Jeep Mileage: 274 110 km
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| Ira Skis up |
I had found a meetup group in Boulder for backcountry skiing, luckily they were heading out while we were visiting Boulder. We headed for Rocky Mountain National Park to the Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley used to be a ski area with a few tow ropes hut and everything. The tow ropes were removed many years ago, but the remaining ski runs are still there. This would be my first chance to test out my new AT ski gear, and the first time in 2 years since I had done any backcountry skiing. So we started skinning up the mountain, I had trouble figuring out my new Dynafit bindings, so I was trailing behind the group, eventually I caught up but I was overheating from wearing too many clothes. Finally I stripped down a layer and continued on. After maybe 1-2 hours of skinning up the mountain, we stopped, peeled off our skins, locked down the bindings and boots, and headed down through ankle deep powder it was beautiful! I loved how my new wide skis handled in the big powder. We stopped at the bottom of the bowl and headed back up for another run. I was getting pretty worn out at this point but trudge on. At the end of the 2nd climb I was toasted, and had to eat some trail mix, a couple of the guys waited for me at the stop of the hill, and Ira helped me out with my skis while I refueled. The weather was a bit sketching too by this time the wind had really picked up and clouds had blocked out the sun. I felt worse here at 10000 ft than I did after a whole day of climbing on Elbert, it was a humbling experience, but encouraged me to get out there for more. We made another run, and then headed to a tree lined run that took us back to the parking lot. On the way back we stopped Lyons (not France) for some beer and food at a brew pub.
For those of you interested in backcountry skiing or what to know more about AT skis check this out:Ski Touring
That evening Rose and I headed out to a Couch Surfing meeting in Boulder. We met a lot of interesting people. Once thing I noted is that it seems everyone we meet in Colorado has done long term travel. We met at least 6 or 7 people that have lived in their car, van RV, or truck for a year or more and travelled around North America, apparently this is a rite of passage for living here. Everyone has had different experiences, but they all have no regrets for doing it and are all happy for us.
Photo Album: FTF Day 34
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