► James Peak (13,294 feet) - May 3, 20008:
This past Saturday, I hiked up James Peak with my buddy Nick. It was my first day out in the mountains in two weeks and we were both itching for some great weather, incredible views, and awesome spring skiing. Well ... 2 out of 3 ain't bad. In fact, it was only the 2nd bluebird sunny day in this area since January. Looks like the planets were aligned for us. Oh wait ... they really were:
This is James Peak with a few other people joining us in the fun:
Another person at the bottom of the glacier as we begin our 3+ mile trek towards the summit and climb 3,000 vertical feet:
This is Nick about halfway up the glacier with some horrible views towards the east in the far background:
That my readers is called sastrugi and it's SOO MUCH FUN to ski through ... no really, it is:
Some puppy chows were also out and about:
Me trying to bring some urban flair to the backcountry:
Mount Bancroft (13,250):
Pikes Peak (14,110) some eighty miles away:
L to R: Mt. Evans (14,222), Gray Wolf Mountain (13,602), Mt. Bierstadt (14,049), Square Top Mountain (13,783), Mt. Wilcox (13,163), Argentine Peak (13,120), Mt. Edwards (13,839)
Long's Peak (14,255) and the rest of Rocky Mountain National Park:
Berthoud Pass, Winter Park, and the rest of the Gore Range off in the far distance:
This is me at the summit looking very unpleasant:
Nick:
This couloir pictured below is called Super Star and is consistently 50-55 degrees. You can view it in the picture above of James Peak as it's on the far left of the photograph. Unfortunately, the cornice was a bit too big and we were unable to drop it. We will be back though in the future with cutting saws and rope to cut that bastard off and slay it:
Another view of Super Star from the southeast ridge:
So with that idea shot down, we hike south back up towards the summit and down the southeast ridge to begin looking at other options to descend down.
Here's Nick pointing to some potential:
We hike over and star down what is called Shooting Star Couloir. We had just received about 2-3 feet of snow so the chance of skunkage was high. We knew going into this trip that we may not be able to ski any of the couloirs we had in mind. I took one step inside Shooting Star and my foot sunk 3 feet. We bailed. But first, here's a picture:
Nick looks back at some lines we could have had ... easier, non-technical lines with impending death I might add:
Below is the entrance to another couloir called Starlight. It's very popular because it's more mellow at 40-45 degrees and is very straightforward (pun intended). Not really technical, but fun nonetheless. Again, I took a step inside the chute to evaluate the snowpack and my foot sunk deep down hinting at high instability where a break would cause a significant slide. We kinda wanted to live today, so we bailed and opted to ski down the glacier:
Here's Nick slaying the corn with Bancroft in the background (Gray's and Torrey's to the far left):
I give it a try:
Below is a panoramic shot from the summit:
We traveled the near 8-mile roundtrip in just over 8 hours but leisurely ascending while taking in the spectacular views. Almost two hours were had near the summit looking all around and navigating our descent. We'll definitely be back and hoping able to tackle Super Star and all its glory.
► Buffalo Mountain (12,777 feet) - May 4, 2008:
On Sunday, I met up with Gary, Chris, Dave, and Ken to test out Buffalo Mountain which has been getting douched like crazy of late. A friend of mine was there a week prior and encountered a near 30-person conga line up towards the summit. We set out for an early start but didn't make our way onto the trailhead until around 730 AM.
This is Buffalo Mountain:
Denver's skyline as seen about 20 minutes to the west in Golden:
The view towards the south with Lake Dillon glistening well under the bright sun:
I made the summit in just under 4 hours and about 40 minutes behind superman Dave that had rockets attached to his feet helping him climb the mountain quicker:
Panoramic view from the summit:
Ahhhh yes, we did some skiing.
Gary:
Chris (one of my favorite photographs I've taken ... yes, I'm tooting my horn here):
Now it's my turn:
Chris again:
A look back at what we did (aka 3,000 vertical feet at 40 degrees):
The crew (clockwise from top-left is Ken, Dave, Gary, and me):
A look back (red = ascent, blue = descent, yellow = traverse out):
7 hours, 17 minutes later, it's time for beers:
► Artistic photos of the week by me:
(1) "Mountain Reversal"
(2) "Ring of Purple"
(3) "Stem Cells"
(4) "Matrix Bubbles"
Last week, it was suggested by a reader to provide a bit more information about the artistic pictures. Feeling it's a great idea, I'll elaborate a little with consideration of doing the same in greater depth for all previous such photographs.
The 1st one above was a daytime picture of the mountains with Gray's and Torrey's Peaks clearly visible on the far right. The effect was created by reversing the RGB levels.
The 2nd is a cropped photograph with the camera lens looking down an empty and dry pint glass. The rings towards the left center are the base of the glass.
The 3rd picture is also of a glass but filled with water and captured at an angle. The "stem cells" you see are actually elongated air bubbles. The black spot in the lower center portion is a finger print. The thick diagonal line from top-left to bottom-right is the meniscus.
The 4th photo is of air bubbles of a glass filled with clear soda. I reversed the tone of the image so that black because white and white becomes black. With a little more touching up, I was able to create a "Matrix" effect of the bubbles.
► Quote of the week:
"The vanity of others offends our taste only when it offends our vanity."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
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