Craig Hanneman and David Markwell flew to CO from the west coast for a weekend of training in the Rockies as we prep for our imminent departure to Everest.  I fly out in only 6 1/2 weeks, so it was great to attempt a winter ascent of a 14-er with a couple of my climbing partners allowing us to further test our gear, gain some fitness, and compare notes on logistics, preparations, gear, etc.  We were going to attempt Longs Peak, but due to a storm that came through on Thursday/Friday, we adjusted our plans on the fly.

We headed to Breckenridge on Friday and got in a full afternoon of skiing in blustery conditions but on fresh snow, which was really sweet.  The next morning we attempted a winter ascent of Quandary Peak’s east ridge, which was one of the only routes on a CO 14-er without significant avalanche risk due to last week’s storms and the rotten base layers of snow due to our early winter drought.  We made good progress on a blustery day and pushed all the way to 13,500′ before being turned around by 60+ mph winds on the upper slopes.  It wasn’t worth pushing things, so we called it a day at that point and headed down.  We accomplished what we wanted to though and feel all the more dialed-in for our upcoming Himalayan adventure.  A few pictures of our fun day in the wind are available by clicking on the picture in this posting above.

We skied Breckenridge again on Sunday and enjoyed one of the best ski days of the year for me thus far, so it ended up being a terrific weekend of fun and training.

I am officially no longer employed and will dedicate the next couple of months to training, which is exciting in and of itself.  To top things off and to mark the occasion (in addition to a great Wilco show this past Thursday night in Denver), my North Face down suit just arrived to serve as a reminder that departure for Kathmandu is imminent!

I tried it on, along with some goggles and the 3M mask that is the same design as the oxygen regulators that we’ll use high on Everest, so apparently this is what I’ll look like for much of summit day.  Pretty crazy.

As training continues to ramp, I’ve started running the stairs at Red Rocks with my buddy Ben, who will be going to base camp and climbing Lobuche with us before having to return home, as well as heading into the CO hills along with lots of interval training intermixed here in Denver (starting to do two-a-day work-outs now).  Not having to worry about Monday-Friday work responsibilities will help a lot with getting the legs and lungs in top condition prior to departure.  The next excursion will be a winter attempt of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park next weekend (1/27-29) with Craig and Dave (and possibly Bob) who are all attempting Everest as well this spring.  That should be a good outing.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

I flew to Jackson, WY, in search of snow over the long New Year’s weekend.  The west has had a miserable snow season thus far, but it looks like the late-forming La Niña may finally be here, so let’s hope conditions improve dramatically.  I met climbing partner and good friend Bob Berger and his lovely wife, Di, there after putting the final touches on my last fiscal year at IXI.  Fortunately, the snow arrived just before I did and we enjoyed several great days of powder skiing.  Those 4,000′ Hoback runs remind you who’s boss in a heartbeat though.  Phew.  Good times, great snow, and a nice break after another hectic year of work.

Upon my return to Denver on 1/4/2012, I officially resigned from IXI after a great seven-year run.  They were extremely gracious and supportive of my decision and the great challenge that lies ahead.  My last day is this Wednesday, 1/18, which is exciting, invigorating and a little intimidating all at once.  I haven’t been unemployed since I graduated college, but the timing is absolutely right for new and meaningful challenges.  I’ll spend the next couple of months training hard and getting everything ready for the expedition.  My departure to India with Carla is only a little over eight weeks away, so time is of the essence…

I went ice climbing with a group of people at Hidden Falls in southern-most Rocky Mountain National Park.  We had a group of seven that included good friends and regular climbing partners Bob and Laurie.  Laurie’s boyfriend, Steve, and his daughter, Hudson and Charles joined us as well.  We had several first or second time ice climbers in our group, so it was fun to get them some exposure and experience.

Hidden Falls was as crowded as I have ever seen it.  It must be due to the late forming La Niña and the poor snow/skiing conditions in the mountains, as there were several other parties there enjoying the ice.  So, we simply shared ropes and worked our way in where we could and got in a few good climbs each.  Above, and in the slideshow that the picture above links to, I’m having a little fun on a small mixed section of overhung rock below the primary ice flow.  It was a fun, relaxed day overall.  As we turn the page to 2012 though, the real training begins and you’ll see my adventures ramp up a bit as the departure to Nepal draws increasingly nearer.

I spent the long, Thanksgiving weekend with Carla in Vail.  We enjoyed a terrific Thanksgiving meal at La Tour on Thanksgiving night and skied off all of the carbs on Friday.  There wasn’t a lot of terrain open, although last year was an exceptional early season snow year, so it was a bit disappointing.  Regardless, the terrain that was open had nice snow conditions, so we got after it.

We had another Thanksgiving dinner with good friends, Bob & Di, upon their arrival in Vail on Friday evening, which hit the spot after skiing all day.  We all headed out, along with another friend, Hudson, for more turns on Saturday.  Fortunately, Vail continued to open new terrain as it had snowed 3-5″ overnight so we had a really nice ski day on Saturday, followed by a soak in the hot tub and a terrific dinner at Terra Bistro, which was excellent.

On Sunday, we headed to the ice of East Vail and were rewarded with some terrific early season ice conditions.  We climbed the flows of “Firehouse Right” in anticipation of an imminent return to get on the infamous East Vail climbs “Rigid Designator” and “The Fang” once the ice comes in a little more.  All in all, it was another terrific weekend in the mountains!

This past weekend, I headed out with climbing partners, Bob Berger, Ben Focht, and Lyn Williams for a quick jaunt up Mount Bierstadt (14,060′) in some blustery conditions.  We headed out just after dawn on Sunday morning and summited a few hours later in cool weather and sustained winds (with gusts up to 45mph), which dropped the windchill well below zero.  It was a beautiful day overall and we celebrated the quick outing with pizza and banquet beer back in Golden, so it was a pretty ideal training day.  Although, in conditions like this it served as both training as well as conditioning.  We’ll be ramping-up our winter outings like this as we get through the holidays and into 2012 to help get us ready for the big trip!  Pretty soon we hope to increase from a “mountain-a-month” to a “mountain-a-week” as departure for Kathmandu grows increasingly imminent.

I took a quick weekend trip to meet my climbing partner, Bob, and his friend, TY, in Yosemite to continue our Everest training.  We did a quick day (short climbing day due to crowds) on the Apron in Yosemite Valley on Saturday, followed by a full day of climbing on the classic Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak (10,911′) in Tuolumne Meadows on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day with bluebird skies and mild temperatures, especially for late October.  Cathedral Peak is a fun, sustained 5.6 rated climb over 6-8 pitches (~700 feet of technical climbing) up perfect Yosemite granite.  It’s a beautiful peak, with stunning views, which makes for a really fun day of climbing.  We were a little slow since we were a team of three, but were still car-to-car in 11 hours, including a 2-hour approach and 2-hour descent.  The video below will give you a sense of the experience on the face of the buttress.  Good fun.

This past weekend was low-key from a training perspective, but I still enjoyed some time in the high country.  My girlfriend, Carla, and I went to Aspen, CO, for the weekend to catch the last of the fall foliage and to celebrate her birthday.  We had a great weekend and did a couple of hikes in the Maroon Bells area where we enjoyed the raw weather and scenic beauty.  The last of the Aspen stands are turning gold and soon the last leaves of autumn will be on the ground, ushering in the start of winter.  With the recent snows and the return of La Niña, it promises to be an early, snowy winter, of which I look forward to taking full advantage.  It should make for some great training and mountain fun in the lead-up to my trips to Patagonia and then, of course, Everest.

Fall foliage surrounding Spearhead

Bob and I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) after waking-up at 3:45am on Sunday morning for an alpine start to climb the NE Ridge of Spearhead in Glacier Gorge near Longs Peak. We were on the trail by 6am and started on the 6-mile hike to the base of the climb. We made good progress in crisp fall temperatures for much of the morning. We finally arrived at the base of the climb a few hours later where we found snow on the north face (essentially where we were planning to climb) and cold temperatures at 11,500′ with significant wind and windchill. After a brief deliberation, especially since the climb is on the north face and therefore completely devoid of sun, we decided to save this one for next summer. We ended up doing 12-miles with our 35-40 lb. climbing packs and gaining over 3,000′ of vertical, so overall it wasn’t a bad training day, we just didn’t get to do the fun part of the climb that we had planned. Such is life in the mountains.

My climbing partner Bob and I climbed Kelso Ridge on Torrey’s Peak (14,267′) and then completed the enchainment to Gray’s Peak (14,270′) on 9.24.2011 to kick-off the Colorado portion of our Everest training.  We fly to Kathmandu in almost exactly six months.  Amazing!  It will be here before we know it.  Anyway, it was a splitter, bluebird, perfect Colorado day in the high country.  The video below was filmed in HD via a GoPro Hero camera, so you can view in the embedded window below and/or blow it up “full screen” if you prefer to see it in 720p (HD).