Skiing

We had our first day of the season yesterday. We drove about 2.5 hours to Wolf Creek who has the slogan - "The Most Snow in Colorado" (its got a nice ring eh? - yeah it does - say it again - you know you want to...) And they do, in fact, have the most snow in Colorado - with over 56 inches in September and October - they opened on Friday with a 20inch base - not too shabby - they even had Montezuma bowl open which is some pretty decent extreme terrain. Never did we think we'd be skiing a resort with extremes open this early in the season - let alone anything more than a single white ribbon of death (which is what we fondly call the one or 2 runs that most resorts open early season.)

We dropped our first little cliffs - skied our first powder turns - and had a merry old time. And for all of this.... LIZ WAS ON ALPINE SKIS!! Yes, that's right - she's practicing up her alpine skills since Crested Butte has told her no telemark skiing allowed on Patrol. She did awesome for her first time back on Alpines - she'll be ripping it up in no time.

Believe it or not - I took no pictures - not a single one. I did take a little video - but Liz would kill me if I posted it here.

If you're ever interested in Energy Drinks - check out Dan Mayer's site (Shawn's little br0) he has made quite the name for himself in the Energy Drink world - The AP just released an article featuring him... http://www.bandddesigns.com/energy/
Here's the article: Energy drinks in the news!

Liz gets the final word from Patrol on Wednesday - keep everything crossed.

New House

I posted some pics of our new digs - they're quite comfy - and like I said before, they require visitors. So COME.

Here they are.

I got hired!!

I heard from the Director of Crested Butte Ski Patrol this morning - he offered me a job!!! I'm officially part of one of the hardest ski patrols to become a part of!! I'm excited!

Still no word.... and other news.

As of 9:40am this morning we still have yet to hear from Patrol -

We surprised Liz's parents and flew them over Canyonlands National Park and The Maze District where we went backpacking. It was incredible. The terrain out there looks otherworldly from the air too... Rich (Liz's dad) got to take off and fly the first part of the trip - despite the sudden altitude change from Michigan to 12,500 we all had fun.

After the flight Liz's dad and I went fly fishing with my buddy Cam - he took us on a float down the Gunnison river - it was ridiculous fishing. The trout were hitting on egg patterns that simulate all of the eggs from the Kokanee Salmon that just ran up the Gunnison river. Floating is definitely the way to fish - if you spook the fish with a bad cast you just wait 2 seconds and you'll float on down to a whole new group that are just eyeing your bait like it's the tastiest thing they've ever seen. Needless to say I caught the biggest trout of my life yesterday - and LOTS of them!

Flobots Produce their first Music Video

They're gonna be famous someday....

Here it is Jesse Walker (former 1069 college roommate) rocking it out with the Flobots and their new music video for their song "Handlebars":

We're back and moved in

We're back from the Maze District - pictures can be found HERE. It was an incredible trip - though I would never do it the same way again. We ended up carrying a 75lb raft down to the river with us (over 9 miles each way) so that we would save ourselves 7 hours
of driving on dirt roads. Well we may have saved drive time but we definitely didn't save hiking time... Regardless - we made it into the Maze by Friday afternoon and were absolutely blown away by the geography there. It is unlike anything I've ever seen - otherworldly to say the least. The silence - the utter and absolute quiet was incredible and seemingly good for the soul.

Liz celebrated her birthday there on the 14th of October - it was a rainy day - so we decided that Sunday the 15th was actually her birth DAY being that she had from 8:51pm on the 14th and 8:51pm on the 15th to celebrate her first actual 24 hours in this world. Sunday the 15th was a glorious sunny day and provided an incredible backdrop for her special day. We had an incredible time together - what an amazing place to spend 5 days.

We returned home to the chaos of moving. We're finally all moved into our new place - though we still have random boxes laying around the need to be dealt with. The new place is gorgeous and requires many visitors - so start planning your trip!

Liz's parents are here until this Thursday which so far has proven to be a great thing. This is our first time getting to spend quality time just the four of us with no other distractions. I'm happy for the time together.

We picked them up from the airport in Aspen yesterday and returned home to a surprise that I had arranged for Liz - A NEW MOUNTAIN BIKE! Liz's parents, my parents, and I all went in on an incredible gift for her birthday - she was sooooo surprised.

We'll post some pics of the new place and the new bike soon. Hope everyone is well.

The Maze District

We leave tomorrow for 5 days of backpacking the Maze district of Canyonlands UT. It's going to be incredible.
As per the National Parks Website:

The Maze

With its confusing network of steep-walled canyons, the Maze remains the least accessible district of Canyonlands. Due to the district's remoteness and the difficulty of roads and trails, travel to the Maze requires more time, as well as a greater degree of self-sufficiency. Rarely do visitors spend less than three days in the Maze, and the area can easily absorb a week-long trip.

Maze visitors should be skilled in the use of topographic maps and, if traveling by vehicle, in technical four-wheel-driving.

One geologist has called the Maze District a "30 square mile puzzle in sandstone." The "puzzle" is an incredible series of finger like canyons that provide great hiking opportunities for the adventurous (and proficient). The infrequently visited Maze District is near nothing and is accessible only on foot or by 4wd vehicle.

The infrequently visited MAZE DISTRICT is an extraordinarily wild and inhospitable area of great beauty. It features remarkably convoluted slickrock canyons and wonderful red rock formations. Exploring the Maze requires navigating rugged and often difficult 4wd roads (unless, of course, you hike in). Much of the best hiking is among confusing and difficult, though fascinating, finger like canyons. There are no services or supplies anywhere near the Maze, which remains one of the wildest and most pristine areas in the lower 48. It is for the experienced, prepared and adventurous.

Sounds like fun eh??

um... Snow?

It's snowing again - ha - here's the weather forecast:

· Tonight: Snow likely. Low 29F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.

· Tomorrow: Occasional snow showers. High near 40F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snowfall around one inch.

So we're waiting patiently to hear back about another new place - there is the potential of it just being a housesitting job - which would be cheap - but there's also the potential of it being a full-on lease. It's a 2BR house in town - the entire upstairs is one BIG room with cathedral ceilings and plants - and a loft with lots of beds - it's all wood - and it's all hand made by this guy that just moved to TN with his fam.... it's gorgeous. Cross all your extremeties... and the master bedroom has a steam bath!! NICE... and in-floor radiant heat... NICE....

Things were going our way...

We've had a great last few days - I'll list em off:

Last Sunday we went to Penny Hot Springs which is between Redstone and Carbondale out over Kebler pass. The hot springs were gorgeous and the water was HOT! 130 degrees hot - so it involved a lot of mixing of the cold snow melt into the hot spring to make it comfortable. On the way over Kebler pass (which happens to be the most photographed spot in CO due to it having the largest Aspen grove in the US - talk about Fall Colors) we saw an avalanche - so be sure to check out the photos which can be found here.

Thursday I had the most profitable day of my aerial photography career - I shot 5 properties in one flight. Liz got to come along for the scenic ride down to the front range.

Friday I had the most fun day of flying of my life - I flew a group of rafters into a tiny remote strip in the middle of no where Utah... we landed on a tiny dirt strip on top of a butte surrounded by cliffs on all sides - pics can be found here.

Saturday I rode the Dyke trail with my buddy Jamie - the fall colors were incredible! Pics can be found here.

Sunday Liz took me on an off-site ride with a family of 6 - we rode horses out into the Raggeds Wilderness - it was gorgeous - Pics from the ride can be found here.

We were about to sign a lease today for a new place. This wasn't going to be just any new place - it was going to be an entire restaurant on Elk ave.. It has a greenhouse and all kinds of crazy cool things about it - but alas - as we were just about to do a walk through with the landlord - the owner called and decided that he didn't need caretakers anymore and that construction was going to start right away... needless to say we're bummed.

So back to the task at hand of looking for a new place to live..... -sniff-