winter Park, where Dave had
another friend who we stayed with. Winter Park was surprisingly good skiing, and we had a special treat that day. There is a section of the mountain called Vasquez Cirque which is on a long traverse from the peak of the area. This spot hadn’t been open yet during the year, until we arrived. As soon as we saw the “open” sign we bolted for the gate, and as we skied out along the traverse I passed a sign that read “Stop, wait for snowmobile tow”. I stopped, but more out of confusion than anything else. But after a short wait a snowmobile showed up with two ropes hanging off the back, and we got a quick ¼ mile tow out to the Cirque. The terrain in this area is mostly bowls and chutes, some really fun stuff, but the real excitement comes from the backcountry feel and the lack of people. Some great turns.
After Winter Park we made a quick stop in Aspen to drink champagne with another friend of Dave’s, and then it was back to Denver on the 24th in order to get Dave back to California so he could re-enter the working world. That
afternoon I drove up to Rocky Mountain Natn Park for some cross country skiing, didn’t a soul and got a little taste of the park. That evening I drove out to Steamboat.
I spent only one day skiing at Steamboat, but got a good little mountain tour from a local. Unfortunately one day was spent tracking down a car part at the local salvage yard. From Steamboat I headed north to Jackson, where I’ve been for 5 days. Because the snow has been kind of slow in coming, I spent only one day at the ski area, Teton Village, or what most people call Jackson Hole. The mountain is amazing, but I mostly stuck to groomers due to snow conditions, and just tried to imagine what the place would be like with lots of fresh stuff, I think I might have to return when a storm finally hits. I spent the other 4 days cross country skiing and doing some backcountry, two days up at Teton Pass. While the snow at the resort was not too special, the backcountry was actually pretty fun, sometimes spring like conditions, sometimes just dust on crust. But I met some interesting people while
Crested Butte
Typical scene, with the mountain in the background trecking around in the woods, and hopefully I have a connection for another backcountry trip tomorrow in Idaho. We’ll see. Jackson is a great town though. It’s growing quickly, but still retains some of the small town feel, plus there is great variety here, I ate Thai food last night and saw a killer bluegrass show on Monday. It will be tough to leave here, but tomorrow should be a blast, and Montana calls. And there might be snow on the way!!
‘till next time,
Eamon
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