1st Fish While The Spawn Is On 07Mar19

Went fishing for the first time this year. I hit the PT on a brisk morning (33° as I jumped out of the car at the Nature Center. It was a big fish day as my first catch was a nice 20" lady cutbow which was full of eggs. She took a grey vinyl KF flasher midge but then tangled in the blood midge. She ran nicely but succumbed pretty quickly as she was tired from the spawn I expect. There's was plenty of spawning sign with many prepared redds but only some were occupied as I observed them. I caught other smaller holdovers and then went to Valco for lunch and to fish there. The sun did come out nicely and dropped my buff and coat but got a little burnt. I caught more than a dozen ~10" stockers (on any fly I threw) there in less than and hour and finally just stopped and headed home. A fine first outing. Celebrating a big fish day I picked up crowlers of hazy IPAs at Cerberus: the standard Elysium and a new tasty Pop, Lock & Hop It IPA. On the way home I ran into Kevin Trujillo and his kid Nate @ Trinity where I stopped for dinner - fun visit.

Lax Is Back 06Mar19

I've already watched some incredible OT and 1 goal games. DU did lose to Duke by falling apart late however, but Virginia bested Hopkins in a barn burner and even Notre Dame upset undefeated #1 Maryland. It seems to be a very competitive season among the top 10 or so teams - should be fun to watch. There's a new mostly objective (starts on possession) 80 second shot clock which is a big improvement over last year's subjective ref-called shot, and the crease dive is allowed again as long as the player is diving away from the goal mouth... again good. Today I saw Air Force dismantle undefeated Detroit Mercy at Falcon field. They needed mercy and with a lopsided score the AFA went deep into the roster which slowed the scoring pace a bit. A kid I briefly coached, Jake Thornally #37, is on the AF team, and he scored. Plus another COS kid, August Johnson, is the AF's star attackman. Falcon field has made some keen additions with 2 big video boards and a number of statistical and clock boards down at field level... very nice.

Catchin' Up With DD 05Mar19

I've been fortunate to ski with my buddy DD on multiple occasions this season. He dons an Arcteryx puff mid-layer on cooler days  when my Arcteryx fleece mid-layer wants a bit for warmth... I have been out at -11° and in many blizzards. I sought and bought the shizzle trim-fit mid-layer, or outer if on non-inclement days. When pumpin' this thing vents yet is warm even when still. Last year Patagonia invented the Nano-Air... I got one in hoodie without reservation as my bomber warm mid (esp when acquired at -40% here near end season (yeah $175)). My only issue is the color is not electric green - NP though as I now claim grey too from among my mates :). Fit is awesome and stretchy; synthetic warmth is through the roof; hood fits my melon well; reviews are great; 4 pockets with 2 hand warmers and 2 deep breast pockets. This is not a field trial but wow - fuck down.

Escape From Summit County 05Mar19

What a long strange trip it's been (Jerry Garcia & David Coffin). I set out for COS from the Nest this AM at ~9am with Maps showing 2min15sec via I70... not bad. I screeched to a dead stop several miles from the tunnel at 9:20am.

At the same time basically CDOT posted on Twitter that I70 eastbound was closed. CDOT's avalanche mitigation on the Loveland side caused an avalanche which covered the road both directions - it was gonna take ~4hrs to clear. I was dead stop for about an hour and there was no one coming at us westbound either.

Ultimately we started to roll a smidge and a trickle of traffic began to show coming down to Summit. An hour later all 3 of our lanes were combined into a single lane and turned around back down to Summit from the tunnel. Sheesh. Two hours in and all I had needed was 5 minutes more at the Nest to understand to go the back way - timing is everything.

Resigned to the long day I stopped to grab gas and a sandwich in Silverthorne before moving through Breck. Back on the road quickly to take the back route I was stopped dead again with I70 fully blocked westbound headed into the 10 Mile Canyon area. WTF! All lanes were again crushed into one and made to exit to Frisco.

I headed, slowly with others, through Frisco and Breckenridge. At ~3 hours I was finally through Breck and headed to Hoosier Pass at a respectable clip through Blue River. Whoa - stop there buddy - the climb and descent were not decent.

At Fairplay things really queued badly with another ~1/2 hr delay as my direction was THE direction out of Summit Co. Several miles of stop and go to Fairplay - I looked too late at a snowpacked country road #214 around the mess and around Fairplay & the show mine. How often does one need to know the workaround at Fairplay for gosh sake.

Once I got through South Park and onto #9 & #24 to & through Hartsel very few were on the road my way and there were no other delays. This all reminds me of the fine IPA I enjoyed with Kala and Cody & the Hanson family last night... Southbound Or Die (SOBO or Die DDH) - ORB reigns.

This was the longest trip ever for me between Summit and COS but I note that I70 is still a mess and closed as I sit in my office and update the blog.

Deep But No Steeps Then Awesome Bluebird Leftovers 03Mar19-04Mar19

We had epic snowfall totals in Summit this weekend and much nicer snow that Friday's heavy stuff. This is the best powder day I've had this season. I spent Sunday @ Breck with reported 15" (which seemed righteous) and ran the DD early riser play since it was the weekend. Getting there early was NOT the ticket though as the top of the mountain was closed all AM and Chair 6 had 20 min wait times. I skied Pk 7 hard awaiting 6 to open - I even skied 8 & 9 and returned but still nothing by ~11:30am.  Grrr...The snow was fabulous however and it was enough to allow me to don the gunboats.

Monday deliverd glorious sunshine and little wind. Despite KS not winning the snow lottery I went there - assuring myself of some full rides. most of the AM I found the leftover stashes.

 These storms were doozies, especially the last one. I will have to "develop" my video footage to see if I can not bore myself.

Kala Gear Field Test 02Mar19

With heavy snow falling we set out into the Arapahoe NF. Kala was "testing" several new pieces of kit. On our last outing Kala's hydration froze and she drank from mine - a modestly insulated Camelbak circa 2005... to remedy I acquired a recent insulated Osprey tube and valve and retrofitted that onto an extra insulated Camelbak hydration vessel. Of course it worked at 32° but I sense it will be good at much lower temps (see the silver boot near her chest). Kala was very pleased with the grab and lack of snow build-up on her new stainless steel Serrate snowshoes... she even tested the climbing mode heel piece up a smidge of incline successfully - invoking and disabling that will require some experience. I got Kala some BD Expedition collapsible aluminum poles to match her new NNN-BC ski setup as well as her new snowshoes... they work great. I've had graphite but would never do that again; they break. Her legs are wrapped in new Arcteryx Gamma LT softshell pants over an Arcteryx poly base layer - plenty for this day and at much lower temperatures. For phalanges, we outfitted Kala with some new Gordini Nauralloft Lavawool gloves - she has marginal circulation out there. I also scored Kala a cool wool hat from Sherpa from recent REI sales - warm & cool at once. Here's the full kit adorning my bride recently below Buffalo Mtn... we broke trail both directions early AM during a break in the snow on Saturday. Many others were pleased with our effort.

Summit Features Cement 02Mar19

Wherever you are, there you are. We are here. Kala & I came to the Nest for the storm. It's warm here (~32°) and the snow is heavy but pretty continuous. We got 4" and I shoveled (to the spa); we got 8" and I shoveled (to the spa); we are getting another >8" as I observe and I will shovel (to the spa). Great news for March. The snow is super wet and the temps are high. Nonetheless - I got some great runs and then outings with my bride. If our pile is indication, we are above average in snowpack at this point.