Trip Reports Backcountry

NOLS course in Lander Wyoming, Wind River Mountains with Scarpa boots.

Our son Louie called yesterday afternoon, after completing his NOLS Wind River Mountaineering course over the past 30 days. As parents we of course had to suffer through the old NOLS “no news is good news” style of communication, so…

We became flower children this weekend. Hiking to Silver Creek Pass near Marble, Colorado. Flowers at timberline and just above are in full bloom. Sharp yellows and blues you can taste, punctuated by numerous columbines with their elegant pastels. Soul…

Chris Davenport continues as a leader of the current generation of North American ski mountaineers in their prime. I’d heard he was going to Denali this spring, and as always expected plenty of inspiring success, but this is over the…

And yellow, and blue, and red, and… Got the Jeep fired up this past weekend and headed for Colorado’s Schofield Pass and points in between. One of my favorite short hikes in that area is Arkansas Mountain from the Leadking…

As morning sun illuminated Castle Peak like a military laser firing a warning shot, the unholy stench of coyote piss rose from my Jeep like a parody of macho cologne. Just moments ago I’d dribbled the stuff liberally, figuring it…