April Hike of the Jud Weibe Trail

For this months hike of the Jud, I wanted to try and capture the sunrise. I woke up at 4:45 am and looked outside. Not a cloud in the starry sky. Bummer, it wont be a banner photo session. Oh well.

So anyway, up the trail I go around 5:30. I had brought my head lamp, but the first glimpses of dark blue were being shown down valley, and I did not need it.


A new friend of mine asked me if I was afraid of bears when I hiked in the dark. Nope, they don't bother me. However, what I AM afraid of is having a heart attack when of these grouse flys up (right in front you) and scares the living "daylights" out of you. On today's hike I saw (heard) a least a half a dozen of them. Horror films are least spooky than these birds.


First light on the peaks above Bear Creek.


Needle Rock with the San Jaoquin as the back drop.


A little spring being fed by all the snow melt.


While technically NOT on the Jud Weibe trail, I took a photo of these flowers in the yard of a Oak street house while heading back home.

Closed: For Sanity Restoration

On Friday April 28, 2006, the West End Tavern closed up "For Sanity Restoration". I am actually quite sad about this, in that this was one of my favorite places to hang out and have a beer ($2 PBR). Also, I craved the fish tacos at the West End.

But regardless, thanks for the memories and good times!

ps. I did not pick a good day to forget to close my credit card tab. Oops!!!

Muscatel Flats #23 : A good bye

As many of you may know, I have recently decided NOT to renew my lease here at Muscatel Flats #23. This decision was not a trivial one, because arguably Muscatel Flats has some of the BEST views in the whole town of Telluride.

Yet, it is time for me to move on and explore some different places.

"What you are leaving Telluride?"

Well, for the months of June and July I am. Hopefully, I will get back to T-Ride sometime in August and be settle in by September.

One of my favorite festivals is Telluride Blues and Brews which is in Mid-September!

I put together a little video of some of my favorite photos taken either from my deck at Muscatel or of Muscatel Flats itself.

Enjoy, I sure did.

The Town of Telluride regrets....

The following was taped to my door today:

The Town of Telluride regrets to inform you that the water will be off Friday, the 28 of April between 9 AM and 4 PM, for water system improvements. The water will be turned back on as soon as it is possible.

Thanks you for you understanding in this matter.

Hmmmm.... Good thing it is Friday, so i will just drink beer all day. Just kidding.

Gotta luv small towns....

Late April Snow Dusting

Late April Snow Dusting in Telluride Colorado

Red Mountain Pass

I decided to go to Durango this weekend to visit a friend. Here are a couple shots over Red Mountain Pass.

I REACHED MY 1 MILLION FEET GOAL OVER THE WEEKEND

YES!!!

I had to ski an extra 3 days, to reach my 1 million feet goal, but I cross the finish line yesterday.

April 8: Copper Mountain: 14134 Feet
April 9: A-Basin: 16957 Feet
April 16: Vail: 36136 Feet

Final total: 1,006,239 Feet

Here is a link to my Slog

So wow, what a great feeling to be done with this goal. However, a small part of me still wants to go ski Silverton Mountain this next weekend. Hmmm, but now there is no pressure.

Ok, so how far up is 1 million feet. It is like skiing down from Mount Everest 34.45 times.

Or if you turn the state of Colorado up on its side, it would be like skiing down from Fort Collins to Pueblo + plus an extra 10 or so miles.

Cool, probably I will NOT do this next year, but it was fun and definitely got me out there.

My Toyota Truck turned 200,000

My Toyota 93 Pickup truck turned the corner at 200,000 miles.

Just like New!!!!

The Before Story


Just like New!!!!

Thanks Paragon Sports

Still winter time up in these hills

Another beautiful Ajax sunset

I threw a picture of me in so you knew it was me taking it. :)

The Cost of Skiing

It is so much easier when you have a ski pass and a place to stay to NOT think about $$$$.

Vail is still going to be $81 this weekend. Wow! Copper Mountain is only $59. Then one needs to factor in a place to stay for 2 nights, and it gets expensive fast.

The good news is I got a sweet deal on my A-Basin ticket on Sunday.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to calculate what it cost me to ski at telluride.

My season pass (early bird prices) cost me $965. Last year (non early prices) cost me $1350.

Ok so here are some of my numbers from the season:
Total number of feet: 939,012
Number of times I rode the lift: 685
Number of days I skied: 73

If I divide the cost of the pass by each of these numbers:
$1.03 for ever 1000 feet skied (or 1/10 penny per foot)
$1.41 for every lift I rode
$13.21 per day skied

I am sure my average costs of skiing will go up the next couple of ski trips.

Whole new perspective....

Now that the season is done for the year, I found myself yesterday at lunch just aimlessly wandering the streets of Telluride. It is incredible how a town can switch from open to close in one day. Yesterday, there was a bit of activity, but mostly by employees closing up shops.

I was curious if I would miss skiing. Yep, I do and look forward to skiing Vail and A-Basin this weekend.

The other thing I "used" to get excited about was when my Severe Weather alert on my internet browser would go off. That meant a big storm was coming to Telluride. Powder day. Well, they are forecasting 8-16 inches tomorrow. Oh well.

I guess I need to buy some skins for my Tellemark skis, so I can skin up and catch a run.

3 "runs" that I have never done before Saturday

I guess part of being a local, is skiing runs that are NOT on the Ski Map. Two of these Needle Rock Chute and Mud Slide are in bounds, but just not published on the ski maps. West Lake is a run that is marked Closed, guided only. But they opened up this last couple days of the season.

I did not have any pictures of Needle Rock Chute, but I found one on this guys website, he as a picture of the chute posted here.

The story on the Needle Rock run, you ski thru the trees, then you have to hike up to rock. I did not see anyone on the way up. Once I got to the top, three woman ski patrollers where just hanging out chatting. I put my skis back on and headed down. At least I knew if I got hurt, they were behind me.

I have a poor quality photo of the Hike To's on Prospect Basin.

I am not a 100% sure were West Lake is. I just know it is one more over from Genevieve. This photo was taken early in the season, so some of the rocks might have been "covered" up on Saturday. However, the previous "ouch" post shows I found some.

There are several other un-published runs that I did this year, but I can't share all the local powder stashes. :)

Ouch!!!

Ouch, I put this nasty "scratch" in my new skis on Saturday skiing a seldom open run called West Lake. The ski guy at Paragon Sports, said since I did not break the edge, it should be repairable. Phew!

Telluride Ski Season 2005-06 as come to close

Well the Telluride Ski Season has come to a close.
Here are the final stats from 1 million feet of decent goal.

As you can tell I did not quite make it, however, I came close enough that I will try and finish up the goal at some other areas in Colorado.

Total number of feet: 939,012
Number of times I rode the lift: 685
Number of days I skied: 73

For the full report please visit my Slog

Wild weekend, I am beat. Off to bed, dreaming of what the skiing will be like next year here at T-Ride....