Backyard Bouldering Comp 2011
- Posted: September 08, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Activity Categories, Climbing Wall, Events & Parties
1
2nd Annual Backyard Bouldering
- Party – BBQ – Climbing Competition
- Saturday September 10th, 2011
- Starting at 4:30pm
The time has come for the 2nd Annual Backyard Bouldering competition. Following the success of last year I invite anyone ready to climb hard and have a good time. The scoring format and flow will follow very similar to last years with awards for Men’s/Women’s plus prizes for Best Costume, Most Determination, and other new ones.
- 1st thru 3rd Men’s and 1st-3rd Women’s
- An Open division may be created if enough advanced climbers RSVP
- Prizes for all the fun stuff:
- Best Costume
- Best Beer (via popular vote)
- Midgets Unite (Person on 5’5″ that performs the hardest)
- Best Determination
- Most Bonus Holds
- Drunken Monkey (climber must chug a full beer then flash a 3+ star problem. If there is a tie it is a head-to-head chug/climb until there is a clear winner)
- All Awards/Prizes will receive something cool/memorable. (Last years prizes)
Scoring Format: Will be nearly identical to last year’s scoring format and flow. Essentially each problem is worth a set number of points and the more times you try before completing the problem the lower your points. The details from last read can be read here:
http://andylibrande.com/news/
See you there!
Backpacking in the Eagles Nest Wilderness – Peak C
- Posted: August 29, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Backpacking, Colorado, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
When: July 17th – July 18th, 2011
Where: Eagle’s Nest Wilderness, Peak C, Upper Piney River Trail (TOPO MAP LINK)
Caitlin and I decided to add a little fun overnight backpacking trip onto a busy weekend. After going to a quick wedding reception in Frisco we headed over to Vail to embark on a short overnight backpacking trip. After driving down a very long dirt road (which uses the Red and White trailhead that we snowmobile in the winter) we finally reached the Upper Piney Lake Trailhead. Immediately we were greeted by a pretty nasty evening rainstorm which we decided to wait out in the car (and only took about 30 mins).
It quickly turned into a beautiful evening and as we started putting our packs on we were startled when two hudge BULL MOOSE popped-out of the brush 50 yards from us at the parking lot. Of course I had to get some photos of this incredibly rare occurrence (I have only seen moose in Colorado from a very far distance). Moose enjoying the tasty-treats:
Of course I wanted to get as close as possible and luckily we were down-wind from them. I sneaked over to an area with some thicker trees and tried to get as close as possible knowing that these animals are incredibly dangerous. I got this shot through the dense brush:
Right after I took that photo a jeep coming down the road saw them, slammed on their brakes and started taking photos as well. A group of car-campers nearby that were behind a small hill heard the commotion and joined in on the moose watching. I suddenly found myself in close proximity to two potentially dangerous creatures as the tensions quickly increased. The big guy looked around and gave me the stink-eye so I high tailed it out of there before he could test those hooves on me. Unfortunately the two never posed together but you can see both of them in this photo:
Moose distraction aside we started our hike in on an relatively easy trail with incredible views of the valley in front of us.
Caitlin measuring up against the local flauna:
Andy checking out the beautiful Peak C (Rough-rider Couilor is just visible on the notch to the right of the peak) We ran into a group that skied it on Sunday:
We backpacked in a few miles since the sun was setting quickly. Set-up camp and had a great cooking area overlooking two different valley’s. The next morning we got up and hiked around the area up the side of the mountain next to peak C. There are not really any trails in the area (and the ones there are poorly marked as we found ourselves somewhat misplaced).
We were camped at the bottom of this valley. To the Right is where the Trailhead for the Upper Piney is and a very large valley. In front of us in the valley is where the trail continues to Upper Piney Lake (which we missed this trail the night before). On the otherside of the peaks on the left is East Vail. The clouds made it hard to get a solid photo.
After watching the clouds build for a couple of hours a quick moving rainstorm scared us back down to the campsite where we got back just as the weather unleashed for 20-30 mins. Then it was back to clear skies and an awesome hike back to the car.
Beautiful valley views on the way back to the car:
Caitlin and I almost back to the car:
A view of the “Rip Saw” ridge from the road on the drive out:
Nice to get away!
Link to the full post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/08/backpacking-in-the-eagles-nest-wilderness-peak-c/
4th of July Skiing at A-Basin
- Posted: August 12, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Colorado, Snow, Summit County/I-70 Area
- 0
This year served up two completely different and incredible closing days. Vail’s closing weekend was April 24th and was completed with a condo in downtown vail, music, friends, family and two days of fresh powder!!!?!! Easily the best snow on a closing day I have ever seen (and it seemed appropriate considering I was there for Vail’s opening day which delivered deep fresh powder all the way back on November 19th).
Flash forward 72 days later and it is finally time for A-Basin’s closing day. Now A-basin has only been open four other times on 4th of July and the last time they were open this late was 1997. So odds of seeing another 4th of July ski day at a resort is fairly low and we had to make the most of it. So we had a lot of fun.
We got there just after 10pm. Virtually every parking lot was full to our surprise. Costumes on, time to celebrate:
Apparently we weren’t the only ones here to celebrate AMERICA!!!:
Best part about the wait in the ski line was throwing snowballs at people on the ski lifts. These 3 girls all wearing bikinis got dominated. If you look closely a snowball just ricochet off one of the girl’s faces…awesome.
Dodging snowballs:
Watching pond-skimming at the top of A-Basin:
The normal pond-skimming place was melted-out and luckily a new pond formed. I have never seen it form in this location before. The steep and abrupt entry made for some spectacular crashes. Here the crowd enjoys the views:
Clowns are horrible pond-skimmers:
People were yelling “AMERICA!!!” all day long and for good reasons! Here Caitlin gives the lift-line a demonstration in mogul skiing via bikini on surprisingly good snow:
If you fall while pond-skimming you nearly freeze in the 32 degree water and overcast sky. To make matters worse a little kid comes along and throws snowballs at your face as you are trying to climb out of the freezing water. This girl gets the worse of it as the crowd cheered the little kid on:
I Love America!!! Seriously it kicks ass.
Not all closing days are the same and this season provided two of the most unique and incredible days anyone could ask for.
Link to full post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/08/4th-of-july-skiing-at-a-basin/
Crested Butte Spring in June
- Posted: July 31, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Camping, Southern Mountains
- 0
Who: Caitlin, her sister Lizzy, my sister Lizard, and myself. (Me + 3 women!?!)
When: June 11th-12th
What: A quick overnight camping trip
Randomly both my parents and Caitlin’s parents did the Ride the Rockies tour this year (~400 miles over 6 days on a road bike!) which made for a convenient excuse to drive them to Crested Butte to drop them off.
Caitlin and I thought it would be fun to drop off each of the parental units and then spend a night camping with our sister’s and enjoy the awesomeness that is Crested Butte.
Arriving in the early afternoon on Saturday we stopped for a delicious lunch at the Brick Oven in downtown Crested Butte which has a surprising great selection of beer. After gorging ourselves on a meatball, pepperoni, and pesto pizza my sister and I parted ways with our parents and headed out to Gothic to check out Stupid Falls.
Stupid Falls is a massive waterfall that is really easy to get to (essentially you turn right after the first bridge on the approach to Gothic and drive down the dirt road until you see a large point in the shape of the river). It was running at 2,300 CFS and was just massive.
Here is video of the falls along with a few photos:
Sister in awe at the power of the waterfall:
We finally met-up with Caitlin and her Sister and found a campsite along County RD 734 where the snowline was not much above the campsite.
Long exposure of the valley that night (~5mins long):
The valley was a contradiction of seasons with spring time at it’s fullest in the valley with mid-winter snowpack on the mountains:
We tried to hike near the Ol Be Joyful waterfall however the trail was closed due to a massive river crossing. Instead we went to a trail near Gothic on the Judd Falls trailhead into the Maroon Bell wilderness. Caitlin and I have done this hike before and we knew that it would be good for the sisters.
The girls with Mount Crested Butte (the ski area) in the background:
Lizard hugging a massive Aspen tree:
Black Bear Track right in front of the wilderness sign:
Sister with Spider Peak in the background:
Super green:
Link to full post here: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/07/crested-butte-spring-in-june/
Scenics from the Baja
- Posted: July 19, 2011
- By: andylibrande
- In: Mexico, Travel
- 0
If you haven’t already, please read the quick recap of our CABO SAN LUCAS trip here: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/06/down-in-mexico-a-quick-trip-report/
In summary I took a couple pretty photos. Below are some more scenics from the trip.
Enjoy!
Scenics from a Week in the Baja:
Panorama of a Pink Sunrise over the eastern beaches of Cabo San Lucas on the morning of May 9th, 2011. This is a photo that I stitched together and plan on printing. The print will be ~80 inches wide when I get it done. I witnessed nearly every sunrise on the trip as they were far more spectacular then the sunsets at Cabo. Plus it was very peaceful watching the beach slowly wake-up every morning from our awesome villa.
Click for a much larger version and enjoy:
One morning I was treated to the most colorful sunrise I have ever seen. The location of the sunrise caught me off guard as it was the first morning in this new spot and I didn’t quite nail the composition. It lasted for just a couple minutes and luckily I woke Caitlin as she is the only testimonial that this actually happened. Unreal colors over San Jose Del Cabo taken from the Las Palmillas Casita:
We kayaked out to Finisterra to see the Arch. Conveniently it was out of the water (extremely rare) and we were able to walk right underneath it. Here Caitlin is enjoying the view from the ocean and I am trying not to drop my camera into the water:
This is a small tunnel that we crawled through for fun. Andrew is standing in the other entrance while I am on my belly taking a photo from the small entrance. Located on Playa del Amor near the Arch.
Whitney at Playa del Amor:
Sunbathing at the Casita:
Did I mention that this whole house was just our groups for a few days!?! It was awesome with incredible views sitting above a violent ocean swell. This is a photo that I stitched together to get the full house.
This is the back patio of the first place we stayed at called the Villa at the Hacienda resort. We had an amazing spot that overlooked Finisterra right on Medano Beach and minutes from the Marina and downtown Cabo. It was pretty incredible.
Sunset over Finisterra (Land’s End):
So many more photos that I have it is hard to narrow it down sometimes.
Hoped you enjoyed!
Link to full post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/07/scenics-from-the-baja/
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