Author Archives: Brian Sweeney

About Brian Sweeney

Computer programmer, blogger and home-brew software developer with a penchant for back-country adventures, old metal, black coffee and micro-brew.

Reprise

Ol’ Man Winter looks like he’s coming back for round two in the Rocky Mountains! With snow in the forecast practically every day of this week, we shot up to A-Basin for a quick refresher over the weekend.  Even after enduring a largely dry February and March, a 4″ reload did wonders for the slopes. The whole place was skiing better than we’d imagined.

Soft laps and clear skies at #abasin

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#cornicerun laps at #abasin with @kellyahowie

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As an added bonus, I mustered the fortitude to tag my first East Wall run.  For one reason or another I always found a reason not to bother, but with clear skies and fresh snow, I was all out of excuses.

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The slow plod upward.

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Patrol at A-Basin rips.

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View of Loveland Pass and the Divide.

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Peeking out of my nest toward the top of the resort.

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It seemed like more vert. on the way up…

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S-turns!

#eastwall #abasin #powder

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Notchtop Recon

Some googling and reading indicated that there is supposed to be some a good skiing to the south and west of Notchtop Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Since spring is around the corner and the big lines might be ready to go in the upcoming weeks, Kelly and I decided to go for a hike and have a look around.

In fact, I wasn’t entirely opposed to skiing at least the lower portion of something.  The Avx Fx had recently bumped down to low below treeline and moderate at and above treeline.  The gist was that you should be on the lookout for isolated windslabs in the steeps and around complex terrain.  We figured we’d go poke around and at the very least we’d get a feel for the approach, if not do some skiing.

We had already started to loose motivation due to the prevalent wind affected snow, when we started to get really good glimpses of Notchtop and the gnarly ravine beyond.  We stood around taking photos and trying to enjoy the stiff wind, when Kelly spotted a small avalanche deep in the ravine.  That made the decision making pretty easy – no go for now.  The schuss out was unremarkable, but the glimpses into some spectacular and exciting terrain for some future mission were well worth the effort!

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On the hike back we were some great views of Long’s Peak and the Bear Lake region.  We made better time on the way back than we had expected and indulged in a few more photo stops.

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Livin’ it up in #rmnp skiing in the backcountry

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Rollins Pass

I’ve been meaning to put together an edit from this little jaunt for a while now, but just never managed to get around to it until now.  This departure from our normal people-powered adventure was schemed up to satisfy two goals: to conduct some backcountry skiing recon in the Rollins Pass region, and to find something adventurous (but not too adventurous) to do with Kelly’s mom.

Additionally, this post serves as an homage to my favorite adventure mobile (Xterrible) as well as Nokian Tyres which, as you’ll see, are some pretty darned awesome snow tires!

Finally, if you scroll all the way down, you’ll see some embedded social media.  I had this crazy idea that I should document all of my Xterrible Adventures and then wage a humble social media campaign lobbying the auto industry to get on top of producing some eco-friendly 4x4s.  Maybe by the time Xterrible blows up on the side of I-70 we’ll have a few decent choices. Anyway, this page will serve as a repository for those efforts!

Enjoy!

Ready for action with @nissanusa #xterra and eagerly awaiting my #green4x4 dream!

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Ok, trying to actually start a movement now. Let’s see if name dropping some a few big auto companies in the comments of a high profile account get’s any traction (see comments section)…

@baloointhewild – “I used to feel like the dog king in my big ass pickup truck. Off-roading to remote parts of the desert to mountain bike and chase tasty bunnies. But then I realized, WTF!!, this beast of a transportation machine gets 14 miles per gallon of gasoline. And auto transportation is one of the biggest parts of my doggie carbon footprint (since I don’t fly in airplanes like @taylorfreesolo and Dad). Transportation is also one the best ways to make a change for the climate. So last week I told my humans HEY, we don’t need this thing to go far or get dirty. And that was it. They sold the truck and we replaced it with an 100% electric vehicle. And promised that next they would try to power that electric vehicle with solar panels on our garage. Thank god humans listen to dogs. We’re the only ones with any sense” ~ #whokilledtheelectriccar #ev

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Powder Chasin’

In contrast to January’s outstanding start to winter, February has been mostly dry, characterized by the fleeting dusting every few days in the northern mountains.  Still, with a well above average snow pack, that’s really all we’ve needed to maintain great conditions.  Coupled with some blood, sweat, tears and some insider info (thanks Alex) we were able to find some of the only remaining un-tracked powder in Vail.  We sure did make the best of it.


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