[at-l] Wondeful Winter in Colorado - Trip Reports (longish)

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

TRIP #1: Moonlight Sonata

A full moon. Snow, Warm night. Cloudless sky. Perfect
conditions for a winter ski.

I try to do a night hike (or
snowshoe/ski/run/whatever) once a month. Preferably
under a full moon. Walking along with no headlamp, the
moutains illuminated
by a silvery light. It is simply magical.

A night time ski last Friday (Jan 13th) was perhaps
the most magical night I've had for a full moon
adventure [1]. The conditions all blended together so
well. An unusually warm night. No clouds. The full
moon
making the snow glow silver. The trip was short (3
mile) jaunt to Lost  Lake. Being at the lake was just
astounding. EVERYTHING was so lit up.
No need for a headlamp. We all just stayed at the
lake, taking a few dollups of hot spiced rum and
enjoyed the beauty of the Rockies at night. Wow..

The ski down was equally rewarding. It was as if we
were skiing down under floodlights. Gliding along
almost ballet like. Made it back to Boulder and had
happy hour ($2 pints) at the local brewpup. Woo hoo!

I don't have any pictures of this trip,,,but the trip
created some memories I will forever cherish. 

[1] Well there was this time when I was 19.  It was at
a beach and I was with my first serious
irlfriend..and, wait, this is a family friendly forum!
Never mind. ;D

TRIP #2: Fabulous Fabi

"Hey Yogi, I think we're lost."

Yogi Berra - "Ya, but we're making great time!"

..and so this famous Yogi Berra quote set the tone for
the trip this past weekend.

As some of you know, this is my season for getting
better at skiing. Something almost magical about
gliding in fresh powder, swooshing down a backcountry
trail, seeing an open expanse of white powder in front
of you. The mountains are stark white against
the blue sky and you are enjoying one of Colorado's
estimated 300 days of sunshine.

What's not to like? Even with my marginal teleskiing
skills, I can't complain.

The adventure for this weekend was the Fabi
backcountry hut, one of the huts in the 10th Mountain
Division system. With a core group of 10th Mountain
Division WW2 vets originally, these huts were built 
in the Colorado Mountains and are for the purpose of
skiing
hut to hut ala the European hut system. Cooking
facilities, wood stove, utensils and electric 
(solar charged) lights.  In addition to skiiers, the
huts reflect the variety of users that now use the
backcountry: Snowboarders, snowshoers and mountain
bikers (in the summer). AFAIK these huts are not in
wilderness areas but in USFS land (though snowmobilers
aren't allowed all the way to the hut).

Best way of describing these huts are "rustic luxury".
At $27/night quite the bargain. Being a hut trip you
pack extra goodies. Wine and good food in my case!

The weekend started off well. Five of us left Boulder
Thursday evening and drove partway to our destination
(Aspen, CO). We got to the trailhead and experienced a
wonderful Colorado winter day.

We skiied along making great time. At lunch we pulled
out our maps. Guess what? We were half-way to the
hut.....the WRONG HUT!!!!!!  Huh?!?!?!?! As we found
out later, apparently the trailhead had been rerouted
due to a recent condo development. The map and
directions to the trailhead were out of date.
Anyway..looking at our map  we realized we had to
backtrack down to the valley AND up to the hut. A 6
mile day suddenly became 12.  The elevation gain
doubled. And my heavy pack for a low mileage trip
suddently became a heavy pack for long trip. Doh! We
were so happy to get to the trailhead and the beauty
of the day we just blissfully skied up the trail.
Double Doh! As Jim Owen likes to say, while we were
"lost", we were not "LOST". A small amount of comfort
at least. :)

If I was hiking, no biggie. Winter? Less daylight? On
skis? Heavier pack? Ah..another ball of wax!

Anyway, we made it more or less where we should have
been originally. ...at 4pm! :D  
This is only my first season on strictly tele skis
(mainly snowshoeing with limited cross country
the years before), so  I am still a bit slow, esp. on
the rolling downhills. Still have trouble side
stepping without skins. And, as I also found out this
weekend, I should have my skins reglued a bit, too. :)

Ack! Angie and I brought up the rear. I did wait for
Angie as skiing by yourself at night when it is 5F is
not a good thing to do when you are solo. :D  Thought
I am a newbie tele skiier, my overall  outdoor skills
are still pretty solid, so I did not panic..BUT all I
could think of was  "Sh*T, I don't want to build a
snow cave!"  It was getting damn late and we were damn
tired.  

Well, after this thought, coming down the trail  I see
a headlamp. Woo hoo!  It was Brett: Sponsored
adventure racer, awesome skiier and all around swell
guy. 
And a sight for sore eyes (and sore muscles, back,
shoulders,  legs, etc.)! 

He takes Angies pack, gives us some hot tea and skis
up with us. Man..wotta boost! The lights of the hut
were like a lighthouse on a stormy night. We made it! 
Good thing, I'm not going to lie:  I was dead tired! 
The others had been there for about an hour or so
before us and had a nice fire going.

After sorting out the gear, getting a hot drink and
warming up by the fire, we have a late night fondue
meal. Cheese sauce mixed with wine. Veggies, meat.
Ah.... Went to a well deserved sleep.

The following day three of us did some touring for
about five hours. Glorious powder! Glorious scenery!
What fun!  Made it back to the hut, had a winter
warmer (hot chocolate with nice dollup of caramel
liquer) and took a nap.

Started cooking dinner. My turn! All the food we had
hauled in was worth it. I made a dish I had in Rome:
"Spaghetti alle carbonara".  Perfect hut trip meal.
Saute some olives and mushroom in olive oil with a
litle bit of butter. Throw in the bacon you
have also been cooking (sorry, hard to find pancetta
in Colorado easily!), simmer so it cooks the rest of
the way. Cook the pasta, saute the pasta when al dente
in the sauce for ~1 minute. Add your eggs and grated
cheese mixture raw to the pasta. Stir vigorously so
the eggs cook in the pasta.  Ah... Add some steamed
spinach that had been marinating in olive and lemon 
juice (my Grandma's recipe) as a side dish, Also add
some dried salami and  hard cheese for as an
antipasto.  Open a bottle of wine.  You have a very
high calorie and  delicious meal at almost 11k feet. 
Perfect for a vigorous day of playing in winter.  

A legacy of my family: We love to cook and eat!  I
must confess felt quite pleased when my friends raved
about the meal. :)  Many fun hours of coversation (and
glasses of wine) were had by all that night. 

The following day we skiied out. Another wonderfully
sunny day. With great scenery!

Made it back home with light traffic on I-70. Seems
everyone was watching the Steeles/Broncos game!

Life is good I tell ya... life is good.

Pics : http://snipurl.com/luxd

(Yes..my pics are on a different site now. Was going
to make an official announcement. But here it is in a
nutshell: Starting to sell photos at local coffee
shops, been wanting to consolidate my on-line info
under one umbrella for a while now, my website is
getting a "professional maker over" once the photos
are moved over (my buddy Josh is using me as his
guinea pig!),  know more about making smaller
photos/lower res pics than I did two years ago,
 my photo collections are getting lots of hits now so
I'd rather stick my employer with the bandwidth 
than Ryan. :D Many, many, MANY thanks to Ryan for
hosting all my photos for what now..5+ years? Lots 
of memories! Thanks Ryan!)










************************************************************
The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust 
caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com