Reflecting on Being Home Again!

First : I have reposted photos in Earlier editions of the Blog because I posted them to a private source. I have since posted everything public in Picasa. So you might have to go back and look through the links to see the photos you missed.

The Drive: I left Saturday morning at around 9:30 am or close. I woke up that morning at 630 am, made coffee and took a shower. Everybody probably got up around 745 am or something close. We sat around, played one last FIFA 2010 game and I headed out of there. I was choked up as I left the guys behind.

Photos of Drive Back.  ( you might have already seen these) opps...

The drive was brutal, I drove the whole leg in one day and night. I got in Sunday morning around 6am, it must have been in the range of 21-22 hours of driving. The hardest part was St Louis to Memphis, this leg seemed like the longest. Once I almost to the Jonesboro, AR exit off I-55 there was a Possum just hanging out in the middle of the road, I hit him and he is surely dead now. Then five minutes after that  incident these two mini vans that were traveling in the right lane, south bound, decided to stop in the middle of the Express-Way, just stop, almost right in front of me. I had to swerve to avoid them while honking and yelling. Then in another 5 minutes I was in Marion and there was a car on Fire in the North Bound lane. Big flames where reaching into the sky as I could feel the heat of the burning mass as I passed the car surrounded by fire trucks. Once I got to West Memphis I was wondering what else could happened that is weird?? Nothing happened other than me pulling into my drive way, walking in my house and going to bed promptly.

So now that I am back what up??

I did do a lot of stuff (Climbing and Shopping) but I spent a lot of time just hanging out with Bill's Flatmate's (Clayton, Jethro and Phil.) The climbing taught me something about reaching goals and the hanging out reminded me about how much fun it is to just hang out with the regulars.

I went there thinking that I would ride one of my bikes but I ended up climbing mountains instead. I never intended for this to happen, it just did. I had no desire to ride until the very end of my trip and I could not because of an injury to my ribs. *(if you have read the blog, I sneezed violently Thursday afternoon and it cracked my ribs, I think it was a result of my earlier injury during Smash-Ball). Climbing showed me how to look up at adversity and go to the top of it, like any goal. It hurts going to the top but once you get there it is the best feeling in the world, it is success. So I wanted to keep on climbing, what was the next big obstacle?? I could not get this man verses mother nature out of my head, the only end is Mt Everest or Space Travel, so you have to conquer everything in between. I climbed to 12,000 ft several times and it is not enough, I am going back next summer and climb at least two 14,000 foot peaks if not four or five, maybe 6, it can be done. Plus I will do more riding next time!!! Goals, Mountain Tops and the planning to get there. To climb a 14ner, there is a lot of planning and leg work. You have to know the climb well to not die!!! haha!!!! In the mean time I will climb around here, there is plenty of stuff.

And hanging out!!! All my friends that liked camping, biking and other outdoor fun moved away or had kids, so hanging out just does not happen as naturally as it does in Aspen where I had four room-mates. I have to get involved in some organizations that like these outdoor activities, like get involved on the http://www.memphismountaineers.com/.

"No Worries" is a way of life in Aspen. People are excited about life in so many aspects who live out there. There is a vast majority of individuals that live out there who Ski/Snowboard in the winter and do some other sport in the summer (Mountaineering, Cycling, Sailing, Golfing, Hang Gliding, Running, Etc.) The payoff they get from Sking or one of the many other activities seems to pour into the other aspects of life, at least that is the way that I see it, they would even credit their activities to a elevated good attitude in life. The magic out there is the ease and accessibility of things to do. Many things are just a walk out your front door. Most (not all) everybody that lives there does something athletic, and most everybody is living there to ski, which is athletic. So most everybody is fit!! There are studies that indicate fit people are happier in general, ha!! So......


Well, I am back for a while. People keep asking me when I am going to move out there, which I have no answer other than "not today".  maybe I will go back this winter and finally stop skiing and try out the snow board.!!! Until my next trip...... Ta!!!

THE END!

The Night Before I Leave

 I know, I was not sure I would get a moment so I did not commit to any further writing before I got home or on the road somewhere.

Today i woke up and drank coffee as usual but after the morning got going I started gathering up all my loose ends and started packing the car a bit. I see about two loads to the car at the moment and it is all organized, it will take ten minutes for final packing and racking of bikes (I hardly rode, shame on me.)

After I got a shower, cleaned up the kitchen and took out the trash I headed to Aspen Highlands or the Pizza Co. I just hung out and ate a great Chicken Caesar Wrap. helped out busing tables and did some shopping. How can you not resist with a little cash in hand. Then jethro and clayton showed up at the Pizza Co. as they had ridden the government trail to highlands. I gave Jethro a ride back while clayton had to ride back since my rack will not support his front fork, Downhill front shock with a different axle. On the drive back Jethro and I stopped at the grocery for ingredients for tonights meal, a lasagna Aussie style, or something like that.

What will the night hold?? Not sure... clayton just got back from riding here. i fed Miller the dog and took her out for a play/poop session.

 Photos Here of the Trip Home!! 


I leave in the morning, I will miss these guys.. Ta!! Ta!!

There will be a final Blog Posting for the End.

Tuesday, Wednesday and then today

So what have i been up to since I last wrote on Monday??

Tuesday - Woke up late, had some breakfast and then sat around for a while playing Xbox. On monday night Phil walked in from Glenwood Springs with an Xbox in hand. So we hooked it up that night and played FIFA 2010 and Madden 2010 a while. So this morning it is a continuation of that result.

I did not do much that day other than climb to around 10,000 ft for a short walk up to the village mall in upper Snowmass Village (photos), past all the housing and up a maintenance road to the correct footage. Went home, ate, played some more Xbox and slept.

Wednesday started out very similar  to Tuesday. Woke late and so on....but this time:

Around noon I set off with Jethro, we picked up some girls that he works with (he is a server at the country club and Katie A. & Katie G. work there) and headed to Aspen to climb Ute Mountain. We drove into Aspen, made a short stop and then off to the base of the trail, also in Aspen. This was not the highest climb in the world but it was short and steep. I wanted to test my hiking boots out because I would really need them for tomorrow. We travel 1200ft up in less than a mile. That is steep and it was for sure a lung burner. Once we got to the top the views were awesome. I can't name all the mountains off this second but what you saw was magnificent. I dissented the mountain ahead of my friends, got to the bottom and waited for 25 minutes for Jethro and 45 minutes for the two katies and another dude?? What?? Well, Katie G's boyfriend was suppose to meet us at the top but he took a wrong turn to another climb on an adjoining mountain top. So after a few phone calls he was back on his way though we had already gone down.

We finally got everybody rounded up and went into town for some grub and shopping. I bought a new backpack for tomorrow's trip and a fleece hoody. We drove back to Snowmass, dropped off the girls, went back to the condo.    Photos.

When I got back to the condo around 5 30 Bill called me. He wanted to know if I was ready for my assent on La Plata, a 14ner 40 miles away in the Sawatch Range. I had planned this climb to the very details. I knew routes, driving directions and statistics, my down fall. My hike from earlier today told me that I was maybe not fully prepared to Hike La Plata. La Plata is over 4,000 feet in elevation gain and the round trip on the hike is 9.5 miles. I have this web site that shows me pictures of the route up close so I have an idea of what kind of footings to expect. Well, once you climb La Plata up to 12,000 then you have to start climbing through a lot of big scree fields and then some gulch climbing with loose rock. It is very mixed going to the top. I was not sure I could A: do the 4000 ft up and B: have comfortable feet. I could wear my running shows but I need the boots so I dont roll an ankle, the boots should have been worn much more before i went to Aspen but when I got to Aspen I thought I would ride my bikes everyday not climb mountains.

After I had decided that was not going to be a good idea I quickly came up with another hike, one where we could just roll up the road, park and hit the trail head right here in Snowmass Village. There is a huge ski mountain across the street, why not climb it.

We headed out up the mountain, parked and hit the trail head around 930am. The trail head is on the upper north side of the mountain, around 8900 ft. The main goal of the day was to climb up to the top of a ski lift called Big Burn (11,835 ft), this would give me close to 3,000 elevation gain then on the dissent we would travel down a different route that we came.  The dissent would end up in the Village Mall, another 500 or 600 feet down.

It took us around three and half hours to reach the top of Big Burn. We started on trails that we kept following up until we came to a service road which we followed up to the top of the ski lift. We stopped there and had lunch. I carried bread, peanut butter and jelly to make some sandwiches, which we had two a piece. See Photos...

On the route down we veered our path slightly further center of the mountain in order to follow trails to the village mall, where once there we caught a bus back to the condo.It was 2:45 when we boarded a bus.

We cooked dinner, Bill baked chicken, mash potatoes and veges. It was very delicious, Bill can really cook. Watched some TV and retired.

Urhmm, today - Have not done much, it is raining. I did give my flatmate, Phil, a hand in getting the internet going after making a visit to the Comcast office and such. I had to do bit of TS on the router they gave us but it is working well now. Other than cooking a few flat-mates lunch that was it for today. I did pull a muscle in my back this evening from a violent sneeze. I might be nursing that tomorrow. After all that and a sneeze hurts me the worst??

Only here for one more night after this, I guess it is getting time to return to the real world. Hmm... I wonder when I will be back or what my next adventure could be? I might not have time to write again until I get home.

I leave Saturday morning! Tonight we are cooking spaghetti and meat sauce with a side of garlic bread! Yummm!! What else?? 3 on 3 online FIFA  2010 with Phil and Clayton, fun times!

Climbing Tomorrow and Today

I climbed a small peak today and will climb another tomorrow. Was going to attempt a 14,336 mountain but have decided on another, closer climb instead. Till then...Ta..Ta!!

Miller the dog and Smash-ball

Photos of Aspen the City


Yesterday after I finished writing and cleaned up I decided to take Miller (claytons dog) out to the park at the bottom of Snowmass. After a short ride down the hill in one of the free buses we arrived at the park and headed to a lonely corner of the park to play with the ball. This all went very well while there were people throwing frees-bee, people kicking a ball around and then there was a group of mid-twenties kids playing a game called Polish Horse Shoes. 


I had been watching them while having a break in throwing the ball with Miller, then all of a sudden Miller runs after another dogs ball and continues to play with the dog. I get up and walk over and apologize, trying to get Miller to come back over with me, then one of the girls recognizes Miller and says to let her stay and play. mean while there are two guys picking teams for a game they are about to play called Smash-Ball or other wise known as Beer Kick Ball. The next thing I know one of the guys picked me for his second pick which I responded with a "Do What?" I was about to leave, not play a game where you have to hold a beer at all times and then finish said beer before reaching home plate if running bases as the out field just sits there and plays defense while sipping their beer. They also used a exercise ball instead of the traditional kickball which made things a bit more interesting and challenging.

Well, I hung in there, when the guy picked me second out of the blue I almost had to play, so I did. It was not pretty but it was a lot of fun in the end. We won the game like 25-7, our defense was top class and our batting scored run after run. I felt kind of queasy, but luckly I had a short ride up the hill on the next bus where I dropped off Miller and then caught another bus up to the ski village out door mall where I ate a big burger at Zaine's. I did how ever wake up this morning nursing bruised ribs from doing a air mail because of a spin round.

The spin round latest about to innings and made things fun as well as ugly. When you are up to bat, you take a  ski pole and spin around it 10 times, the ball is rolled to you and then you kick it. Well I spun my 10 and then kicked the ball fowl, meaning I had to spin 10 more times. On my second attempt (which I thought I had under control) I spun my 10, went for ball and my left foot slipped, the foot I had all my weight on. I sail into the air and landed on my back rib cage, OUCH!!! I shook it off and kept playing while all my 20-something mates had a laugh. It truly was funny and it proved to be a gut busting laughter from my new friends. Then there was the time when I ran to second base and the opposing team's second basewoman charged me and kicked me in the shins, I think it  hurt her worse than me. So this morning I woke up with bruised ribs, soar ankles, a stiff knee and a bruise or two on other places.

Miller has to go out so I will catch you later.

Small City, Big Ideas and what I did today

Aspen, population 5,1914, has a down town that has quit the hustle and flow to it. Lots of tourist and many many locals.

I woke up around 8 am this morning. The night consisted of many interruptions through out the night with different flat mates coming in and out for different reasons that kind of kept my sleep at bay for short periods of time. At 12 am jethro (flat mate from Sydney,  Australia   here until December) with some girl, couldn't fully make out, but they were about to drive up a huge pass and watch the metroid shower going on. Then around 2am Clayton (flat mate that has been my brothers best friend from mountain Home AR, they moved out here together), they had been out and were full of vigor of a night out in DT Aspen. Dont worry they rode the free bus back here. There are free buses that take you about anywhere in the Valley. When I woke Zach, Clayton's drinking partner was asleep on the couch. I woke up because clayton had come into the living room looking for coffee and conversation. I got to hear about their night out and watch a girl sneak out of Clayton's bedroom. The story started there, very funny.

After this I got up to take bill (my Bro) to his car over in Aspen Highland Heights  where his restaurant resides. First we gave Jethro (poor guy had no sleep) a ride to work and drove to Bill's car. His Audi has some issue and I had to jump it off. we came back to the Condo where shortly after  I sent him off for the day as he is driving to Denver to attend the Milehigh Fest which you can find in previous blogs of this trip. my Step mother is also leaving aspen today for good, in tow are my two other little brothers, Jon and Sam. They are all caravaning to Denver. She will keep driving while the bros will get their hotel room for the next two days and go to the festival. I hung back because as you will read, I am having a day to my self and tomorrow there is a Liverpool FC game and a peak to climb.

Once Zach left phil woke up (the fourth flat mate that grew up in Detroit, north of the city). He made more coffee and just talked.

Around 1 pm every body left. Since then I have been washing my brother's bed sheets (they stink) and picking up his room so i can comfortably sleep there for the next two nights. Then I cleaned up the kitchen like a champ for my flat mates. They may notice or not, but the kitchen is nicely clean.

You can read what I have done in between.

oAspen is small, but what goes on here is big. Tomorrow I plan to Watch Liverpoll football play then go climb I am not sure yet. Will post it seems.

No Worries in Aspen, its the way of life!!

Photos ( there are three sets)  Click First One -  Click Second Two  --  Click Third Three

If you have not been following my blog by now it is Ok, let me rehash. I drove to Aspen in my Honda civic from memphis, tn, camped in Santa Fe NM and then drove to Aspen over Independence Pass the next day. i have climbed two mountains so far and have done a lot of just hanging with my temporary flat mates.

My Stuff for the climb!

Yesterday morning I woke up at 3 am, jumped up, put on my climbing gear and drank coffee. Not soon after, the three little brothers and I jumped in a car with our gear and drove to the base of North Maroon Mountain. Our goal of the day was to climb up to the base of the North Maroon assent and then make the summit (except me, I was only wanting to make it up the wall climb to the base of summit). We got to the trail head around 4 am and steadily got our gear on and started our journey to the first climb of the day, the wall to the base summit. The entire time we hiked along flat to nicely climbing single tack. It was dakr, so we had head lamps to see where to walk and what trail to take, it was a kind of fun that goes beyond saying. Not only that there were about 14 other people also chasing the trail for the same reason. We would run into a group and pass then, then another and another until we were the first ones on the trail by the time the base of the wall came to us .Before we got to the wall we had to hike around 1.8 miles and then cut over to another trail that crosses the Minnehaha Creek. Once we crossed the creek then the wall climbed started. This climb starts out into a wooded area and then the trails just start to assen straight up, it is a regular dirt trail that is long and steep with switch back after switch back. Then as we got up further we would hit a scree field then another wooded area to another scree field, scree fields suck to cross because of their nature, no easy steps. The final last push to the top of the wall I had to finally stop and rest and let the little bros keep going. There were a couple of small climbs that I had to think about and had to stop powering up the climb, we were starting to leave most of the other climbers. As I sat there I got some assistance from another couple of climbers (they were so nice and just gave me a hand up a  tight climb) and watched as all the other climbers came through. I then made it to the base of the summit or the top of the wall.

There are links with photos but you may have to check back later for the full set as uploading crap loads of jpg's is slow here.

A Scree Field up to 11,904

Once I got to the top of that climb i traversed (photos) up the scree field that was in that gulch. You can actually summit the top of the climb from there but I was only looking to beat my previous record of 11, 300 ft, which I got to 11, 904 ft by climbing a bit further. I poked around there and went back down since it would be over three hours before they got back or longer on their descent.

Good Lord!! going down took forever and then it took forever to hike back once I got off that climb to the flatter trail. It must have took me a good two hours to get back to the parking lot where it took us about a hour and a half to climb up to the top of the wall. It was shocking, i climbed so hard and fast through so much of the climb up and when going down I could not believe we had traveled this far that fast, we were animals.

My Brothers (photos) kept going around a ridge that has a scree field, up two massive gulches and a chimney to the top. I wish I could have made the summit but they needed their day with out me slowing them down. They were the first to reach the summit and they had fun getting it done.(14,1014  Ft)

We had a great dinner that night and traded stories of our day as the evening dwindled through.

Just a word about life in Aspen and what it is doing to me. The people here dont care about anything other than enjoying their life. Most all people are into something outdoors and if they aren't then they are feeding off the energy of every body else that is around, because the way of life here is a beautiful thing. No worries, as it is often spoke here when talking with a person. be sure to look out for my Picasa links since I have uploaded my photos there and Facefork.

I think I am going to write a separate blog on my day today. Later till then.