Something I love about living in Colorado is that sometimes Mother Nature just up and decides to shut the whole place down for a while. Don’t worry about that appointment, you’re staying in today.
Continue readingSnow Day
Tracks in the afternoon
I’m still experimenting with the GoPro. A few days ago, I took it out for my first attempt at using it for backcountry skiing. Looking at the footage it captured I learned a couple of things.
Continue readingTour de Arkansas Hills
GoPro Bro
To this point in my life, I’ve resisted the temptation to buy a GoPro. Several reasons.
Continue readingChalk Creek Mellow
On the final day of the avalanche course I took back in January 2023, armed with our newly acquired backcountry knowledge and excited to start exploring, me and my classmates spent a good half hour peppering our instructor Katie for suggestions on places to ski in the area. One of the locations she mentioned was a place called Chalk Creek.
Continue readingMiddle Fork Backcountry
Ever since I skied Mt. Shavano last spring I’ve been thinking about my next mountain. There’s no shortage of mountains around here. It’s sort of our thing. The question is, which one?
Continue readingThe shape of winter
Opening Day
Around here there are certain distinctly recognizable events that mark the changing of the seasons. Spring is the explosion of wildflowers in the mountains. It’s fall when the surrounding hillsides are covered in aspen gold. And you know its summer when highway 50 is jammed with campers with out-of-state plates.
Continue readingFat for the holidays
It’s a secret we don’t normally share with out-of-staters but one of the things we love most about Salida is its mellow climate. Typically in winter, while the mountains — the mountains we can see from our living room window — are getting buried in snow, down here in the valley we’re basking in sunshine. Don’t tell anyone.
Continue readingThe age-old dance
Mid-November. Still too early to ski. And while the higher-altitude trails are beginning to be snowed in, here in town the riding is great.
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