In an excerpt from “An Extreme Encounter: Antarctica,” world traveler and touring cyclist extraordinaire Frosty Wooldridge writes, “I jumped on my bike looking like an over-stuffed bear with all my cold weather gear on. My breath vaporized as I rode toward the ice-covered ocean. My lungs burned with each inhalation of polar cold.” Reflecting upon his contact with a group of Emperor penguins, he writes, “Here, in this frozen wasteland beyond the borders of my imagination where man does not belong, nature touched me again today with its pulsing heart and living warmth. I only hope my species learns as much respect for our fellow travelers as they show toward us.”
The Annual Christmas Bird Count is this weekend, sponsored by the Roaring Fork Audubon Society. Join other bird enthusiasts in conducting a census of early winter birds in the Roaring Fork Valley. The results will be combined with those of other observers from the American continents.
Post blogger Mitch Mulhall sleeps in and enjoys just another leisurely Saturday: "I slept in a half hour this morning. Got out of bed at 6:30 am and read the morning paper. At 7:00, I woke my son and cooked him breakfast. He had to be at the ski swap at 8:00 sharp... While my son worked the ski swap morning shift, I returned to town to coach my U8 soccer team... Tomorrow I'm getting up at 4:30 am to cook a hearty breakfast. ..I put my son and his friend to bed tonight at 8:00 pm. Tomorrow, they will attempt to climb Mt. Sopris with their ski team coaches, John Bresnitz, and Glenwood native Bill Kimminau."
Posts filed under 'Outdoors'
What really shocks me more about this weather is the way people dress. Yes, you finally get to see jackets and scarves in Austin after a long awaited hot summer, but more surprisingly, the lack thereof! How is it possible that I see idiot after idiot—I mean student after student wearing shorts??! Sometimes accompanied by nothing more than a t-shirt! How does this happen? And why am I freezing my (a$$) off while these people seem not to have noticed that it is 50 degrees?!
It also makes me wonder why I’m always the cold one. I never cease to get ridiculed for my low tolerance of cold temperatures (in Texas, this usually comes in the form of overzealous A/C units. Those bastards! And yes, I’m referring to air conditioning units themselves). And while I’m on the topic, what is wrong with the world? Why do we need to waste all this energy on making sure that the fat guy in the front row doesn’t feel a drop of sweat underneath the folds in his man boobs? OK, maybe that’s taking it a little far, but do we really need it to feel like a refrigerator everywhere we go? I mean, I think the novelty of “Come on in, its cool inside!” should be long gone by now, and we can come to an understanding on the temperature! But, again, I would be wrong. And just in case you’re wondering, I have no problem complaining about indoor temperatures, because they are controlled by man. I can’t control the weather, but A/C, now that’s someone’s choice.
Continue Reading October 22nd, 2007
Recently, I was devastated to discover an Aspen untruth of criminal proportions. I’ve lived in this town for five years now, all the while believing we get a steady 300 inches of snow per year. Ask any Bartender, Ski Instructor, or Lift Op how much snow Aspen receives annually and they’ll spit out “300 inches” as if it had been burned onto their forehead with a cattle prod.
Continue Reading October 20th, 2007
“Harumph! Harumph!” a BIG sound from a BIG animal sounded not far from the tent.
I awoke with a rush of adrenaline that raced through my body like the cars at the Indy 500. Fear plowed through my mind like Hurricane Katrina. Whatever it was, it was BIG! I hadn’t had that kind of fear since I faced a grizzly in Alaska in the 70s.
Continue Reading October 14th, 2007
A chef is fundamentally accurate in their technique. It's like someone who can read poetry and break it down into whatever structure it takes to make it accurate in terms of meter. A great cook, on the other hand, may not understand the reason for the poetry, but he likes it, and will feel his way through it intuitively. There are great cooks and talented chefs, but finding a great chef that can cook is difficult. I know chefs that can't cook for more than 12 people. However, I know cooks who can cook for 500 and make everything wonderful, and I think that this is equally as good a skill as that of someone who can put together something that is aesthetic and ambitious. I consider myself to be an upper level cook rather than upper level chef because my interests don't lay 100 percent in doing that. It also comes down to dollars and sense for me. It's good to be the most creative person in the world, but if no one buys your stuff, it's not going to matter.
Continue Reading October 6th, 2007
This week my children were sick, both with nasty colds. When a small child’s head and lungs are congested with mucus, it’s hard from them to be happy. They aren’t yet capable of blowing their nose in a tissue, or hocking a loogy. Instead they must rely on gravity to draw the mucus from their heads, a method that ensures prolonged misery.
Continue Reading September 29th, 2007
Have you ever had the urge to give up all your material possessions, quit your job, and travel to the other side of the country to live in the mountains? That's exactly what I did. With only a suitcase, a train ticket, and $300 in my pocket, I pulled up stakes and plunked down in the middle of the Roaring Fork Valley in the Colorado Rockies.The Sopris District includes parts of the Collegiate Peaks wilderness area which contains more fourteeners than any other wilderness area in the lower contiguous 48 states.
Continue Reading September 24th, 2007
How do you get goose-bumps in 100 degree weather?? How do you get the chills when sweat is dripping down your body like a sumo wrestler in the steam room? Last weekend I had the unique opportunity of attending the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival. (Well, maybe not so unique considering I was among 65,000 others, but suffice it to say it was unique for an Aspenite.) And, yes, I was dripping with sweat, yet, felt cold chills up my spine.
Continue Reading September 22nd, 2007
Something about the glow of a campfire and good friends sitting around it--their eyes moved by the spirit of the flames and a peaceful tranquility that all is right with the world. As we sat there under a magnificent sky tucked between two massive mountain peaks on either side of the valley, we settled into the wilderness at our base camp at 11,000 feet.
Our goal? We aimed to climb Wetterhorn at 14,009, UnCompahgre at 14,309 and Handies at 14,100 feet into the clear blue Rocky Mountain High Country. Could we do it in three days? Yes, if the weather held. We had been chased off the mountain two years ago from snow. The quest remained in our minds!
Continue Reading September 13th, 2007
Lots of people talk of about how great it would be to make a living doing what they love, but how many actually have the courage to do it? The simple answer; very few. Instead, we choose careers that we feel will offer the greatest financial payoff. Careers that will provide stability and long-term employment.
There are many risks involved in pursuing one’s passion. The risk of failure. Risk of financial ruin. The risk of having to accept defeat and give up a dream in which you’ve invested heavily. It takes a person of exceptionally strong will to make a go of it and the truth is, most of us don’t have what it takes.
Continue Reading July 6th, 2007
Sporting cowboy boots and hat, fifth generation Coloradoan Senator Ken Salazar — originally from the San Luis Valley—appeared fashionably late at the Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RAFTA) hybrid bus dedication ceremony at the Red Brick School on Tuesday July 3rd and greeted the small crowd of city officials, advocates, and press by saying “welcome to my town.”
The ceremony in celebration of the four new diesel hybrid-electric transit busses that RAFTA just put on the tracks, was apart of a 2006 grant made possible by the Alternative Transportation in the Parks and Public Lands program. The busses will hopefully help congestion caused by visitors and vehicles in the Maroon Bells and Snowmass Wilderness Area of the White River National Forest.
Continue Reading July 5th, 2007
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