Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, May 11, 2009
I saw something nasty in the woodshed...
... and it definitely saw me.
I caught the sound of this little critter gnawing on my house early Monday. Porcupines like the taste of treated wood, I guess. Salt, or something. I opened my front door thinking it was a woodpecker or a grizzly or something awful I could scare away with the flay of a bath-towel... But upon seeing me, this needle-backed, rat-oid, weezledom waddled clear up to the top of my woodpile and stayed there all day, scared to death.
I caught the sound of this little critter gnawing on my house early Monday. Porcupines like the taste of treated wood, I guess. Salt, or something. I opened my front door thinking it was a woodpecker or a grizzly or something awful I could scare away with the flay of a bath-towel... But upon seeing me, this needle-backed, rat-oid, weezledom waddled clear up to the top of my woodpile and stayed there all day, scared to death.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
p.e. no.12 - The Road has Opened!
I walked over to Johnson Lab yesterday to do a load of laundry only to find our billy in a slough of despond under the weight of two inches of new and still falling snow with no end to winter in sight. I wrenched the double-barreled shotgun out of his mouth in time for news of the snowplow that was on it's way up to us just then.
Thursday: I rode my bike into town today in sandals, shorts and a t-shirt... and got sunburned.
Thursday: I rode my bike into town today in sandals, shorts and a t-shirt... and got sunburned.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
p.e. no.11 - Meltdown
I take it all back. I hate snow. I want green. I skied into town today... probably the last time before the road gets plowed early next week, says billy. We've been getting a lot of sun, so I hope he's right... for his sake.
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