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Chasm Lake Climbers

Back in July, on a hike up to Chasm Lake as part of our 14er training regime, we took a long, waterside break to take in the stunning views.  Among the more exciting scenes was a pair of climbers making their way up a multi-pitch route on a huge wall next to the lake.  Turns out it was an Arc’teryx photo shoot!

I couldn’t stop taking photos.  My Canon G16 is a really sweet camera, but I’m tempted to carry my older Canon SX230 as well, for moments such as these.  The G16 has a fast processor and (at least to my layman’s eyes) a really good sensor, making it good for close action shots, landscapes, difficult lighting and so on, but the SX230 has a super powerful optical zoom especially for a tiny camera.  I’m just gonna have to get strong enough to lug around all the toys…

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Numero Uno!

After many weeks of warm-up hikes, Kelly and I finally bagged our first 14er!  14ers.com provides a comprehensive rating system, as well as more objective information to include elevation gained, average slope, mileage, and trail technicality.  With this information we were able to target the easier hikes within striking distance of our house and then gradually build up until we were confident in our 14er-summitting capabilities.

With Quandary Peak in mind, we made a point of hiking each weekend until we could comfortably hike a comparable relief over similar mileage.  With that out of the way, the only difference would be the altitude.  In hindsight, we definitely felt the altitude, but with any endurance activity, the key seemed to be in settling into a sustainable pace.  I’m sure it helped that we spent the entire previous day at altitude.

We hit the trail bright and early: probably just shy of 7AM.  The trail-head was already a zoo.  Cars were parked down the street and into the overflow lot.  Apparently this is one of the most heavily trafficked 14ers.  Additionally, of the multiple routes to the summit, this trail-head services the easiest.

There are a few steepish pitches but they turned out to be relatively brief.  Most of the hike was a very moderate incline.  Additionally, you pop out above treeline very quickly, delivering great views for nearly the entire hike.  That said, sunscreen, shades and a hat are pretty mandatory.

As a super bonus to our first 14er submitting, we encountered numerous mountain goats lounging on the cliffs toward the higher elevations!

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RMNP Blues

A cool respite from the blistering heat of summer…

When the Snow Gods give you lemons, you don’t even get lemon flavored snow.  You just get windburn and bullet proof wind-buff.  Eventually we found some creamy fluff away from the wind.

Honestly the skiing wasn’t great, which you’ll see in the video.  On the other hand, it was a really nice day for a hike, and a good excuse to play with cameras and work on my Adobe Premier skills…

Sounds:

Rallying Call!

My fellow outdoorsmen and snow sports enthusiasts,

I’m writing because one of our brethren, Jon Miller, needs our help! While not acquainted in the traditional, face-to-face, handshake fashion of yore, Jon and I bonded several years ago via this website over our shared determination that the only sane, backcountry touring rig would be a DPS Wailer mounted with Marker Lord Bindings using the novel CAST SI&I touring system.  After months of deliberation followed by an anxious wait for the manufacturing industry to catch up with our respective backcountry stoke, we each enthusiastically unleashed our new powder chasing-rigs on the New England backcountry, documenting  and loving every last bit of it.

Unfortunately, just a few weeks ago, Jon suffered a horrendous accident in Tuckerman Ravine and looks to be facing a long and uphill battle to recovery.  Jon has brought substantial enthusiasm to the New England backcountry skiing scene over the last several years, and now I believe it is our turn to return some of that enthusiasm!  Jon’s crew has created a gofundme page to raise funds for his presumed lengthy recovery.  I turn now to the community: one of our own needs our help and it is up to us to get the word out!  Get to it: Twitter, Instgram, Facebook; let’s not let this slide!

#Montana ready! Powered by @DPSSKIS @CASTTOURING @MARKERBINDINGS @DYNAFITNA

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Marker Lords, CAST SI & I and DES Wailer 99s. Ready to rock finally…

A photo posted by Brian Sweeney (@briangsweeney) on

In the #tuckermaninferno start gate

A photo posted by Brian Sweeney (@briangsweeney) on

Airtime at @Arapahoe_Basin

A photo posted by Brian Sweeney (@briangsweeney) on