Where did we leave off the last blog post? Oh yeah, it was about manning up and making Valentine’s day happen. My approach this year, don’t mess around. Sure, I skulked out of City Market with a dozen red petaled plant stems (always funny to watch the other guys in the checkout line with their offering to St. Val, some of whom really don’t look like they’d clean up that well, but then, that’s what two hour showers and Irish Spring soap are for right? Take it from one who knows.)
Lisa, when every day is the best day ever.
Anyway, we have some friends who own a cabin up near where the goods are at Marble, Colorado. So I borrowed their digs for three nights since the combo of Val Day and Pres Day gave us an excuse to get away for three days instead of the usual two. For privacy reasons I can’t divulge the exact location of the place, but let’s just say that the best way to access it was via 4×4 and snowmobile, the wood stove put out enough calories to keep romance alive, and the skiing every day was the best day ever.
What's a hut without a woman? A lonely place I've been all too often. The better half can be seen in this photo peeking flirtfully around the door, perhaps expecting another dozen roses to flourish from the snowmobile cargo rack. Sorry about that, but I'll take you powder skiing?
Bacon and eggs next to the big window gazing over the Elk Mountains. Thanks Franz and Heather.
Key for memorable cabin trips is the food (so long as you already have a personal guide). My favorite breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon. Best snack, haul rye bread from the artisan bakery (Grana) in Carbondale, combine with gruyere cheese and Swiss chocolate, topped off with fresh sliced apple. Dinner, keep it simple after the big day, dump soup from can, serve with sourdough bread from same bakery.
This is what Marble's most popular run looked like by afternoon Sunday.
This weekend in Marble I met a fair number of people who’d come all the way from Boulder of all places! That’s a long drive, to say the least. Everyone seemed friendly, locals (we qualify as we’ve lived here for two nights now) chatting up the out-of-towners even as we watched our personal stash being slashed. Oh well, we’ll have none of that territorial BS, now will we? To that end one reminder: If you ski Marble off the Quarry Road, park so you leave more room for passing cars and trucks than you’d normally think necessary, as the Quarry has a BIG truck and who knows what they’ll do to you if you end up blocking their way.
So, a Valentines getaway to remember. Colorado fluff, bacon, Romance, snowmobiles, trucks, fireside tea with a good book. Next year, a week?
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
