Better the Devil You Know….

We need more snow, but luckily, while I wait, the trail running in the desert just doesn't get any better. One of my favorite runs (and Tikka's too) is Devil's Canyon. I've written about it several times before, so I'll spare too many details and let the pics speak to how awesome this trail is......and the desert right now...just knocks your socks off.

See ya on the trail!

A Good Start

You may remember last year, I entered the Power of Four, a first time skimountaineering race held in Aspen Snowmass. It did not finish as my race partner Scott and I had hoped. Rather we did not finish at all and ended up eating humble pie (big slices). As we were turned back due to missing the cutoff time we said "We are going to get this sucker next year". Actually no, that's not totally true. The first words out of our mouths were "Get me a freakn beer". There followed the requisite drowning of sorrows but in short order our mournful conversation over our result (or lack thereof) morphed into talking smack about how we would finish the race and in style no less, in 2012.

Here we are, six months later and the hubris is still talking and in fact has been turned into a cunning plan of action. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you our highly sophisticated training program - the Plan for Power. Without disclosing too many secrets I will divulge however the cornerstones of the plan which will deliver us to the start line in peak fitness - namely a) start training five months in advance of the race instead of a paltry three weeks and b) said training should include as much climbing and distance covered on either foot or skis as possible. Ha! Genius you see.

So how am I doing? Not bad, not bad at all! In October the workout of choice was an early morning run up Red Mountain in Glenwood Springs - a 7 mile round trip and 1,600 feet of climbing - good for building a base. The sunrise views were pretty sweet too.

Then in early November the snow started to fall, somewhat earlier than usual. Since then I have been able to get out on the skis alot, mostly pre-work dawn patrols but some weekends too. With the month now in the bag my tally of ski days rests at 12 and a total of 30,000 feet of skinning (climbing). I would call that a good start to the season which ever way you look at it. I have had some pretty spectacular powder days for November and am starting to feel strong already. Although the snow fall has dwindled off in the past couple of weeks I seemed to have lucked out in enjoying a powder stash or two. Here's one, before picture only, no during or after - it was too much fun. Sorry about that:

Of course one side benefit of making such a good start on the Plan for Power is I am quite justified in eating many of my favorite post Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. I think I earned my turkey!

Shoulder Season Mashup

It's shoulder season. A littl' bit o' this, a littl' bit o' that is how we roll at this time of year. Mixing it up by snatching the last golden moments of fall and at the same time feeling the pull towards winter. Dreams are of deep snows and powder skiing but for now it's all about the moment. Grab the mountain bike for a late afternoon spin through the desert, shorts and t-shirt, sun warm but low, sinks beneath the Monument, chill descends. Every time I wonder "Is this the last ride?"

An ominous sunrise, clouds heavy with moisture. Snow in the mountains perhaps?

 Skinning up Powderhorn we find the coverage surprisingly good, play in recycled powder at the edges and even find joy in early season turns on bumpy rolled snow.

First dawn patrol up Sunlight Mountain. Ripping skins as the sun rises over Mount Sopris, swooping down the empty runs in the muted light of dawn, all before work. It's always a good day that starts like this. 

Back in the valley the local bobcat hunts bunnies for breakfast, no doubt fueling up for the winter ahead.

And in shoulder season we want to leave nothing to chance, so us skiers pay homage to Ullr, the Norse God of skiing.

"Oh Mighty Ullr, to you we all pray,

Send the snow our way,

Make it deep, make it light,

And bring naught but the purest white."

Devil’s Garden

Sunrise in Devil's Garden, Arches National Park

Our original plans were to spend the three day weekend deep in the deserts of south west Utah, figuring it would be our last chance before the winter sets in and our attention turns to snow sports for good. The weather was ahead of us however and put a kabosh on those grandiose ideas so instead we headed to Arches National Park for a mini-break. Despite being only an hour and a half drive from the Grand Valley, it is not somewhere we have spent much time. Probably because it doesn't have any big hikes, allow mountain bikes and being a National Park it is generally swarming with tourists - big turn off for us. However, in the middle of November, on a gray day with bad weather in the forecast it is a different story. We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Sure, we missed the trademark bluebird skies to accompany the red rock and set off the snow capped La Sal mountains in the distance, but we still had plenty of fun.

Given that we were making a quick overnight trip we headed straight to the Devil's Garden campground, secured a spot and then took off hiking into the Devil's Garden. There were several arches to see and play around in along the way.

Navajo Arch was small. I tried to see if I could jump up and reach the ceiling. Despite looking like Superwoman this was the highest I got:

The goofiness continued when we found a wall of rock with great holds for climbing. Despite not having any of the correct attire we had a little bouldering sesh:

More arches:

The Devil's Garden campground was one of the best in the NPS system we have ever stayed in. Great sites and amazing views (the first picture in this post was taken from our site - the opposite direction was the La Sal mountains). In the evening we watched the full moon rise through a haze of cloud and stoked a roaring fire to keep us warm.

The next day we headed back home, but stopped off to check out the new Moab Brand mountain bike trails on the way out. These are a relatively new, mostly singletrack, series of loops that remind me alot of the riding here in the Grand Valley. We rode just a few of them but had a blast and will definitely return to explore more fully.

Game On

Last evening, just before sunset, the clouds briefly parted to show Thunder Mountain wearing a phat coat of white. A series of winter storms have been hammering our area but it is early season so I wasn't sure it would be enough for those first turns. Still the sight left me drooling and given my itchiness to dust off the planks I felt it was definitely worth checking out. Luckily my adventuresome ski buddy Pete was ready to throw in with me.

Right out of the starting gate we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of snow and it only got better from there with a nice solid base and knee deep fresh on the skin track. Practically salivating by the time we reached the summit we hastily ripped off our skins and set about shredding the pow to make our first turns of the season. It was by no means shabby.

In fact we went back for second helpings and then thirds...

To be honest it was rather surreal given that this time last week I was riding my mountain bike in shorts and t-shirt only 20 miles away. But I'll take it. I'm ready. Game on winter!