Weather Station Day

Tuesdays are weather station day up here. J&T and I switch off weeks where we have to climb the hill up to the EPA station to calibrate and test the equipment, and gather water samples to be sent for analysis. The day was bright and clear, and I took a couple pictures of the ice in Copper Creek.



And while up on the hill today I caught my first sight this year of the abominable snow billy.

p.e. no.13 - First Big Snow

The first big snow storm hit us a couple days ago. I took my skis out yesterday to take some pictures.











I made a couple 3D pics out of this batch. For viewing info click here.



And this morning Gothic was doing its thing with the light again.

nov 6

Today is my 43rd birthday. I didn't do much, except make sweet and sour chicken. I offered up a birthday wish to the Great Quantum Fluctuation for 'Battlestar Galactica: The Plan,' but am still waiting to be approved.

I caught the moon just setting over the mountain as I got out of bed this morning.

Fall Equinox

We got a fresh covering of snow on the equinox. Here are some pictures, and music...

Gothic Face

Three of us, Jamie, Ira, and myself, went up the face of Gothic Mountain on Monday, August 3. This first picture is looking back down at town. My cabin is the smaller of the two in front.


I didn't take a lot of pictures on this hike because honestly I was too afraid to let go of the mountain. We hiked up through the meadow and into a water drainage shoot that varied from ten to two feet wide. It was one rock climbing puzzle after another. On a couple of them you just had to wedge in and push. I got stuck a few times. About a thousand feet later, when we got out of the shoot, the rest of the climb was basically a hand over hand forty-five degree angle scramble up to the summit. At one point I reached the ridge which separates the face side from an enormous bowl to the north. That's when I really started to panic. From where I was I could see another scree field sloping down to a cliff, after which was a shear drop into a gravel pit. There was no going back the way I came, and I knew the only was down the mountain was up the mountain, so I kept inching my way along the ridge.

Black and white seemed appropriate for most of these pictures.


Gothic town site from the summit.


Mount Crested Butte (left) and the town of Crested Butte (right).


Jamie and Ira (and me) on the summit.





The north peak of the bowl, also known as the false summit. The trail down the mountain leads along the rim to the left.


The bowl from the rim.