Ski Pulk Completed 31Jan17

I completed my ski pulk. I'd assembled the parts over a couple of weeks of diving on eBay for appropriate parts/vendors/prices. Pic #1 shows the goodies and #2 shows the finished sled. I fabricated the towing hinge #3 from effectively a section of steel stop sign post. Cut it to shape with an angle grinder. It's cool and remains strong yet flexible by employing a 5/16 go-kart tie rod ends. I burned & epoxied the tie rod end into the end of schedule 80 pipe and burned/epoxied an eyebolt on the opposite end for attaching to hip belts #4. The tow bars attach to a used army rucksack (Afghanistan) hipbelt for towing - or to my backpack hipbelt. They are stiff and crossed for control. To create a soft-hinge attach to the hipbelt I wanted to make loops with ribbon and therefore needed to learn to sew #8. I poked my finger with the sewing awl several times before I got it; yeah, the red is my blood... now I can also repair my sail myself. I also fabricated two fins #5#6 (to assure tracking) from angle aluminum. All attachments to the sled are done with 5/16" allen through bolts with rubber backing (from old bike tire) between sled and metal. I added strapping with adjustability and plastic clamps to secure the load - I have a tarp to assure all gear being towed stays out of the elements - I'll use the tarp like a burrito tortilla. Everything seems to work as intended. I fashioned an automatic" brake for stopping on hills from a Lexan triangle #7 - it won't add friction on forward motion but digs in on a backslide. About $100 all in vs $500 outright purchase - a day well spent with beer and power tools.

New Year - New Trout 31Jan17

I was fortunate to get out on the Blue and Arkansas Rivers recently. A decent 'bow on the Blue in the snow and a couple of stocker 'bows on the Ark below Pueblo reservoir on a 65° day. Ok but so many rejections on midge dries it was painful. No pics.

6 Miles Of Vert @ 13°

Wilks and I went to Keystone today for a rare TomW sighting at resorts. We left the house at 1° and snagged my buddy pass. While it was very cold, at least it was sunny and still. We hit Outback but Tom wasn't really into the trees so I skied the edges in and out and we hung together. On North Tom did some better runs below Santiago with me. The snow was weird and grabby at the low temp but decently soft. All in we mixed plenty of bombing and bumps for a ton of vert. Good day with a great friend. Tom's skiing again tomorrow in similar conditions with uncles and cousins from Wisconsin. Me, after at least 10 days in Summit I'm headed down for some time on the Front Range while the forecast implies no precip here.

Summit Snows 23Jan17

Summit is snowing aplenty again! Skiing is great. I just completed the Janet's Cabin trip with Wilks and now am venturing daily onto new-fallen powder. I hit Keystone today and the runs on Outback/Wapiti and North were great. Outback included N&S bowls and trees of course and I found plenty of stashes off North as well using CatDancer, BlackHawk and Geronimo. We've had ~13" and still falling - tomorrow will again be strong. Woohoo.

Janet's Cabin & Mtn Rescue [Facebook RePost] 19Jan17

Tom Wilke and I enjoyed an alpine hut trip and soaked up the associated skiing done, acquaintances made and views observed. We skinned, skied and snowshoed ~10 miles and ~1800 ft elevation to a gorgeous spot above Copper Mtn. We started on remarkable diamond snow which skied better than I would have thought - we came out on 5" of new-fallen. At Janet's I enjoyed a rest in James Kahkoska's gift from his kids and donated to the hut - the comfy rocker. It was a great outing but unfortunately interrupted near the end by (we later learned) a broken leg on a man in the party ahead of us - he twisted it skiing into Jacque's Ck. His mates from Albuquerque were mtn rescue types and rigged a skipulk to carry him up & out. Wilks and I participated in the successful rescue - I was a sled dog and Tom manned the rear rope to assure the sled stayed on the trail! Strangely the Snow Rangers from the Vail Pass Rec Area came upon us and didn't offer to do the heavy lifting but instead chose to carry some gear up (skis and a backpack - but not mine).

Out & About 03Jan17

I came to Summit for "the next big storm" which should drop a couple feet of snow. On day one (Tue) the newfallen was a smidge thin @ 5" so I did some work and then headed into the EN Wilderness on BC skis for a half doz miles of that. What a blast even though I biffed twice on fallen trees or yet-fully-covered stuff. I have some new outer layers (jacket - pants - gloves) which did the trick for aerobic efforts and did fine in just two layers @ 20° for the brief time I was out. It set me back as you see that while I toted the selfie stick, I no longer have the 3.5mm port on my iPhone 7 to use it... hmmm.