Boarder Chick

On Saturday Shiloh and I enjoyed the first run of the season at Copper. We had a blast and the weather was perfect. Snow conditions were awesome and there wasn't any traffic! It was amazing! And...the best part...I didn't have any bad falls. Granted, I still had some less than graceful moments, but I didn't get hurt (which unfortunately does happen quite often). My favorite graceful moment happened when I got off the lift and had buckled in. Shiloh was off to the side waiting on me and I slowly start going down and turn around and give her a cheerful wave and in a cheesy, peppy voice say, "Come on friend, let's go!" And a nano second later I fell flat on my face about 15 ft away from this guy who was trying so hard not to laugh. I had to suck up all pride and just laugh and told the guy who was around my age that, "I did that just for you." So about 30 seconds later his friend pulls up by him and he also tell his friend, "Come on friend, let's go." I was mocked. But it was pretty funny.And here's a belated picture from last Saturday's The Nutcracker...

Autumn Hiking

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures . . . May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works.” Psalm 104:24, 31 (NIV) There are only a few more weekends left this season to enjoy the Aspen trees and color changes in the mountains, so I'm glad we snuck it in before it was over!


Friday night Abby flew in from Kansas for a quick visit (she just got married a month ago and now lives in Kansas with her husband.) It was a nice treat for all of us! We picked her up at DIA and headed to Wash Park for a glass of wine to catch up and swap crazy stories from the week. Saturay morning we (Abby, Shiloh, Sonya, and I) met for bagels and headed up in Sonya's car for some hiking. We ended up in Silver Plume and walked along a trail that gave us a great view of all the mountains and yellow Aspens. Of course, no weekend is complete without a lot of silly, random pictures!

View from 14,200 feet

Do you know what the view looks like from 14,200 feet? I didn't either...until yesterday!

Shiloh, Sonya and I climbed Grays Peak along with Shannon and Jeff (Shi's sister and bro-in-law) and her friend Mike. It was an incredible experience that covered a wide spectrum of muscles aches and emotions. While it is considered easy from a technical stand point (we didn't need ropes, helmets or other gear), it was certainly very challenging and required you to be in decent shape to achieve it.

Stats:

Elevation: 14,270

9th tallest 14er in CO (out of 54)

7.50 mi round trip

Elevation gain of 3000 ft

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We started our hike at 7:40am on the nose so we could beat the thunderstorms that frequent the Colorado Rocky Mountains in the afternoon. Our trek began and I had no idea what to expect because I've never hiked anything that difficult. And it was foggy and overcast so I wasn't even sure what the top of the peak looked like. The first hour was challenging, but mostly a trail that headed up towards the peak. We started our hike a few feet above tree line, so there wasn't much to protect us from the elements, or much shelter should you need a bathroom break (which became a problem for us girls as the day went on...)

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I was suprised at how difficult it was in certain aspects. It was definitely doable, but you just can't breathe. Towards the end (last hour to the top) you're putting one foot in front of the other at a snails pace, your heart is racing, and you have to stop every 25-50 ft to break. It was crazy! And I felt like we hiked for 15 miles, but it was only 7.5 miles round trip, but when you climb 3,000ft in elevation it certainly feels like further!

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But the view at the top was amazing! We could see Lake Dillon, Mt Evans, Keystone Ski Resort and a million other amazing mountains. Just breath-taking. Colorado is truly God's country! We signed the guest book at the top to mark our accomplishment and had fun taking pictures and just enjoying the spectacular view. I was just in awe of what we saw!

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However, the hike down was almost as grueling as the hike up. Granted it didn't take as long and we didn't as many breaks, but the constant pounding on your knees and fear of losing your balance on the rocks caused us to focus greatly and keep steady. And at the end I had to pee so bad I wanted to cry. And like I mentioned, there weren't any trees for shelter, so we just plugged along and I was practically limping at the bottom due to my feet being sore and my bladder suffering!

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I would completely recommend doing it for those who haven't. It is just incredible and really worth it. Make sure you have decent lung capacity and strong legs. You'll need both!!!

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First photo of the day at the trailhead

Me and Shannon near the bottom. You can see how foggy it was in the morning. And the "fun" begins. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Watch your footing!Jeff taking a breather (something we all did quite often)Views like this make it worth itOur group breaking for some food before going another 1-1.5hrs to the very topWe made it! Sonya and I showing our toughness at the topOur cheek to cheek girl photo - yay girls - we did it!Sonya and I with Lake Dillon in the background (the BIG lake in the upper left) Team Summit arrives at the top and all in one piece!

First run of the season

Guess what? It's ski/snowboard season!! Saturday morning we headed up to Copper Mountain to enjoy our first run of the season. It hasn't snowed much this winter, so unfortunately only a couple runs were open and we had to share them with people of all levels, including the black skiers who zoomed by us every two seconds. I just learned how to snowboard last year so I was a bit rusty my first run, but I managed to pick it back up. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I was able to turn and move quickly and entertain my friends every time I tumbled end over end. I have quite a few bruises today and tweaked my knees. But, no pain, no gain!!

Saturday night we met up with three other girls (Jenny, Mandi, and Heather) for happy hour at Old Chicago and then went to dinner at Dam Brewery. Once again, the camera made its way out!! It was a fun night!! The 6 of us girls piled into one hotel room that night which proved quite cozy, but we made it work. Sunday Abby, Shi and I were too tired and sore to hit the slopes again, so we shopped at the outlet stores instead which was more our cup of tea. It was a great weekend, and as always, we had a blast together and laughed a ton!From right to left: Mandi, Shiloh, Abby, Heather, Jenny, and Kari