Heil - Hall - Heil MTB

Starting Elevation: 1,817 meters
Max Elevation: 2,054 meters
Distance: 49.0 km
Elevation Gain: 1,061 meters
Time: 4:40

Growing up riding on the Front Range of Colorado, we always wished there was a connector trail between Heil Ranch and Hall Ranch outside of Lyons. About 6 years ago the connector (Picture Rock) was finally built. Since then I've wanted to ride them together as one ride, and we've tried a couple times, but been shut down by extreme heat and the all too usual mechanical failures.

Yesterday I decided to give it another go. I've been back from sea level for 4 days now and got in one short ride the day before; before that I have not been on my bike in 6 months. Needless to say, these factors made this ride much more punishing than it needed to be - downright painful in fact. This was probably the first time in my life that I've been so tired that I have actually considered walking my bike downhill. That being said, it feels good to finally check it off the list!

I got off to a slow start when I arrived at the Heil Ranch trailhead without my backpack.


The chundery climb up Heil Ranch:


Done with the slow and loose rocks of Heil and onto the Picture Rock connector trail:


Even smoother lower on Picture Rock:


In the middle of Hall Ranch's rock garden; one of the best segments of trail in Colorado:


Through the rock garden:


Looking east for the top of Hall:


Looking west from the top of Hall at Meeker and Longs Peak:


Back at the top of Picture Rock, beginning to wonder if I'm going to make it...


Finally done with the last climb and getting back into the smoother part of the descent on Heil:




Elevation (meters) vs. Distance (km):


Glad to have this one checked off - but waiting a couple more days and bringing more food would have made it less destructive to my soul. Hall Ranch is one of my all time favorite rides, and Picture Rock is fun, but if I never ride the non-technical yet jarring and loose rocks of Heil Ranch again I won't regret it.

The Wish List

Well, May is here, and with it comes one of the most glorious times of the year. Spring skiing season, or chuting season, or playoff season is rad. I actually put this post together last spring, but never posted it, so I've added a few to the list and been lucky enough to ski a couple of em last year. I've looked at some of these lines from my front porch growing up, dreamed about others every day at Loveland, drooled over some in ski movies, and read about others on some of the awesome blogs out there. Some are big, some are small, one can park at the bottom of some, some require a 40 km sled ride, others are very condition dependent. The list isn't in any order and will, of course, always be incomplete.

Marcellina:


Pyramid Peak:

photo: skithe14ers.com

Mt. Owen:

Ruby Chute:

Frozen Elk Coulior:


Snoopy's Collar:

North & South Maroon:

 photo: nathan-hale.com

Super Star Couloir:


Gothic:


Murchinson Wall:


Scott Glacier:




Mount Heney:

Spine Cell:

Photo: codytownsend.com

What am I missing?

Scott Glacier Tour - 4.25.2013

With rain up to 1,500 meters in the days leading up to the 25th, skiing near town was getting a bit rough. Knowing that we would likely find equally bad conditions, but far more memorable adventures higher up and farther out, Ben and I headed towards the Scott Glacier last Saturday.

We spent the first two hours of the day trying to find our way through the maze that is the Copper River Delta. "I'll need to get up some speed for these alders":


After 2 hours of alder-whacking we gave up and tried out the Scott River. Which already had a fair amount of open water:


An hour and a half of river crossings and overheatings later, we were at the top of Scott, looking down on the Million Dollar Bridge, 80 kilometers from Cordova:


Looking west at the headwaters of the Child's Glacier, which flows east to the Million Dollar Bridge:


Ben scoping lines for next year:


With a light rain crust at the top of the glacier, we headed northwest towards the north arm of the Scott. Looking back at our tracks over the pass into the north arm:


High in the accumulation zone on the Scott, up here the glacier surface is nearly flat - glacier flow is driven more by the huge depth of the ice than by the surface slope.


Ben's family has been rocking this sled since his old brother was born, and its still going strong!


At 1,500 meters its amazing how different the snowpack is than in Cordova or even where we skied recently on the Scott. The mountains looks more like Colorado with the salt and pepper rocks that tell of high winds and a shallower snowpack:


From the pass we turned southwest, gradually heading back towards the Copper River Delta.


I'd never been in the north fork before, and Ben has only been there by helicopter, so we took our time to check out the breathtaking views on the way down.


Now that looks rad!


Hanging blue seracs pour off the edge of an awesome valley glacier into the Scott; very neat to see a land based glacier that is limited in extent by terminal calving:


Eventually we rejoined the south fork of the Scott, and stopped to look back up the north fork; there is some serious alpine terrain up there!


Soon we were past the terminus of the glacier and working our way back down the river. Breakup was in full effect, with the ice frequently failing underneath us as we fled.


Over or under the road???


Spring in AK:


Ben rallying his sled back into the truck, no need to worry about the back window when its already been shattered!


Quite the day, Ben skied one short lap and I didn't ski at all. I feel really anxious about skiing on days like this - with just two of us and so far from help, I was really worried knowing that if we had an accident skiing we still had 30 kilometers of sketchy sledding ahead of us . Maybe its because of seen so many injuries over the years, or maybe I'm just getting old. Haha, never!

Anchorage to Cordova in Pictures

Last week I went on a brief 48 hour trip up to Anchorage for an interview. The flight north to Anchorage was quite cloudy, but we did fly through an amazing break in the clouds right over Turnagain Pass. The interview was interesting... As Rob put it, they are interviewing you, but you are also interviewing them... Moral of the story: I had to see a new place to realize just how awesome the people I worked with in Denver are; and Rachel and I will be spending the summer working on a scientific vessel in the Prince William Sound. After two days spent with the great people of Anchorage I headed back to Cordova on a beautiful bluebird day.

Matanuska-Susitna Valley

Anchorage:

Pioneer Mountain:

Hatcher Pass:

Mt. Rumble & Wall Street Glacier:

The much retreated Eklutna Glacier :

Prince William Sound

Columbia Glacier:

Mount Drum:

Valdez:

Cordova

The Scott Glacier & Wolverine Ridge:

Mount Heney:

Copper River Delta:

Mount Eyak & Lake Eyak: