Day 36 – Hanging in Boulder – March 29th, 2011

Today was an off day, meaning I spent most of the day catching up on organizing photos, updating the blog, reading emails, FB, getting a haircut and planning the next stages of the trip. We also had to repack and plan for the next 2 days, we would be backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park and snow camping. Sometime travelling full time can be a lot of work! However I could not go all day with doing nothing. I had made plans with Ira, the guy I met through the back country skiing meetup to go to a local climbing gym and really get a feel for what Boulder was all about. After a bit of refresher training on my knots and belaying, Ira and I started off on a few different climbs. After maybe an hour I was completely burnt out, and had barely enough left in me to lift a water bottle (much less a pint), so we headed off to Southern Sun, a fine Boulder brew pub to meet up with Rose and Joe. Joe was our couch surfing host for one night and he and Ira were sharing stories with us of their long term cross country trips that they had both taken.   I really enjoyed Boulder, it’s smaller than Denver, but everyone here is super active, my kind of town!

Day 35 – Skiing, Vail Colorado – March 28th, 2011

  I had made arrangements with some friends of our couch surfers from Denver to go skiing today in Vail.   We met up and headed for the mountains.  The roads were getting worse and worse as we drove and Mandy’s little Toyota with worn tires were not doing so well.  Eventually we had to stop put on the snow chains and then slowly continue along.  This of course was good news since we would have plenty of fresh snow on the mountain.   We finally arrived at started skiing by 11AM, there was at least 10” of new snow, and in many places the powder was knee deep.  It was amazing!  The girls I was skiing with had been there all winter and said it was the most new powder they had seen all year.  We had a great time all day, Laura and I broke off from the other two to tackle some of the black diamond runs that wound through the trees.  By 4PM, when the lifts close were exhausted, but happy, pushing fresh powder around is great fun, but tiring too.  We headed back to the Front Range, but stopped for beer and food on the way at (surprise!) another brew pub.  Colorado is covered in these things, it’s awesome.  What a great way to get introduced to Colorado skiing!

Photo Album:  FTF Day 35 - Vail

Day 34 – Backcountry Skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park – March 27th, 2011

Jeep Mileage:  274 110 km

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 2^nd 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

Day 29-33 Denver March 22nd – 26th, 2011

Annie and Ian our awesome hosts in Denver

We spent 5 days in Denver couch Surfing with a originally couple from Baltimore, Annie and Ian.  They were super cool hosts; they made us dinner, took us out to different neighbourhoods, and shaved Rose’s head.  Rose had been talking about getting a low maintenance haircut for some time now, so one drunken night Ian requested a Mohawk from Annie, and rose jumped on the bandwagon.  We had time to walk around a number of different neighbourhoods, parks, and check out some dive bars, including the infamous Nob Hill Inn, near Capitol Hill.  We sampled a few different Pizza places, and $1 PBRs too, hey give us a break we're on a budget!  I really like the feel of Denver and the size seems right too.  Who knows maybe one day it will be my future home.  On our way to Boulder we visited the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, a natural amphitheater that seats 9000 people and over looks Denver in the distance, although there are no concerts going on until summer, it was still cool to be there.  From there we headed to Eldorado Canyon State Park for some hiking, the canyon like many areas in Colorado was very popular with Rock climbers.  I imagine if I ever move here I’ll join the crowds.

Full Photo Album:  FTF Day 29-33 Denver

 
 

Day 28, Climbing Mt. Bancroft (13250 ft) March 21st , 2011

Steve had 1 day left in Colorado and wanted to get one more climb in.  Since Mays and his brother were both working he asked me to join him to climb Mt. Bancroft, near his brother’s house in Golden Colorado.  Bancroft sits at 13250ft (4038m) tall, shorter than Elbert, but still challenging, especially since we had just climbed Elbert.  We were dropped off at the trail head at 10AM and told our ride (Rose and Aya) to be back at 5PM.  Again we started off in snowshoes, across a frozen lake, up a snowfield (St. Mary’s Glacier, which is not really a glacier) that was a bit loaded for avalanche so we quickly passed this point, while remaining several hundred feet apart.  Once above the snowfield we were on a flat plain for about a mile before having to drop 300 ft into a lake basin that sat in front of the mountain.  The lake was beautiful but this decent also meant we would have to climb back out of the basin after the summit.  No matter we pressed on switching to crampons and choosing a relatively safe, but steep route up a snowfield.  We took turns leading since we were ankle deep in snow, but truthfully Steve the majority of the hard work.  Finally after 5 hrs we reached the ridge and then just 10 minutes later we were on the summit.  It was windy but not nearly as bad as on Elbert.  We took several photos and then quickly headed down.  We quickly moved down the mountain, glissading (sliding on your butt) when we could to save time, energy and have a laugh.  Climbing out of the basin proved to be more diffifult than we anticipated, since it had warmed up during the day the snow became weak, we kept breaking through and had to crawl and hop our way to the flat area.  Finally we arrived back at the parking lot at 5:30PM, a little later than planned but happy to be successful in another endeavour.

Info on Mt. Bancroft.

I realize now, more than ever that mountaineering is one of the most challenging sports I have ever taken on.  While climbing my heart was pounding away at 120-150 bpm, you only stop maybe every 1-2 hrs for a 5-10 minutes for water and food then you keep going.  Maintaining this level of effort for hours takes a real toll on your body all while at 10,000 ft or higher.  I figure I burn literally 4000-5000 calories on more for a day on the mountain, afterwards I can’t seem to eat enough.  Anyone out there that wants a new challenge out there get yourself to Colorado (even in the summer, although winter is much tougher) and try out a 14er, there are 57 of them in the state.

Photo Album:  FTF Day 28 - mt. Bancroft

Day 25-27, Climbing Mt. Elbert March 18th-20th , 2011

Jeep Mileage:  272 700 km

After our late arrival in Colorado Springs, I met Steve Curry and Mike Mays for the first time in person and we talked for a bit then headed for bed.  Steve and Aya live in Japan and are good friends with Rose.  Steve is very much into Mountaineering and has been learning everything he knows from Mike Mays, who lives in Colorado  Springs, they were there for a week to visit so Steve could get some climbing in with Mays in preparation for their trip to Peru’s Huascarán (22,205ft or 6768m) in June.  I saw it as a chance to climb with a very experienced mountaineer and learn a bunch of new things, while still physically and mentally challenging myself.  Rose was eager to catch up with her friend Aya. 

Friday we woke up and began preparation for climbing Mt. Elbert, in Colorado.  Mt. Elbert at 14440 ft, is Colorado's highest mountain and the 2nd tallest in the lower 48 states.  Aya and Rose took the Jeep and headed for sand Dunes National Monument and some natural hot springs.  Mays, Steve and I headed for the base of Elbert where we met with Steve’s brother Mike.    The 4 of us setup camp, and spent the evening making dinner and talking mountain talk.

Saturday morning we were up at 5AM so we could start our climb at 7AM.  Since many of the roads are not cleared in winter we had to walk an extra 2 miles along a snowy path.  In total the climb would be 11.2 miles (18km), and 4880ft (1487m) from base to summit.  We started on snowshoes and then once clear of the tree line and the snowfield we switched to crampons.  The wind continued to pickup throughout the day, by the time we summited after 7 hrs of climbing the wind was blowing at 60 mph.  Mays, Steve and I were all super happy, as it was Steve and my highpoint in our climbing career.  Since no mountains in Colorado are glaciated and the route was not very steep or technical we remained unroped.  After a few photos on the summit we quickly headed back down the way we came.  Another 4 hrs later we were back at base camp.  We headed into town for some dinner, which tasted awesome after such a long day (although I think cardboard would have tasted awesome at that point).  We then headed back to camp and quickly fell asleep.

More on Mt. Elbert's south route:  Mt. Elbert South Route

Sunday morning we packed up camp, and headed into town for breakfast, on the way back to Mays’s place we stopped for a quick hike up to Agnes Vaille falls.  Steve and his brother headed back to Golden Colorado, where his brother lives.  After returning to Mays’s place in Colorado springs I cleaned up my gear and repacked it.  Rose and Aya then showed up and the 4 of us headed to Garden of the Gods, then dinner in Manitou Springs.  Garden of the Gods is a beautiful park with tons of rock formations and it’s great for hiking, biking, and rock climbing.  We had a great weekend, and spent the evening exchanging stories.

see the photo album:  FTF Day 25-27

Day 24, The Big Drive March 17th, 2011

Jeep Mileage: 271 202 km

Happy St. Patty’s Day! Well after 3 days of waiting our Jeep is finally ready, we got a ride to the garage from another Couch Surfer, Medina at 7:30AM so we could be on our way right away. We headed out at 8AM and drove along I40 across Oklahoma, and Texas to Amarillo, then cut up towards New Mexico, and eventually Colorado, finishing in Colorado Springs at midnight. In total we drove for 15.5 hours covering 989 miles (1592 km).

It was a long day but we were eager to meet up with our friends in Colorado, and we felt recharged after our 3 day stay in Little Rock. We took turns throughout the day driving.

We recently found out that we will be doing a WWOOF in Utah near Moab on a Solar Powered Organic Vineyard. The farm is run by a 24 year old from California. I am hoping to help put the finishing touches on a solar powered cabin and help with the crops. We will be staying there for about 2 weeks, working approximately 6 hrs a day 5 days a week in exchange for room and board. This will give us a chance to settle down for a couple weeks after 2 months of travel, and learn new skills while doing something a little less selfish at the same time.

A few photos:  Day 24 - The Big Drive


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