Avalanche Clinic: Myths & Facts

Markus Beck, the owner and head guide of Alpine World Ascents gave an avalanche clinic on Wednesday night at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder.
Markus started with the basics of avalanches: types (loose vs slab), features of slabs (weak layer, crown, bed surface, etc) and the factors of terrain, snowpack, weather and triggers. He said the [...]

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Snowstruck Review

I just finished up a second book review for the American Alpine Club’s Library. I reviewed the book Snowstruck by Jill Fredston, a longtime avalanche instructor and forecaster in Alaska. Her book Snow Sense was required reading for the Avalanche Level 1 course I took at the beginning of the year. The [...]

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Adaptive Skiing Clinics

After Thursday’s Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center’s adaptive skiing clinics I had another full weekend of clinics to finish my volunteer requirements. Saturday morning I sat in on the first half of the full-day “Welcome Back Warm-Up” which was meant for returning volunteers. I had a good introduction to the bi- and mono- sit [...]

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Adaptive Skiing

This winter I plan to spend some days volunteering with the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center’s adaptive skiing program. Before I’m allowed to spend time with clients on the mountain, I have to attend several days worth of training sessions. The prior Saturday I’d sat in on two indoor sessions that oriented the group [...]

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Vasquez Peak

For my second LIT (Leader In Training) trip, I choose a hike up Vasquez Peak (12,947 feet) led by Dave Goldwater – one of the first CMC trip leaders I’d hiked with. We met up in Denver then picked up another hiker along the way and meet two more at the trailhead for a [...]

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Backcountry Bash

The Backcountry Bash is an annual fundraiser for the Backcountry Snowsports Alliance, a group that promotes non-motorized winter recreation areas in Colorado. The evening started out with food and beer and the slow perusal of 3 separate silent auction tables. I started bidding on items as diverse as socks, ski poles and backcountry [...]

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Boulder Adventure Film Festival

The Boulder Adventure Film Festival opened Thursday night for a three day run of outdoor/adventure/adrenaline films. The content shares much with festivals like MountainFilm, Banff and Alpinist.
The evening started at the Boulder Theater at 4pm with the latest film from Sender Films, Peter Mortimer’s production company. Mortimer has been responsible for an increase [...]

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Erden Eruç

Erden Eruç has been attempting a piece-meal human-powered circumnavigation of the earth, while including climbing the 6 summits (highest points of the continents minus Antarctica). On Sunday night he gave a presentation at Neptune Mountaineering about his on-going journey and his non-profit, Around-n-Over.
His presentation begins with his own inspirations and dreams [...]

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McCurdy Creek loop

The Lost Creek Wilderness was an area I wanted to get to know better, so when I saw a request for partners for a 2 day backpacking loop through the area that would be mostly off-trail and take in several unnamed peaks I quickly signed up. Dwight was the originator of the request and [...]

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Cathedral Spires

After last week’s trip up The Castle, Pete and I again joined forces for some more Jefferson County summits.  Our first objective was Cathedral Spires, a popular rock climbing area which had an easy scramble route to the summit.  I’d wanted to do this one for a while, but a recent newsletter from the Colorado [...]

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