AUTUMN IN COLORADO’S high country is often the sunniest time of year. This autumn was no exception. It began at dawn on September 16th, the first day that the closest fourteener to Denver bore its new ‘Blue Sky’ name. After five days of clouds, rain, sleet and snow the sun finally climbed into a sky […]
A FEW PHOTOS from a walk on Friday: a saunter away from Guanella Pass into solitude. The walk’s aim was to start from Guanella Pass (often an exceptionally busy place), wander south to the far-less visited Geneva Mountain, then head back north up the center of the broad valley of Scott Gomer Creek. The delights
A Walk Into Solitude Read More »
OVER THE PAST twenty years I’ve enjoyed some truly special moments on and around the mountain now known as Mount Blue Sky. But few of the many previous visits were more special or more meaningful than Saturday’s. This wasn’t only another walk to a treasured place… it was also a celebration. As readers of this
A ‘First Ascent’ of Mount blue Sky Read More »
IT HAPPENED LAST Friday – at roughly 3 p.m. on September 15th: the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (the federal board within the U.S. Department of Interior which has the final say on the renaming of all natural features on public lands) voted to rename the closest fourteener to Denver. The mountain that probably went
Mount Blue Sky – a mountain renamed Read More »
IF YOU VISIT the same wild place often enough your perception of it will inevitably change. On a first visit, its essential characteristics and nature might seem clear – and possibly even ‘fixed’. After all, you’ve just seen and experienced it as it is. How could it ever be anything else? But after a fifth
A Cauldron of Swirling Cloud Read More »
TWO WEEKENDS AGO I travelled up the same mountain twice, doing it two days apart. Both visits began before dawn, both visits provided incredible scenic drama, and both took me to the summit. But only one of the two ‘meant’ anything. Only one will last in my memory. The mountain that I visited is a
A Tale of Two Summits Read More »
I HAVEN’T WRITTEN about this before, but I love to climb. I really do – I love to climb… but I’m definitely not a climber! I love the gymnastic exercise of climbing – the simple movement of it, the problem solving, the succeeding in physical challenges that often at first seem all but impossible –
To climb or not to climb Read More »
‘ESCAPING’ INTO THE HILLS is not always easy. Perhaps you know what I mean? In a life that has responsibilities and commitments the hills often end up taking second place. Work, family and other practical realities can all-too-easily get in the way. And for good reasons of course – taking care of others is important.
A Snatched Night in the Hills Read More »
I WAS ONLY AWAY from ‘my’ mountains for two and a half weeks, but during that time the snowpack in the high country forests has all but vanished. Right before leaving for a family visit at sea level I experienced gruelling travel and a snowstorm camp… but on my return I’ve come back to summer-like
BACK IN EARLY APRIL, and again last weekend, I snowshoed into a spacious mountain bowl, the fabulously, poetically but often inaccurately named Hell’s Hole. Of course, it wasn’t hellish for me in any way – although some people might have considered it to be! For one thing, travel on both occasions was truly, truly gruelling.