Sunny Snowshoeing

The last Sunday in January, I took the new snowshoes out for a stroll on the backside of Pikes Peak.  I attempted to head up to the crags, but ran into vehicle trouble when 4-wheel drive went out.  So instead, I made my way back down and hiked around Mueller State Park.

I hiked out from the ridge trailhead and quickly found some nice powder.  The snowshoes moved smoothly through the deep pow and I quickly made my way through the western ridge.  I also took the snowshoes down some deep drops which caused some fluff to roll down the hill causing mini avalanches.

The pine valleys held all the snow from the past couple of storms. I was quickly into areas where I would have been up to my waist with snow.  But the snowshoes led me easily across the valley bottoms.

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Facebook Hq

I ended up working California again for a week at the end of January,  it was  whirlwind non-stop trip of corporate interworkings.  I flew out on Sunday night and got myself a veritable clown car (Kia Rio) and made my way to the my hotel for the next week.

Highlights of the trip were the many cool places I had dinner.   First was the ‘Duke of Edinburgh”, a fun British pub where I had some delicious fish and chips.  Next, I tried to go to Tapped, but it was too busy to get a spot at the bar, so I went to the Cheesecake Factory and watched the X-Games.  We also had a team dinner at “Harry’s Hofbrau”.  This was a 70’s throwback to the beer halls of Germany, with massive portions of comfort food. The last place of note was a great sushi place I stumbled upon called, ‘Ocean Blue Sushi Club.’   This was some of the best sushi I have ever had.

During one of the nights I roamed around the posh spot that is Santana Row.  I even walked into a Tesla dealership.

Also, while I was there I visited all the high power corporate campuses.

• Google  (most fun, lots of free bikes and Android Sculptures)
• Facebook (huge and impressive location)
• Agilent
• HP
• Yahoo
• Emc

Saturday, I went with Z to the beach and got my NorCal surf on(2^nd time ever).  The smartest thing I did all day was spend the $15 and rent a wet suit, because the Pacific Ocean is cold!  I caught a few waves on the shorter boards (compared to Costa Rica) and didn’t get eaten by sharks.  Then while warming up between sets, I had lunch at the famous TACO BELL on the beach.

It was good trip, lots of work was done, but it was good to get back to Colorado.  On my flight back we cruised over RMNP, and I snapped some pics of Longs Peak, Hallet Peak, Sharkstooth and the Petit Grepon.

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Crack Monsters

In Middle of January some more climbing was done.  The first obstacle to overcome was me being trapped at work on a Saturday for a IT cutover.    Things didn’t proceed well and Saturday became a complete washout.  That night, Ben and Amanda showed up and we got ready for a trip down to Shelf road on Sunday morning.

We left early at daybreak and got coffee and breakfast at Canon City Coffee Shop.  We were treated to special Sumatra coffee and bacon-pancakes.  The coffee was even free because I “liked” them on Facebook.  As we pulled into the bank parking, other climbers were huddling in their cars.  It was much cold than it was predicted to be.  The clouds didn’t break until mid-day but then it finally hit 60 degrees.  But until then, everyone stayed bundle up in their goose-down parkas.

We climbed at the “piggy bank” wall and got our blood pumping.

Some of the routes climbed:

• The brothel 5.8
• Tuff Shed (B&C) 5.9+ hand crack

Afterwards, we explore the west untracked cliff, and found a so called 5.9+ called the BUM.  Turn out to be a nice sandbag.  It started out with big jugs, to a right corner crack, the crack then dies out below a large boulder roof.  Then you traverse out a slopping hand rail with no feet.  In the middle, the is a “off hands” over hanging crack (It felt more like a 5.11).   This climb demanded blood and our hands showed.

(watch in hd and full screen)

Lastly we finished up at the “Bank Rob” area doing some more 5.9’s and 5.10s.

The next day, Ben got his trad fix and led New Era (5.7) in Garden of the Gods.  He did some steep graceful climbing and we setup a top rope have way.   Amanda then sent the route cleanly.   Next, Ben was still feeling adventurous so we decide to do a hanging belay and finish up the second pitch.  I climbed up to the anchor suspended myself on the wall and Ben followed up.  He then push past me through a large crack, shifty button head protection, and a gnarly lie back section.   We caused all sorts of traffic jams on the road below, as tourist to pictures of us on the wall.

Lots of quality climbing this weekend and Ben impressively stepped up his game.

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Champagne

After the Christmas activities, I joined Alexis for a ride down to Charlotte.  The next couple days were filled with all types of fun activites.

New Years Eve:

• Left Crabtree
• Summersville - played on rocks in the drained lake
• Spent New Years Eve @ Tavern on the Tracks – free booze and fun hats!

New Year Day:

• Einstein Bagels – saw guy with awesome jeans
• Crowders Mountain – made Alexis hike and exercise, she did not appear “stoked”
• Taco Mac

Monday:

• Climbing at inner Peaks – Alexis’s hand got eaten by the ATC.  I crushed 5.11s almost 5.12
• Cantina 1511 – yummy Mexican.  Had a fruity, yet delicious margarita.

Tuesday:

• Saucemans – BBQ with half and half drinks
• Art of Shaving –  Crazy straight blade shave.  I got my nose cut.
• Ate at “Good Food” on montford.  Mussels, quail, fries, and scallops

Wednesday:

• Crushed Alexis at Skip Bo.  She is now currently hook on Spite and Malice.
• Left for airport

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Family Fun

In December, I headed home for Christmas again to much delight. This year everyone would be home, and everyone would have lots of fun. All the fun was made possible by a company-wide shutdown that let everyone take time off and not come back way behind on work.

I got do some shopping at that tasty Italian deli that is Delallo’s. My dad and I got lots of fresh fruit, bread and cold cuts for snacks and sandwiches throughout the week.

On Christmas Eve, I tried to start a new tradition by getting people together and shooting some clay pigeons and pumpkins. My mom took some real good photos of the get together and even shot a gun herself.
That night, everyone relaxed and we had some turkey and ham and watched some new release movies on the TV. During the movies I had a new challenge to conquer – I had to teach my mom SKIP-BO. This was hilarious, fun and yet a trying three hours. By the end of it though, my mom had become a SKIP-BO expert that was blocking and hoarding cards.

Christmas day arrived the next morning and I was treated to some fantastic presents. In the end, I came away with 12 pairs of socks, a rabbit hat, a luggage bag, and a new rope! I stopped by the Graham’s house around noon and got a good Christmas lunch and lots of cookies. Alexis’ brother hit the jackpot on all things camp, and Mick the dog was looking his best. With Alexis in tow, we headed to the Ackerman house for the family Christmas dinner.

The night consisted of the following:

-quesadilla bar
-family photoshoots
-new puppy appearance
-cousin gift exchange
-Mine and Emilee’s secret weird gift exchange (Justin Bieber and Twilight themed)
-playing with animal traps, lured with presents
-drinking Yuengling
-Elaborate story telling (myself telling a Harlequin tale of one of my adventures)

The day after Xmas, I ended up buying more bullets and experienced the craziness of after Christmas shopping at Walmart and Panera. Later that day we had a muzzlerloader shoot off. Matt showed up and we shot some more shotguns.  Afterward were swarmed by hundreds of doves in the western white pine trees.

Tuesday, I took a ride up to Clearfield, Pa with Alexis, her dad, and brother. We took a tour of Clearfield’s finest shops and Bigler rocks
-Billy’s Breakfast
-Grice’s Gun shop
-Bob’s Army Navy
-Jim’s Sports
-Clearfield Pharmacy (its not named after anyone, and that is sad)

Wednesday, we picked up my dad at his office and took Josh back to the airport for his flight back to Minnesota. Afterwards, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and I treated my mom and dad to awesome brunch. When I got back I finally, took Alexis out to dinner at Table 22 in Murrysville and watched the new chipmunk movie “Chipwrecked”.

Thursday, I played farm hand. I managed to chop up all the pre-cut trees from thanksgiving and loaded up the snowplow truck with furniture grade cherry wood. I tested the snowplows strength and weight by making the road a complete mess by trying to plow it. Also, during the day my dad’s trailcam was put up and caught a couple cool animals.

Friday, I finished up the treeline with the help of Sophie and had tasty pre-birthday dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.

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