This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Hut to hut 2008 with Jason - I found a ride on craigslist to get to Carbondale on Friday evening. That left all day Saturday for Jason and me to get ready for our hut trip. We took off kind of early Sunday morning in Jason's car and drove to the Lenado Trailhead near Woody Creek.
Breccia and Dana also had planned to come with us for the first four days, but they bailed because of a pet sitter problem and avalanche danger. Jason and I had been concerned about avalanche danger, but we had a little sun a couple days before the trip allowing the snow to settle a bit. Still we took pretty conservative lines since avalanche danger had been quite high in Colorado before the trip. Many people had been caught in avalanches, and a number had died.
Jason had reservations for two nights at Margys and two nights at McNamara. In addition to that I had two nights at Fritz and expected Dave to ski up there to meet me. He never showed up. I found out later that he thought it was too cold.
Shortly after turning up Johnson Creek on the way to Margys we found ourselves breaking trail through a lot of snow. At the end of the steep section we reached a road, and thankfully a broken trail led most of the rest of the way to the hut.
During our rest day at Margys we skied down to Spruce Creek so that we had a couple miles of trail broken for the ski to McNamara. It ended up being a long but straightforward trip between Margys and McNamara. Navigation wasn't an issue since we were able to follow an old track. We only lost it a couple times for short distances.
The real business is between McNamara and Benedict via Thimble Rock and No Name Creek. This route rarely gets skied. Dave told me that he was told by a 10th Mountain Division employee that most people don't make it in a one day. During our rest day at McNamara Jason and I skied up Bald Knob and then east down to Slab Park. We reversed the route to return so I had a nice broken trail to follow the following morning.
I was up at 4am. It was -16°F when I left the hut. In the dark I followed the track back to Slab Park. From there I broke trail south over a small saddle and down through Hunter Flat. I ended up having to cut to the east to avoid the cliffs on the west side of Thimble Rock which is very difficult to see from the north. Incredibly I was down at Hunter Creek - over half way between the huts - only 3 hours after leaving McNamara.
The last 3.8 miles to Benedict took 6.5 hours to ski. I climbed 2000', breaking trail in deep snow. I crossed huge boulder fields and was unable to avoid very steep terrain toward the top of the climb. The day was socked in and snowing, making navigation difficult. It took me a little while to realize that I ended up NE of point 11,140', the only landmark around. I needed to be south of it. Through the deep snow at 11000' I was only moving about 0.5 mile/hour. Finally on the south side of point 11,140' I found an old trail. It was covered with a few inches of new snow, but still I felt like I quadrupled my speed. The trail meandered around a bit, had completely disappeared in the clearings, but led me to the Benedict Huts, 9.5 hours after leaving McNamara. The thermometer read 2°F at 3pm when I arrived. That day was one of my big ski accomplishments.
Another group had Fabi reserved, and I had Fritz to myself. I spent a day resting, eating, recuperating, and reading. In the afternoon Heather invited me to join them for dinner at their hut. It was a wonderful chicken dinner with rice, veggies, and wine. I appreciated the company after a day to myself, but I felt like I was still moving pretty slowly. The fancy dinner had a dual purpose: the Jewish Sabbath and Dave and Susan's expected engagement. Indeed they went for a walk later in the evening and came back engaged. I can still picture Susan's smile when the two of them walked in the door.
We skied down together the following morning, and Michelle and Kenneth offered me a ride to Vail since Dave, my ride to Denver, never showed up. From there I hitched a ride to Lakewood and then took the bus back to Boulder.

Tags:   Jason id_node_id_73696 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_73762

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Hut to hut 2008 with Jason - I found a ride on craigslist to get to Carbondale on Friday evening. That left all day Saturday for Jason and me to get ready for our hut trip. We took off kind of early Sunday morning in Jason's car and drove to the Lenado Trailhead near Woody Creek.
Breccia and Dana also had planned to come with us for the first four days, but they bailed because of a pet sitter problem and avalanche danger. Jason and I had been concerned about avalanche danger, but we had a little sun a couple days before the trip allowing the snow to settle a bit. Still we took pretty conservative lines since avalanche danger had been quite high in Colorado before the trip. Many people had been caught in avalanches, and a number had died.
Jason had reservations for two nights at Margys and two nights at McNamara. In addition to that I had two nights at Fritz and expected Dave to ski up there to meet me. He never showed up. I found out later that he thought it was too cold.
Shortly after turning up Johnson Creek on the way to Margys we found ourselves breaking trail through a lot of snow. At the end of the steep section we reached a road, and thankfully a broken trail led most of the rest of the way to the hut.
During our rest day at Margys we skied down to Spruce Creek so that we had a couple miles of trail broken for the ski to McNamara. It ended up being a long but straightforward trip between Margys and McNamara. Navigation wasn't an issue since we were able to follow an old track. We only lost it a couple times for short distances.
The real business is between McNamara and Benedict via Thimble Rock and No Name Creek. This route rarely gets skied. Dave told me that he was told by a 10th Mountain Division employee that most people don't make it in a one day. During our rest day at McNamara Jason and I skied up Bald Knob and then east down to Slab Park. We reversed the route to return so I had a nice broken trail to follow the following morning.
I was up at 4am. It was -16°F when I left the hut. In the dark I followed the track back to Slab Park. From there I broke trail south over a small saddle and down through Hunter Flat. I ended up having to cut to the east to avoid the cliffs on the west side of Thimble Rock which is very difficult to see from the north. Incredibly I was down at Hunter Creek - over half way between the huts - only 3 hours after leaving McNamara.
The last 3.8 miles to Benedict took 6.5 hours to ski. I climbed 2000', breaking trail in deep snow. I crossed huge boulder fields and was unable to avoid very steep terrain toward the top of the climb. The day was socked in and snowing, making navigation difficult. It took me a little while to realize that I ended up NE of point 11,140', the only landmark around. I needed to be south of it. Through the deep snow at 11000' I was only moving about 0.5 mile/hour. Finally on the south side of point 11,140' I found an old trail. It was covered with a few inches of new snow, but still I felt like I quadrupled my speed. The trail meandered around a bit, had completely disappeared in the clearings, but led me to the Benedict Huts, 9.5 hours after leaving McNamara. The thermometer read 2°F at 3pm when I arrived. That day was one of my big ski accomplishments.
Another group had Fabi reserved, and I had Fritz to myself. I spent a day resting, eating, recuperating, and reading. In the afternoon Heather invited me to join them for dinner at their hut. It was a wonderful chicken dinner with rice, veggies, and wine. I appreciated the company after a day to myself, but I felt like I was still moving pretty slowly. The fancy dinner had a dual purpose: the Jewish Sabbath and Dave and Susan's expected engagement. Indeed they went for a walk later in the evening and came back engaged. I can still picture Susan's smile when the two of them walked in the door.
We skied down together the following morning, and Michelle and Kenneth offered me a ride to Vail since Dave, my ride to Denver, never showed up. From there I hitched a ride to Lakewood and then took the bus back to Boulder.

Tags:   Jason id_node_id_73697 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_73762

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Hut to hut 2008 with Jason - I found a ride on craigslist to get to Carbondale on Friday evening. That left all day Saturday for Jason and me to get ready for our hut trip. We took off kind of early Sunday morning in Jason's car and drove to the Lenado Trailhead near Woody Creek.
Breccia and Dana also had planned to come with us for the first four days, but they bailed because of a pet sitter problem and avalanche danger. Jason and I had been concerned about avalanche danger, but we had a little sun a couple days before the trip allowing the snow to settle a bit. Still we took pretty conservative lines since avalanche danger had been quite high in Colorado before the trip. Many people had been caught in avalanches, and a number had died.
Jason had reservations for two nights at Margys and two nights at McNamara. In addition to that I had two nights at Fritz and expected Dave to ski up there to meet me. He never showed up. I found out later that he thought it was too cold.
Shortly after turning up Johnson Creek on the way to Margys we found ourselves breaking trail through a lot of snow. At the end of the steep section we reached a road, and thankfully a broken trail led most of the rest of the way to the hut.
During our rest day at Margys we skied down to Spruce Creek so that we had a couple miles of trail broken for the ski to McNamara. It ended up being a long but straightforward trip between Margys and McNamara. Navigation wasn't an issue since we were able to follow an old track. We only lost it a couple times for short distances.
The real business is between McNamara and Benedict via Thimble Rock and No Name Creek. This route rarely gets skied. Dave told me that he was told by a 10th Mountain Division employee that most people don't make it in a one day. During our rest day at McNamara Jason and I skied up Bald Knob and then east down to Slab Park. We reversed the route to return so I had a nice broken trail to follow the following morning.
I was up at 4am. It was -16°F when I left the hut. In the dark I followed the track back to Slab Park. From there I broke trail south over a small saddle and down through Hunter Flat. I ended up having to cut to the east to avoid the cliffs on the west side of Thimble Rock which is very difficult to see from the north. Incredibly I was down at Hunter Creek - over half way between the huts - only 3 hours after leaving McNamara.
The last 3.8 miles to Benedict took 6.5 hours to ski. I climbed 2000', breaking trail in deep snow. I crossed huge boulder fields and was unable to avoid very steep terrain toward the top of the climb. The day was socked in and snowing, making navigation difficult. It took me a little while to realize that I ended up NE of point 11,140', the only landmark around. I needed to be south of it. Through the deep snow at 11000' I was only moving about 0.5 mile/hour. Finally on the south side of point 11,140' I found an old trail. It was covered with a few inches of new snow, but still I felt like I quadrupled my speed. The trail meandered around a bit, had completely disappeared in the clearings, but led me to the Benedict Huts, 9.5 hours after leaving McNamara. The thermometer read 2°F at 3pm when I arrived. That day was one of my big ski accomplishments.
Another group had Fabi reserved, and I had Fritz to myself. I spent a day resting, eating, recuperating, and reading. In the afternoon Heather invited me to join them for dinner at their hut. It was a wonderful chicken dinner with rice, veggies, and wine. I appreciated the company after a day to myself, but I felt like I was still moving pretty slowly. The fancy dinner had a dual purpose: the Jewish Sabbath and Dave and Susan's expected engagement. Indeed they went for a walk later in the evening and came back engaged. I can still picture Susan's smile when the two of them walked in the door.
We skied down together the following morning, and Michelle and Kenneth offered me a ride to Vail since Dave, my ride to Denver, never showed up. From there I hitched a ride to Lakewood and then took the bus back to Boulder.

Tags:   Jason id_node_id_73698 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_73762

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Hut to hut 2008 with Jason - I found a ride on craigslist to get to Carbondale on Friday evening. That left all day Saturday for Jason and me to get ready for our hut trip. We took off kind of early Sunday morning in Jason's car and drove to the Lenado Trailhead near Woody Creek.
Breccia and Dana also had planned to come with us for the first four days, but they bailed because of a pet sitter problem and avalanche danger. Jason and I had been concerned about avalanche danger, but we had a little sun a couple days before the trip allowing the snow to settle a bit. Still we took pretty conservative lines since avalanche danger had been quite high in Colorado before the trip. Many people had been caught in avalanches, and a number had died.
Jason had reservations for two nights at Margys and two nights at McNamara. In addition to that I had two nights at Fritz and expected Dave to ski up there to meet me. He never showed up. I found out later that he thought it was too cold.
Shortly after turning up Johnson Creek on the way to Margys we found ourselves breaking trail through a lot of snow. At the end of the steep section we reached a road, and thankfully a broken trail led most of the rest of the way to the hut.
During our rest day at Margys we skied down to Spruce Creek so that we had a couple miles of trail broken for the ski to McNamara. It ended up being a long but straightforward trip between Margys and McNamara. Navigation wasn't an issue since we were able to follow an old track. We only lost it a couple times for short distances.
The real business is between McNamara and Benedict via Thimble Rock and No Name Creek. This route rarely gets skied. Dave told me that he was told by a 10th Mountain Division employee that most people don't make it in a one day. During our rest day at McNamara Jason and I skied up Bald Knob and then east down to Slab Park. We reversed the route to return so I had a nice broken trail to follow the following morning.
I was up at 4am. It was -16°F when I left the hut. In the dark I followed the track back to Slab Park. From there I broke trail south over a small saddle and down through Hunter Flat. I ended up having to cut to the east to avoid the cliffs on the west side of Thimble Rock which is very difficult to see from the north. Incredibly I was down at Hunter Creek - over half way between the huts - only 3 hours after leaving McNamara.
The last 3.8 miles to Benedict took 6.5 hours to ski. I climbed 2000', breaking trail in deep snow. I crossed huge boulder fields and was unable to avoid very steep terrain toward the top of the climb. The day was socked in and snowing, making navigation difficult. It took me a little while to realize that I ended up NE of point 11,140', the only landmark around. I needed to be south of it. Through the deep snow at 11000' I was only moving about 0.5 mile/hour. Finally on the south side of point 11,140' I found an old trail. It was covered with a few inches of new snow, but still I felt like I quadrupled my speed. The trail meandered around a bit, had completely disappeared in the clearings, but led me to the Benedict Huts, 9.5 hours after leaving McNamara. The thermometer read 2°F at 3pm when I arrived. That day was one of my big ski accomplishments.
Another group had Fabi reserved, and I had Fritz to myself. I spent a day resting, eating, recuperating, and reading. In the afternoon Heather invited me to join them for dinner at their hut. It was a wonderful chicken dinner with rice, veggies, and wine. I appreciated the company after a day to myself, but I felt like I was still moving pretty slowly. The fancy dinner had a dual purpose: the Jewish Sabbath and Dave and Susan's expected engagement. Indeed they went for a walk later in the evening and came back engaged. I can still picture Susan's smile when the two of them walked in the door.
We skied down together the following morning, and Michelle and Kenneth offered me a ride to Vail since Dave, my ride to Denver, never showed up. From there I hitched a ride to Lakewood and then took the bus back to Boulder.

Tags:   Jason id_node_id_73699 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_73762

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Hut to hut 2008 with Jason - I found a ride on craigslist to get to Carbondale on Friday evening. That left all day Saturday for Jason and me to get ready for our hut trip. We took off kind of early Sunday morning in Jason's car and drove to the Lenado Trailhead near Woody Creek.
Breccia and Dana also had planned to come with us for the first four days, but they bailed because of a pet sitter problem and avalanche danger. Jason and I had been concerned about avalanche danger, but we had a little sun a couple days before the trip allowing the snow to settle a bit. Still we took pretty conservative lines since avalanche danger had been quite high in Colorado before the trip. Many people had been caught in avalanches, and a number had died.
Jason had reservations for two nights at Margys and two nights at McNamara. In addition to that I had two nights at Fritz and expected Dave to ski up there to meet me. He never showed up. I found out later that he thought it was too cold.
Shortly after turning up Johnson Creek on the way to Margys we found ourselves breaking trail through a lot of snow. At the end of the steep section we reached a road, and thankfully a broken trail led most of the rest of the way to the hut.
During our rest day at Margys we skied down to Spruce Creek so that we had a couple miles of trail broken for the ski to McNamara. It ended up being a long but straightforward trip between Margys and McNamara. Navigation wasn't an issue since we were able to follow an old track. We only lost it a couple times for short distances.
The real business is between McNamara and Benedict via Thimble Rock and No Name Creek. This route rarely gets skied. Dave told me that he was told by a 10th Mountain Division employee that most people don't make it in a one day. During our rest day at McNamara Jason and I skied up Bald Knob and then east down to Slab Park. We reversed the route to return so I had a nice broken trail to follow the following morning.
I was up at 4am. It was -16°F when I left the hut. In the dark I followed the track back to Slab Park. From there I broke trail south over a small saddle and down through Hunter Flat. I ended up having to cut to the east to avoid the cliffs on the west side of Thimble Rock which is very difficult to see from the north. Incredibly I was down at Hunter Creek - over half way between the huts - only 3 hours after leaving McNamara.
The last 3.8 miles to Benedict took 6.5 hours to ski. I climbed 2000', breaking trail in deep snow. I crossed huge boulder fields and was unable to avoid very steep terrain toward the top of the climb. The day was socked in and snowing, making navigation difficult. It took me a little while to realize that I ended up NE of point 11,140', the only landmark around. I needed to be south of it. Through the deep snow at 11000' I was only moving about 0.5 mile/hour. Finally on the south side of point 11,140' I found an old trail. It was covered with a few inches of new snow, but still I felt like I quadrupled my speed. The trail meandered around a bit, had completely disappeared in the clearings, but led me to the Benedict Huts, 9.5 hours after leaving McNamara. The thermometer read 2°F at 3pm when I arrived. That day was one of my big ski accomplishments.
Another group had Fabi reserved, and I had Fritz to myself. I spent a day resting, eating, recuperating, and reading. In the afternoon Heather invited me to join them for dinner at their hut. It was a wonderful chicken dinner with rice, veggies, and wine. I appreciated the company after a day to myself, but I felt like I was still moving pretty slowly. The fancy dinner had a dual purpose: the Jewish Sabbath and Dave and Susan's expected engagement. Indeed they went for a walk later in the evening and came back engaged. I can still picture Susan's smile when the two of them walked in the door.
We skied down together the following morning, and Michelle and Kenneth offered me a ride to Vail since Dave, my ride to Denver, never showed up. From there I hitched a ride to Lakewood and then took the bus back to Boulder.

Tags:   Jason id_node_id_73700 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_73762

© All Rights Reserved