I'm Back!

Ok folks, don't die of shock, but I'm back! It's time to catch up a bit and though I can't promise detailed accounts of every hike and crazy adventure, I'll do my best to share the best stories :-)

Before I get inot my trip to South America this past October, here are a few of my favorite photos from this past year...

Visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Virginia in March, 2009

Me, Matt & Courtney at Barboursville Winery, Charlottesville, Virginia

Leah and I took a boat trip to Fort Sumpter, here she is on the boat.

I also got to visit Jane on this trip! And met her boyfriend, Ryan

DC is one of my favorite cities and Jane humored me by visiting the museum of American History as well as this lovely conservatory.

June, 2009 Liz and I travelled to Seattle for the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon and then took a little vacation up to British Columbia. We drove up to Penticton to tour a few wineries and also visited the Harrison Hot Springs. It was a ton of fun!

Champions! Liz ran the full and I finished the half. We had a gorgeous day!Liz and I in Harrison Enjoying a glass of wine in Penticton

I'd always wanted to run a race on my birthday and I randomly found one down in Phoenix and couldn't resist!! Liz joined me and we had a wonderful time!

Pre-race pic, we were ready to Rock 'n' Roll!

Liz had the idea to make a cape for the race, and it was so fun!!

I guess I did a few races in 2009...here's Nell, Kelly and I at the Rock Canyon Half in Pueblo last December, 2009

In between races, I still found some time to ski. Charity and I are gearing up for a day at Keystone President's Day weekend.

We all had such a great time the first day, we decided to stay a second day and ski Breck. Liz and I at the top or Peak 6 or 7, I don't remember which one.

In August one of my very dear friends got married! Congrats, Danielle and Brian!

Our Colorado family picture. December 2008

Mike, Carrie and me

Last summer, as I have every summer before, I made it out to New York to visit my sister Heather and her beautiful family!

Jacob and Katie

Making cookies. Mmmmm!

Katie got to sample the dough, I think she liked it!While I was in NY, Heather and I ran Utica's Boilermaker. Jacob ran the kids 1/2 mile the day before. Here we are before his big race!

It's also become a tradition to go to a fun little water & theme park. Jacob is growing up so fast, he loved the Tilt-a-Whirl!

Heather, Katie and I on the Merry-go-Round

In May, 2009, my parents came out to visit. I took them on a "gentle" hike a little ways up barr trail and then back down. I think it was a little more than they wanted to do, but were such good sports!

We also visited the top of Pike's Peak! Yup, there was snow in May!

Now some of my hiking adventures...

The crew climbing up The Lost Rat Couloir. My first couloir climb and I loved it!

Sarah and I after a hike up to Barr Camp in August

Mike and I drove out to hike San Luis Peak in September, 2009 and brought Princeton and Cali

They were pretty pooped out after a long day of hiking!

On the summit! On our way up. The pictures are backwards, apparently!

On the top of Kit Carson with Challenger in the background. August, 2009 I think

August, 2009

This was atop the toughest hike of my life to this point! Such a rewarding experience! I can't wait for more challenges next summer!

Crestone Needle after the traverse from Crestone Peak

Crestone Peak...again pictures are backwards!

Here's Cali on her way up her first 14er! My friend Clark joined us up Missouri Mountain in August, 2009

She's such a good little hiker! She especially loves it when there's water to cool her off! Took a trip the end of July 2009 to the San Juans-they were gorgeous!

More of the San Juans

Don't remember what this one was, but gorgeous, huh?

Whew! That was a lot, but now I feel like I'm at least a little caught up :-)

I hope the 5 of you that actually look at this blog enjoy it!

Another exciting day on Shavano & Tabaguache

Shavano & Tabeguache
August 31, 2008
14,229 ft & 14, 155

This was my second attempt on Shavano and Tabaguache. The first time I only made it to Shavano before descending and then getting lost...feel free to read that post from May. So this time, when Emily told me she wanted to do Shav & Tab, I was ready to give it another try. We had plenty of time to make both summits, and no snow this time, so I was psyched :-) Little did we know, we still had quite an adventure ahead of us...

At the trailhead, ready to start our day!The beautiful southern SawatchHere's a view of what would be the Angel if there had been more snow. The summer trail was much easier than the winter Angel trail. Here we all are on the summit of Shavano. It was pretty cloudy up on the summit, but the clouds were very non-threatening and we made sure to keep a close watch on them. They looked more like snow clouds-I was kind of hoping it would snow for a little bit, but we never did see any flakes.

Jill, Chad, me, Emily and Jenny (in the front)The Shavano register w/a 14ers.com sticker :-)

So we hung out on the top of Shavano for a little bit as we discussed whether or not to continue onto Tabaguache. The clouds looked perfectly harmless, we felt great, so we decided to go for it!

Here we are on our way to Tabaguache. The clouds had parted and we had a beautiful view! After maybe an hour or so, we'd made it to the top of Tabaguache. Woohoo! After my second try, I'd made it! Summit number 22!Emily, Chad and I made it up first and hung out while we waited for Jill and Jenny to make sure we got a summit shot :-) Em and I on Tabaguache :-)Here we are beginning our traverse back over Shavano. Emily, Chad and I started ahead of Jill and Jenny. We should have stayed together... Traversing just below the Shavano summit. This was the last picture I took because from here on out, well, we were pretty much running away from a storm. Yes, a storm. So as I said before, the clouds all day had been not even close to threatening, but a storm came in out of no where, and fast. So we decided we had to get off the summit as fast as we could. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay ahead of it. We were well below the ridge, but still well above tree line. Not gonna lie, it was perhaps the most scared I've ever been on a mountain! Plus, two of our friends were higher up and I was a little worried about them. The storm was moving extremely fast, and even before we made it to tree line, the storm was long gone.

After a loooong walk back to the car, we'd finally made it back and we were relieved, but unfortunately, Jill and Jenny were still on the mountain with the car keys. So all we could do was wait. We were still pretty wet and knew we needed to keep warm so we decided to build a fire. Unfortunately, all the wood was wet because of the storm that had recently passed through, and as soon as we started to get a decent fire going, it started raining. Again. Go figure. By this time, another hiker and his young son had returned to the trailhead. We'd talked to him briefly when they arrived back at the trailhead, and told him of our situation, and graciously, he said we could hang out in his van with his son and their dog if we started to get too cold. He said they were planning on hanging out for a while, but I honestly think he was waiting for us to make sure we were ok; and I genuinely thank him for that!

So it was close to getting really dark out, and Jill and Jenny were still somewhere on the mountain and we had no idea where or how they were. We were getting a little worried because we weren't sure whether or not they had a head lamp or warm layers. What if they'd slipped on the rocks because of the rain, or a zillion other things! So after waiting for a good two hours, we decided that it was too close to dark and we should call SAR. So I went to get my phone, and who would have guessed, that before I even got my pack open to get my phone, Jill and Jenny are walking down from the trail! We couldn't believe it and we couldn't have been happier to see them! We were grateful they were safe, and even more grateful to get into the warm car and head home.

Yet another exciting day on Shavano and Tabaguache!

Sarah's first 14er!

Mt. Evans
August 28, 2008
14, 264 ft.

So my best friend from High School had just moved here to Colorado a couple weeks prior to our Evans adventure, but she was excited and up for her first Colorado fourteener! We decided on the Summit Lake trail because it was shorter with less elevation gain for my flat-lander friend. Plus, it was a beautiful trail! This was our view when we started...

Here's Sarah and I ready for a great day!

Sarah's here, reading up about Summit Lake and Mt. EvansThe first little bit there was some scrambling. Come on Sarah, you can do it!On our way, the view was fabulous! And with a clear blue sky,

we couldn't have asked for better weather!

Another gorgeous view!
As it was August and Sarah was so excited to see snow! Lots of snow here!
Sarah didn't make it all the way to the top, but I was so proud of her-well done, my friend!

And the summit shot!