Wrapping up 2011
- Posted: March 14, 2012
- By: andylibrande
- In: Activity Categories, Location Categories, Random
0
Of course it is three months into 2012 before I start writing a post about finishing up 2011. That is just my normal production schedule!
2011 was a great year full of many adventures with a lot of different people. From a photography view I almost took twice as many photos in 2011 then any previous year. Also the time spent shooting was amazing and I spent more then 95 days taking photos. Additionally I have posted more on my blog than any other year as well (17 posts!). Needless to say I had a lot of fun in 2011 and hope to continue that streak into 2012.
First check out this Facebook Photo Gallery of all of the major events I did this year: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.653867921483.2158881.20202675&type=3&l=e994e1f691
Here is a summary of a few of the major adventures that I had in 2011 and some of the highlights:
- Skiing Trips:
- Montezuma
- Riding Silverthorne Hill (w/video!)
- A-Basin Sidecountry
- 4th of July Skiing at A-Basin (bikini skiing!)
- Cabo San Lucas:
- Rock and Ice-Climbing Adventures:
- Ouray Ice Climbing
- Castlewood Springtime
- Independence Pass
- Backyard Bouldering Comp Invite
- Backyard Bouldering Comp Results
- Camping/Backpacking/Other Adventures:
Lastly going to leave you with the photo that my family and I took this year for our Christmas Cards:
The Year of the Dragon is going to kick ass!
Halloween Party Pics
- Posted: November 30, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Activity Categories, Random
- 0
Oct 29th, 2011 was the Halloween Party dubbed “Night of the Dead”. Being the 5th halloween party I have thrown we went all out with the decorations and party supplies while everyone presented amazing costumes. Below are just a select few photos from the night, you can find more here.
Highlights of the “Night of the Dead” party included a black light bar, 22 lbs of pulled pork for a BBQ Dinner, everyone”s amazing costumes, Dessert Cook-off, Giant Jenga, crazy Decorations, lighted dance floor, general debauchery, and one amazing and incredibly fun group!!
Thanks everyone for making Halloween 2011 “Night of the Dead” so awesome. Can’t wait until we do this again!!!
Sick-Gnar Hidden Backcountry Spot
- Posted: May 2, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Random, Snow, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
Synopsis: We secured funding through a variety of grants to complete a quest that was so epic that the likes of Powder, Outside and other magazines were too scared to even cover this ground-breaking trek into the unknown.
Date of Ascent: February 19th, 2011
Expedition Team: Gathered from around the world each specialized in specific skills:
- Trent from Oklahoma. Specialty is eating spicy foods.
- Tweak from Virginia. Specialty is not picking up girls at the bar.
- Caitlin from Minnesota. Specialty is pretending to be blond.
- Bethany from lots of places. Specialty is dog handler.
- Arthur from England. Specialty is being English.
- Danielle pretending to be from England. Specialty is withstanding English humor.
- Mike from an unknown location. Specialty is surprising people.
- Andy from Colorado. Specialty is talking about how awesome he is.
Expedition Map (click for Larger): Below is the specialized satellite photo that we received from NASA of the basecamp. They were our only sponsors and provided us with instantaneous views of the changing weather, erupting volcanoes, and movements of the native (and extremely hostile!) tribes.
Interactive Expedition Map (click for Larger): http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=203858300141676234019.00049e9d29873c006d6dd&ll=39.628045,-106.077688&spn=0.006445,0.013733&t=e&z=17&ecpose=39.63537586,-106.07009034,3258.7,-141.401,61.105,0
Expedition Video: Brain Farm Cinema was on hand filming the expedition using a number of their highly specialized (and retardly expensive) cameras including the CineFlex. One of the crew members had to hike nearly 28,000 vertical feet with a 27 lb camera attached to their helmet to get this awesome POV footage.
Silverthorne Colorado Backcountry Gnar! from AndyLibrande on Vimeo.
Select Photos from the Expedition:
Skiing the Icy 70+degree couilor:
View of the vast untamed wilderness that surrounds this 45,000 ft peak:
On the twelfth day this Ferocious Beast (which I believe is a Yeti?) nearly killed every expedition member and managed to eat most of our dwindling supplies:
I hope all of you take this serious…
Link to Original Post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/05/sick-gnar-hidden-backcountry-spot/
Snow Preview
- Posted: February 28, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Random, Snow, Southern Mountains, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
Updates have been slow as I have been trying to fix my main computer over the last month or so…luckily I am getting close!!!
This doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a hell of a busy winter. Plenty of days out riding great snow, ice-climbing, and other shenanigans has made the time go by quick.
Here is some eye candy to hold you over:
Ice-Climbing in Ouray (only a little pretty):
Caitlin in the side-country at A-Basin:
More to come….
Some Favorites from 2010
- Posted: January 31, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Backpacking/Camping, Climbing Wall, Colorado, Random, Rock, Snow, Travel, Wyoming
- 0
Below is a slideshow showing some of my favorite photos from 2010. 2010 was a pretty good year with a number of really cool trips to new locations and old favorites. Hope you enjoy:
If you are following from a feed please follow this link for the full post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/01/some-favorites-from-2010/
A Few from Trent and Bethany’s Wedding
- Posted: December 30, 2010
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Random, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
Date: September 18th, 2010
What: The wedding of our good friends: Trent and Bethany!!!
So three month’s later here are a couple of the better pics from the wedding night. Essentially just a sample of the nearly 400 photos that I took that night.
Congrats Trent and Bethany!!!
Jake and Annie:
Dan and Cara:
Ian and Brooke:
Caitlin, Annie, Liz:
A bunch of people:
Trent and Bethany’s first dance (under the stars non the less)!!!
Duncan, Ryan, Ilham, John:
Kate and Christian:
Rod and Maryann:
Some really creepy looking dude that crashed the party:
The next day Caitlin, Jake, Annie, and I all headed over to Minturn to do some bouldering in the aspen forests. Along the way we saw some of the best fall colors I have ever seen:
Teva Mountain Games 2010
- Posted: July 11, 2010
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Random, Rock, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
Teva Mountain Games
Spent a weekend hanging out at the Teva Mountain Games up in Vail June 5-6th with Caitlin and ran into a bunch of friends that were up there as well so it was a lot of fun (Andrew, Whitney, Ben, Beth, Terra). This is the second time I have been to the games (first time documented here), so it was good to be back to check out some of the fun events with highlights being the in-town Kayak events and the Bouldering competition; compared to the last time I went there the events were good but the timing of certain events overlapped while at other times there was a huge space of time where nothing was really going on. Regardless it is still an awesome event which everyone should check out.
The coolest part about the games was the water-levels on the Gore Creek running through town were just insane with the CFS nearing doubling during the day on Saturday (what I heard from 1700 CFS in the morning to nearly 3000 that night!). The water was so high on Sunday that they had to cancel the events mainly due to the huge amount of debris floating down-river. Anyways we were lucky to witness some pros hitting the creek that night at some of its highest flows on Sat night.
We literally watched full trees come down the river as it hit 20 year highs:
Here is a picture of how crazy flooded it was that afternoon (seriously up 3ft from the morning):
Watched the 3rd Annual World Bouldering Cup held in the US. Always fun to watch top climbers hitting a wall that is nice and tall. Also really cool to see how many people come and watch this event, easily the most watched event at the games.
Really cool features that they mounted to the climbing wall:
Bouldering at the Kluttergarden
On Sunday of that weekend hit up the beautiful Kluttergarden up near Red Cliff, CO. I had only been there once before (awesome trip documented here), so I was really excited to get back-up there again to play on these beautiful boulders.
We meet up with Terra and her roommate and the four of us enjoyed several different problems on just one boulder. The place was also insanely busy but everyone we ran into was pretty laid-back and we still had this boulder to ourselves for most of the day.
Here Caitlin sends a fun little variation that she found:
This climb I am working is on the same boulder and is a cool traverse with a hard lip to try to top-out on.
Then we headed back to vail for a late lunch and to clean-up all of the give-aways at all of the booths 
If you are following from some sort of feed all of my posts can be found here: http://andylibrande.com/news/
Spring in Yellowstone
- Posted: June 16, 2010
- By: andylibrande
- In: Backpacking/Camping, Random, Travel, Wyoming
- 0
Where: Yellowstone National Park
When: Friday May 28th – Monday May 31st, 2010; aka Memorial Day Weekend
Who: Caitlin, Andy, thousands of Buffalo, some elk, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, moose, antelope, and the most dangerous animal of them all: tourists.
Have you every heard of this place called Yellowstone? Because I never have and rightfully so as there is not much to do there. We happened to stumble upon it when we decided that we should drive North through that mostly empty piece of land above Colorado that some historic maps have listed as “Wyoming”.
While driving through this land we eventually landed in this weird place called Yellowstone, which apparently is somewhat famous as it is designated as a National Park (what-ever that means). So we decided to hang-out for a few days (mainly because we were sick of driving through that barren land north of Colorado).
So there is not much to see there which should be expected as it is in the middle of nowhere. Not sure if anyone should ever go to this place…
Not really that many bison roaming all over the park, hanging out on the road or on the trails where you would least expect them.
Or are is there any other wildlife like the herds of elk or Pronghorn Antelope.
Or are there any Grizzly bears taking down elk calves in plain site and proceeding to eat them.
And there are most certainly no Wolves hunting elk herds for their newly born calves.
Lastly the landscape is extremely boring as things such as geysers, springs, bubbling mud-pits, sulphur pits, or stunning mountains and valleys exist anywhere in this park.
Anyways if you want to see some horrible photos of probably the most boring place on earth, please read-on and don’t come crying to me when you are bored to death as I warned you fairly.
The Trip: Yellowstone over Memorial Day Weekend:
Our first Wildlife encounter was on the first evening where we went on our first short hike in Yellowstone (2/3rds mile). We went out around a small geyser basin (Mud Volcano basin) through some insanely wet rain/slush:
Out on this short hike in the wet rain/slush we rounded a corner on the trail right before our eyes was the first (and certainly not last) buffalo; Caitlin exclaimed “Is that a real one!?!”…why yes I believe that is a real one:
One advantage of really wet/slushy rain of the first evening was that the pesky Tourist animal was no-where to be seen. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Lower Falls which we enjoyed in complete solidarity for at least 20 mins:
Caitlin demonstrating the proper way to deploy Bear Pepper Spray when a bear, bison, chipmunk, moose, bighorn sheep, or RV decide that they will charge you and attempt to maul/gore/eat/cuddle/love/stomp you:
Saturday morning looked pretty much the Beach Vacation we were expecting (2 inches of Fresh!) the next morning near the Hayden Valley:
Damn tourists can’t walk down the road right:
Porcelain Basin near Norris Junction was insanely awesome:
Some really colorful Extremophiles found in the Porcelain Basin:
The Northern Lamar Valley after a fast moving rain storm (which is about 1,500 ft lower than were we camped and was significantly warmer), also known as the Serengeti of Yellowstone:
Momma and Baby Black Bear were hanging out giving the crowds a show (Near Tower):
Sunday Morning we were treated to some excellent GORE!!! Yogi the Grizzly Bear had chased down an delicious Elk Calf for breakfast and I was jealous as I hadn’t yet had my morning baby animal breakfast. Anyways we finally got a decent photo once he got-up and re-hydrated (but people with high-powered scopes helped us see closeups of the grizzly enjoying the various parts of an elk calf):
Then out of no-where some Wolves attacked a small herd of elk on the same hillside!!! Unfortunately they were hidden by a small hill and they would only pop-out occasionally and were running so quick it that I could not get a photo that was worth anything at all 
Once our killing appetite was taken care of we went and checked out some more Geyser basins near Old-Faithful (Old-faithful was probably the least exciting part of the trip):
The very large Grand Prismatic Geyser from a good vantage point (there is a boardwalk to this geyser but since it is so large and hot all you can see is steam):
So we randomly went to this one small side road and got out of the car to wander around. There was a small group near this one geyser and out of no-where the thing started to erupt and was really sweet to watch it shoot about 25 ft into the air. The White Dome Geyser:
Sunday evening the skies cleared and we were treated to some excellent visual pleasure over the Hayden valley and Pelican Creek (just before sunset the temperature peaked at a whopping 54 degrees):
Monday morning we packed-up and headed out. There was some excellent viewage at Yellowstone Lake (which like most things we saw in the park was still frozen):
Then back in the car again and across that vast land of Wyoming…
Yee Haw!
If you are following from some sort of feed all of my posts can be found here: http://andylibrande.com/news/
Denver Zoo in the Winter
- Posted: April 29, 2010
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Random
- 0
Date: March 20th, 2010
Accomplice: Caitlin (and the furry animals)
Location: The Denver Zoo
We decided to hit up the Denver Zoo the day after a 8-10″ snowstorm as in the morning the weather was absolutely beautiful. We arrived in the early afternoon and had a great time as it had been a long while since either of us had been there.
Let’s just say the weather was perfect, the animals were insanely active and the crowds were non-existent.
Numerous times throughout the day, Caitlin and I found ourselves in exhibits with only us and the animals (which may or may not be legal…). It much more enjoyable to see animals when they want to be outside instead of hiding in the corner from the hot sun and screaming kids.
The Male Brown Bear was Playing around and Real Happy:
And then we found out why he was so happy – Apparently licking the Urine of the Female Bear brings him much pleasure:
The Cheetahs were out running in their snow-covered pen:
Caitlin near the Monkey Area. Due to the Large amount of snow the monkeys were the only animals inside. But you can see how much snow there was in the early afternoon which was quickly melting off:
The Rhino was out enjoying the nice Light: 
The Birds were Dive-bombing each other in Bird World as they fought for fish. We sat here for at least 15-20 mins watching them with only two other people coming through in that time.
Kingfisher:
Penguins were enjoying the cooler weather:
Amazingly the Red Panda was out and about running throughout his cage. Don’t believe I ever really seen him like this:
The Caged Beast: The Snow Leopard eying some tasty morsels:
Myself and Caitlin with the Polar Bears head just peeking through:
Obligatory Peacock Shot:
By the end of the day most of the snow had melted off and the Lions were out enjoying the last of the warm winter afternoon sun:
If you are following from a feed all updates can be found here: http://andylibrande.com/news/
Frolicking Through the Winter Months
- Posted: April 28, 2010
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Front Range, Random, Snow
- 0
To make up for my lameness in not posting any stoke all winter long, this post is all about the random days out and about with my camera. I also came-up with one of the most ridiculous names I could think of for a post just to commemorate this historic period in our lives.
Detailed trip reports of the more insane activities will follow, right now this is just the side-activities.
Roxborough State Park with Caitlin and Whitney (Jan 9th, 2010):
Ben Thought there was Something Funny Tasting in the Water (Jan 16th, 2010):
Scenics from the Biggest and Brightest Full-Moon of the Year (January 30th, 2010)(Summit County, CO):
Hiking Around Eldorado State Park with Caitlin and the Sister (Jan 18th, 2010):
Storm Blowing over Red Mountain – Awesome Time-lapse photos to follow – March 7th, 2010, 4:57pm:
Storm 30 mins later 5:33pm:
The Trees on the Side of My House After some Wet Snow- For some reason when they get the smallest amount of snow on them they can completely bend over and touch the ground (March 24th, 2010):
Anyways we had to find other activities to focus in on throughout the winter since the snow was so spotty. The only thing that I never got around to was climbing days out on the rock; I hit up the backyard wall a number of times but never got around to climbing in the snow (as in previous years).
More updates on there way including a Denver Zoo and the real report on Winter!!!
If you are following on a feed, all full updates can be found on my website here: http://andylibrande.com/news/
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