J & J's engagement

What better way to celebrate the last day and evening of J & J 's and D & K's visit.

Johannes had spoken to Mary and me up at the Mall during the dinner break of my evening shift and as Mary was finishing work on their penultimate evening here.

The following morning J & J got up v early, having hired x country equipment the night before, and set off right from the house for Aspen via the Owl Creek trail. As it was a Saturday, Mary sadly had to work again, but Duncan & Katy and I drove to Aspen to meet J & J at the Main St Bakery for a celebratory breakfast . Mamosas all round and the usual delicious all - American breakfast. J & J didn't quite make it on skis all the way - or if they had, they'd have been over an hour late - and managed to get a truck lift from West Buttermilk down to Hwy 82 from where they got a RFTA bus to the cafe. Great effort though and the ` engagement ` apparently took place high up on that trail ! The announcement made as we sat down for breakfast and hugs and shrieks of joy all round. Wonderful news.

Breakfast followed by a great day skiing at Aspen Mtn and a lovely dinner with champagne toast at Meadow Ranch with just the 6 of us - see 2 good pics the second on self timer. Missed Meghan , Dennis and Cormac greatly though.

All 4 got out safely the next day . M & I straight to Buddy Ski day with Gaby all at expense of Aspen Ski Co. Straight to the Terrain Park for Gaby . Huge improvement in his skiiing and lots of ' french fries ` and no more `pizzas` ! Well done Gaby!

Markley Hut trip

This hut trip on 6/7 March 2011 had been in the planning by Alan and Johannes for some time . Alan ( ski patrol - Highlands ) had booked the hut for us all months ago and we were fortunate to have 2 near perfect days with avalanche risk only at ` moderate` for the region. We all had to have avalanche beacons , probes and shovels and with the kind help of Lee Miller and Alan we had large packs for everyone with an assortment of A/T and teleski equipment for the 8 of us. Quite a logistical exercise getting us all all and equipment up to Ashcroft for a 11 o'clock departure . A superb experience and all credit to Alan and Johannes for masterminding it and particularly to Alan for guiding us through 2 major potential avalanche chutes.

Pics
1 Ensuring we had all necessary equipment at Ashcroft where we left the cars.
2 Alan , Mary, Duncan, Jane, , Katy , Darlene and Johannes at start.
3 Duncan , Katy and Johannes.
4 Johannes taking his turn at pulling the sled . Tricky on the turns. Important provisions.
5 Alan on arrival at the Markley Hut ( on the Taylor pass trail ).
6 All of us on arrival .
7 Duncan on the skin up Green Mtn.
8 Johannes showing some form on his tele's.
9 Enjoying the fruits of Alan and Johannes sled pulling feats . Johannes the photographer from ` the balcony ` .
10 All of us before setting up again for Green Mtn above the hut .
11 Jane showing a burst of skinning speed up Green Mtn.
12 Alan with Cathedral Mtn in background . See the couloir in precisely the middle of the pic. He skiied that last year .
13 Unspoilt view of Cathedral and other peaks. Wild, wild ,country.
14 Resting - what a spot for lunch.
15 The view to the west - Jane, Johannes , Duncan and Alan

Many, many thanks to Alan for getting us all in and out safely. Much responsibility with such a mixed ability ( and age ! ) crew.

Duncan & Katy's arrival

The end of Jane & Johannes's first week heralded the arrival for one week only of Duncan & Katy from Columbus , OH.

Katy was attending an orthopedic vet conference here in Snowmass Village - an extraordinary coincidence and so it was partly a working week for her. We all trouped in at 5.15pm on Tuesday to see her give her presentation on aspects of dog knee replacements to over 300 vets - most impressive.

We got a fabulous powder day at Highlands earlier that day ( and with Katy for part of it quite remarkably ), but the highlight of the week had to be the overnight hut trip which Alan Feder organised for us. A lot of gear was assembled from various kind sources , and we hired the rest from Ute Mountaineers in Aspen including avalanche bleepers , probes and shovels for all of us. Pics on that in next entry.

Pics above - including ` top of bowl ` and Johannes looking on in some trepidation as Jane starts her descent on G3. 3rd above - Duncan completing his turns on a great run on Mushroom to foot of Deep Temerity. Always a good powder run.

The Power of 4

First time ever for this ski mountaineering race from Snowmass Base Village to bottom of Lift 1 in middle of Aspen via High Alpine , top of Hanging valley Wall, Robertos, top of Elk Camp chair , summit of Burnt Mtn , col between Snowmass and Buttermilk , summit of Buttermilk, Tiehack and trestle bridge over Maroon Creek, summit of Highland Bowl, foot of Highland Bowl , bottom of Temerity lift , Congo trail to bridge over Castle Creek , up the olld miners road on west of Aspen Mtn , and summit of Aspen mtn . Around 11,000 feet of climbing and over 24 miles !

Jane and I , after dropping Mary at work at 7am , watched approx 60 pairs ( you had to do it in pairs `cos of the back country skiing aspect ) start at 7.15 all with skis ( some A/T and some like Joahnnes tele ) and skins at foot of the Village Express. Included among the elite of the ski mountaineering fraternity was Joahnnes and Alan Feder ( good friend of the kids and of Highland ski patrol ). Johannes has only been skiing for a couple of years and of course had only been a week at this altitude ( or indeed at any altitude given they had come straight from Aberdeen ).

Jane and I then drove to Tiehack and watched them ski down from summit of Buttermilk - 2 hours for the eventual winners and 3 1/2 hrs for J & A . They then had to face the enormous challenge of ascending the Highlands ski area right from Maroon Creek to summit of bowl . Winners did it in the staggering time of 1hr 45 mins. Johannes blew a gasket as he neared the top of the Loge peak chair and spent the next hour recovering in the ski patrol hut at foot of the ascent to the bowl . A phenomenal effor ton his part. They were going to miss by some considerable margin the cut off time at the Congo trail and so they were never going to be able to complete the course anyway . A huge relief to us all as the descent on Congo trail to Castle Creek was steep , Aspen tree lined and a very tight . Serious injury was likely if he had attempted it . The severe disadvantage he faced was that the downhill ski sections for probably all the other competitors provided relief and time for a breather. It was as much , if not more , of a challenge for J as the ascents especially the Hanging Valley Wall and Burnt Mtn descents.

Winners ( in green hats at start in pic above - Olympic standard ) did whole course in 6hrs 15 mins . Nothing less than incredible.

Pics are mostly self explanatory except that pic of the tiny snow pandas at top of Buttermilk were giving J & I huge entertainment as we waited for J & A . Also J & A at the finish of the race at bottom of Lift 1A in Aspen - they had to collect their gear from there which rather optimistically they had had forwarded there ! J had significantly regained composure and colour by then - when we had seen him 3 hours earlier at top of Loge peak lift he was a ghastly shade of pale.

A day he'll never forget . Neither will we .

Jane and Johannes visit

It's been all go since they arrived a week ago on March 26.

Apart from fabulous downhill skiing at Snowmass from day 1, we drove over to the vast Spring Gulch x-country ski area above Carbondale and were joined by Alan & Darlene and Gracie.

We collected Gaby on the way home and took him to the Rec Center in Snowmass where Johannes was a star with Gaby ( and us ) on the climbing wall.Combined scrabble with climbing - brilliant. Then swimming in the heated pool in the dusk with Snowmass Mtn as a back drop .

Thursday was a superb powder day and with bus driving not starting till 11 ( M working all day ) , I was able to enjoy it with J & J taking in Sneaky's trees , Power line glades and Garrett's Gulch , Cirque headwall and the Hanging Valley Wall . Trying to work Johannes in gently to the Power of 4 race planned for Saturday and with his tele-skiing on steep slopes needing a bit of work before then , we were glad to get some steepish runs under his belt. More on Power of 4 later. Meanwhile J & J both showing great style and form.