Don’t miss Saturday December 8ths Summit for Life race up Aspen Mountain Ski Resort to benefit the Chris Klug Foundation. The Chris Klug foundation raises money and awareness for organ and tissue donation. For us Ski Mountaineer Racing dorks this is a great opportunity to kick start our lungs early in the season. Every time I skin up Aspen Mountain I am reminded how relentless a hill can be. A couple of my coworkers from Valley View Hospital are going to be competing in the race including Doug Folk who just completed his first Iron Man. For more information on the race and Chris Klug Foundation visit http://summitforlife.org. Thanks to all of those who have already sponsored me with donations to The Summit for Life Event.
Bottom to Top Aspen Mountain gains 3267 feet of elevation. Not exactly a climb one want to do off the couch. To get ready for the event I thought I should start skinning up Aspen Mountain as much as possible. My first skin up was Monday November 26th 2012. I have always held onto the foolish notion that I could keep training through any cold, sickness or injury. It has taken me over decade to learn intense cardiovascular activity is not a cold remedy.
On the 26th Aaron and I skinned up Aspen Mountain sucking in frigid cold air as snow gun blew icy snow that plastered our faces. I was sick as a dog and struggled to keep up with Aaron. My throat burned like a lava tube. At the Sundeck we turned south and ventured out Richman Ridge for an hour. I knew it was a bad sign when we saw a Nissan Xtera at the top of the mountain. (There was so little snow people could still drive up the backside of the mountain.) Aaron and I had to constantly remove our skis and walk through snowless patches along the ridge. A mile out or so we ran into an elk herd. These guys were a little high in elevation for this time of year. Needless to say the outing was supposed to knock my cold out of my system but instead it grounded me at home the next day.
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| Aaron searches for snow on a very dry Richmond Ridge. |
A week latter I was 90% recovered. I decided to skin up Aspen mountain again on Monday December 3rd 2012. Rain in Carbondale turned into ice and then snow as my wife and I drove up Valley. Aspen Mountain had gotten 2 new inches of snow. A handful of people and I skinned up.at a tortoise pace. As I reached the base of Kleenex Corner I noticed a guy taking some pictures of a snow dusted Aspen below. It turns out the early morning uphill enthusiast was taking a picture of me that ended up on the front page of the Aspen Daily News! Things were finally starting to look wintery on the mountain. The couple inches over the manmade base was actually enjoyable skiing. We’ll see if the precipitation in the next couple days gets winter back on track.
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