San Angelo, Texas 25Jan16

Great weekend in West Texas hunting deer with my brother. Thought of you guys while in the great outdoors on a bow hunt stalk. No luck on the venison with a bow so went out with the .223 and  had a beer with a foxy friend (called in with a great sequence: mad cardinal to distressed rabbit to rabbit + pup)... took him on the run at 110 yards. Angie's going to love the wrap. My brother caught a bass. Told him it doesn't count unless it's on the fly.

BC Ski Analysis Finished 22Jan16

Over the past week I've demoed a number of outfits/combinations for BC/steel-edge skiing to engender envy amongst snowshoers... or at least go downhill faster than them. I've ridden the 112 sbound Fischer mated to Alpina 1550 boots out toward Buffalo Mtn; I've sported Rossi X5s on the flats at Gold Run (@ Breck).  I've donned the Rossi BCX6 on Rossi BC 70s ('cause they didn't have the 90s in my length) at Gold Run up Prospector Loop.  I've visited Frisco Nordic twice in disappointment. I've tried the Alpina Alaska (@Wilderness Sports) and other sizes of Rossi BC5XOs and BC6s (at Epic/Wildemess Outlet) on at retail. I've consulted with the master James Kahkoska on gear fit, gear weight, ski width and all that. I seek off track, downhill-worthy, light BC gear for doing the forest trails in Summit... yea, the best all-around for everything but not AT or tele weight slogging 'cause I have that. Busting out for 20 miles in a sweat in both cold & snowing and warm & clear conditions is telling. I conclude for me that the Rossi BC6 (NNN-BC) boot with Rottefella NNN-BC Magnum manual binding on Fischer sbound 98 skis (with Easy Skins) will be the best for me. The lacing on the X6 loosens in 1/2 hr but comfort and weight are worth the stop when I feel it. I'll begin my search but sense the whole setup will run $500 lest I can find my sizes used on eBay. The Fischers are new but seen on Internet for $250; Magnum's are $80 and boots are ~$150. I'll likely sell the Liberty Gnome alpine pontoons to cover the new buy (lest any of you wanna try these super fun gunboats) - I just don't use them enough. It's been a blast actually trying the BC skis but my techniques both up and down surely need improvement. The forest trails were absolutely best despite some speed and comfort in the track and on the groomed trail.... I did step out of the tracks for most of the hikes for a righteous compare. I lost 4# net from my head alone, which was cookin' even without a hat - sheesh. I gotta say though it was easier than fatbiking these trails. I was rewarded with the latest Enjoy By, a delicious unfiltered Stone IPA.

FatBikin' Breck 11Jan15

As the FB post described, I was able to get out on a Borealis for some fatbiking in snow. I rented a rigid Yampa size L from the Gold Run Nordic center in Breck and got a day pass for their trails too. As a senior >60 yrs old the whole think only cost me ~$35. The bike was in stellar condition, a perfect fit; I rode using flats and my Patagonia low hikers - all was warm enough for this outing but I did stuff my shoe deep into snow a couple times when rambling off the harder packed (and narrow) snowshoe trails. It was an awesome sunny day (for which I specifically waited to do this) and I sported a thick softshell and base layer at 18° - this was too much on the way up and insufficient on the way down but especially my fingers were cold using my winter biking gloves (thinish softshell things). Fortunately feet were not too cold though I might prefer being clipped in - dunno. Images here go from start to "top" of decent with the trail map thrown in. I took Gold Run and Peabody Placer from the Nordic Center to the Jumbo Overlook - one time down I took a fast downhill not marked called Outlook Cutoff or something like that... the next time down I took the Flume Trails amongst the houses (the red lines on the map). There are gorgeous multi-million $ places up here near the golf course... mostly with nobody in them. FatBiking the snow is cool and the bike worked well but I biffed into the woods by slipping off the narrow snowshoe trails a couple times - biking in deeper soft snow doesn't work but on packed snow it's the shizzle. A day pass was $15 for me and I'd it was worth it for me. I forgot to turn on Strava but expect the whole deal was ~5 miles and 500 ft from the center to the outlook but I don't really know.

Whale's Tail 08Jan16

I was able to catch ~5" of cover snow at Breck and lapped Whale's Tail, T-Bar and #6 finding stashes as possible. Upper Tail and Lower Tail remained good most of the AM but ultimately became more crowded. Broken Compass did sell me the DIPA, one of the 2 best IPAs in Summit IMO, in the HydroFlask. Good time.

Christening The HydroFlask 06Jan16

I chose Summit Co to christen the HydroFlask. Baker's was out of New School and wouldn't sell me a growler of Blood Moon so I headed to Dillon Dam. They wouldn't sell me the DIPA either so I got my fav there: the EPA, Extra Pale Ale - who doesn't like a gallon for $10. Johnny the bartender even commented "those are great flasks." I may need to "sticker the shit out of it" but I need to set a strategy for so doing first. Thanks DD.

First Trout Of 2016 05Jan16

I made it to the PT today. It was a really nice mid-50s winter day but that brought out the crowds. I didn't fish long but caught several smallish (~12) rainbows out of the Valco area. I even scored fish on dries! Not a great outing but any day fishing...

Shifting The Ritual 05Jan16

We've adjusted "The Morning Ritual" to include some more brain, liver and blood foods. I'm glad to have time to get back into juicing (as it takes 30 minutes each morning). Now most often I prepare kale, a cucumber, some celery, some carrots, some radishes, a whole beet, a lime, a cutie orange, and an apple through my masticating juicer... the sweet and tart are key. Here are the ingredients for two 14-16 oz drinks... it's a bad pic as to DoF but I was lazy and now the stuff is gone.

Oh yeah, Kala got me a juicer for Silverthorne so I don't even miss a beat, err beet (heh heh). Im impressed and glad City Market has good produce and organics.

New Line For The New Year 04Jan16

While I bought my fav Scientific Anglers Mastery GPX WF Floating lines a couple months ago during sales (~$40 each), I just got it all put on the reels. I know when the line begins to crack (and sink) that I need to replace it and the 5 wt has been sinking for a couple months. This occurs most markedly in the area where I handle the line, the tips and butts remain OK but the 5th to 12th yards crack eventually ~ for me about once or twice a year depending on useage. I did the 5 weight twice and the 3 and 4 weights once. Below is the whole lineup new with 1 wt on Sage Click, 3 wt on Bauer M1, 4 wt on Ross Evolution LT and 5 wt on Hardy Ultralight. I'd already switched my 6 wt line for sinking line (for streamers). Sheesh it's already January 4th and I haven't even caught a fish in 2016... gotta hit the PT soon.