Elevation Outdoors September 2015

RETURN OF THE WOLF | GRATEFUL DEAD | WINTER PARK DOWNHILL SEPTEMBER 2015

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Experience the wonder of fall in Estes Park with fabulous foliage and fantastic seasonal events. Join us for some of our favorites: Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival - Sept. 10th-13th Peak Flavors Fest - Sept. 26th-27th Elk Fest - Oct. 3rd-4th Estes Park Trail Ascent Race - Oct. 11th Pumpkins and Pilsners Festival - Oct. 17th Fall Back Beer Festival - Oct. 31st Catch the Glow Christmas Parade and Celebration - Nov. 27th VisitEstesPark.com/events

CONTENTS

September 2015

STAND UP, STAND OUT: .THIS ISSUE IS ALL ABOUT THE BODY, WITH SUP YOGA ON TAHOE AT THE WANDERLUST FESTIVAL (PHOTO ABOVE, PAGE 29), TRAINING AND DIET ADVICE FROM CHAMPION 'CROSS RIDERS (PAGE 21) AND TRAIL RUNS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE (PAGE 25).

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

7 EDITOR’S LETTER

21 THE BEST BODIES IN CYCLOCROSS

The fastest summer ever.

8 QUICK HITS Everyday folks on the CDT, Telluride's via ferrata, Vail's new Outlier festival and more.

Want to look and think like a winner? Pay attention to these tips on diet and training from the top athletes in cyclocross.

25 TRAIL RUNS FOR EVERYONE

11 FLASHPOINT The only gray wolves to wander into Colorado have been shot—can the predators return to the state?

Author Lisa Jhung tells how trail running can serve as cross training or just a way to enjoy the mountains.

Plus, where to get after it this fall.

15 THE TRAIL Take on the DeCaLiBron.

29 SUP YOGA

17 HOT SPOT

The balance and concentration of yoga can be hard enough. Now, try that downward dog on the water.

The best leaf-peeping hikes.

19 STRAIGHT TALK Salida's Sydney Schalit talks about The 12 Hours of Penitence.

33 HEAR THIS Find the best bands on tour with new albums in Colorado this fall.

30 TOP GEAR FOR HIKING AND BIKING All the goodies you need for hiking, bike commuting and 'cross racing. photo by ALI KAUKAS FOR WANDERLUST FESTIVAL

35 THE ROAD Matt Samet's body is so broken he can no longer climb—but that does not keep him out of Fun City.

38 ELWAYVILLE Are the Grateful Dead the greatest American band of all time?

WANT MORE? CATC H

U P ON

PAST ISSU ES, YOU R FAVORITE B LOG G E RS A N D DAILY ON LIN E-ON LY CON TEN T AT

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CONTRIBUTORS

09.15

WHAT'S THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE EVER RUN? ElevationOutdoors.com EDITORIAL ED ITOR -IN -CH IEF

DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

doug@elevationoutdoors.com MANAGING EDITOR

CAMERON MARTINDELL

cameron@elevationoutdoors.com SEN IOR ED ITOR

CHRIS KASSAR

chris@elevationoutdoors.com

DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN Twenty-four miles from Red Cliff to Vail on the TransRockies Run. I had planned on training but ended up running it off the couch.

I was fine on the run up, but my quads felt like they were hit by a baseball bat on the way down.

ELIZABETH O'CONNELL

CON TRIBUTIN G ED ITORS

AARON BIBLE, ADAM CHASE, ROB COPPOLILLO, LIAM DORAN, JAMES DZIEZYNSKI, SONYA LOONEY, JAYME MOYE, CHRIS VAN LEUVEN ED ITOR -AT-LARG E

PETER KRAY

The Bolder Boulder.

The Goonies and their jello shots definitely propelled me to the finish.

CON TRIBUTIN G WRITERS

CAMERON MARTINDELL

ROSE CONRY, KRISTA CRABTREE, JEDD FERRIS, LISA FIERER, LISA JHUNG, ELIZABETH MILLER, MATT SAMET, SIDNI WEST, MELANIE WONG IN TER N

KELLY CASSIDY

ART + PRODUCTION MEGAN JORDAN

A RT D IREC TOR

megan@elevationoutdoors.com SEN IOR D ESIG N ER

LAUREN WALKER

lauren@elevationoutdoors.com G R A PH IC D ESIG N ER

PAIGELEE CHANCELLOR

paigelee@elevationoutdoors.com

ADVERTISING + BUSINESS BLAKE DEMASO

PRESID EN T

blake@elevationoutdoors.com ASSOC IATE PU B LISH ER

ELIZABETH O’CONNELL

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challenge yourself to be “a little more extreme”

Ned Ned * Race

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MARTHA EVANS

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MELISSA GESSLER

C IRC U LATION MA N AG ER

AVERY SHOOK

avery@elevationoutdoors.com ON LIN E

DIGITAL MEDIA D IREC TOR CRAIG SNODGRASS craig@elevationoutdoors.com D IG ITA L MA N AG ER

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longest run.

LIAM DORAN The 5k turkey trot in Parker, Colo., when I was a kid?

Or maybe the 1995 College Ultimate Frisbee National Championships … I played a lot of points for that victory!

LISA FIERER I once ran 30 miles by accident. Training for my first (and last) marathon, I was aiming for 26.4 but lost my way in an unexpected snowstorm.

melissa@elevationoutdoors.com

to Benefit TEENS, Inc. Be a Part of Running History: 5k / Half Marathon

A Thirty+ Year Race in the cool mountain air West of Boulder in Nederland, Colorado

Good question. I don't think ever measured my

KRISTA CRABTREE I’m more a sprinter than long distance runner, but the farthest—and fastest—I’ve ever run was from the base of the third Flatiron to my cabin at Chatauqua after rappelling down at dusk and hearing a 150-pound mountain lion leap out of a tree behind me.

LISA JHUNG Measured, and in one shot: Probably 34 miles I paced at the Western States 100. In an adventure race, likely sleep-running at times and broken up by mountain biking, kayaking, etc.: days on end.

EDITOR’S LETTER

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PACE SETTER: SCOTT JUREK HAS MADE US THINK ABOUT SPEED.

TOO FAST?

photo by ANDREW BYDLON / CAVEMAN COLLECTIVE

When Scott Jurek popped his now-infamous champagne at the top of Mount Katahdin this summer, celebrating his new supported speed record of 46 days, 8 hours, and 7 minutes on the Appalachian Trail, it set off a storm of debate over what pace is best for enjoying the wilderness. While legions of fans rightfully praised Jurek for the pure determination it took to push through injury, sickness and storms to beat the record, many were not impressed.

Those naysayers included Jensen Bissell, the director of Maine's Baxter State Park, who slapped Jurek, who when it comes down to it is one of the most responsible and ethical people you will ever meet, with three tickets—one for alchohol in public, one for too big of a group on top of the hallowed peak, and one (really?) for littering, as in the champagne hitting the ground—and publicly chastised him and other runners for ruining his park. He even went so far as to threaten to pull Baxter and Katahdin out of the Appalachian Trail, a threat the park, which has a mandate to preserve its wilderness character, has made before.

But the folks at Baxter were not the only ones who bristled at a speed record.

Mixed in with praise were many asking if Jurek had not missed the whole point of the AT, or of wilderness for that matter, by going so fast. Why not slow down and enjoy it? they asked.

Well, first off, I think most of those people are not runners; they don't understand that there can be a heightened sense of enjoyment of the wild when you are moving in rhythm. After all, some evolutionary biologists theorize that our ability to run over long distances, to outpace prey, to escape from predators, is essential to the basic sense of who we are. Finding that pace can be a spiritual experience, too. Consider, the Tendai, the Japanese "marathon monks," who run around Mount Hiei for 100 days as a form of purification—including a deeper, and very Jurek-sounding, challenge to run for 1,000 days. Or simply consider that charged sense of awareness, that inner space you go to, in the midst of a run.

As Topher Gaylord, an ultrarunner himself and former president of Mountain Hardwear and The North Face who accompanied Jurek on the last legs of the record-setting run told me: "It's human nature to fulfill ones potential. The intersection of fulfilling ones potential through enhanced outdoor experiences has led to incredible outdoor accomplishments. Whether it is speed hiking the AT, or speed climbing El Cap, The Eiger or Everest, it’s about the values and ethics you bring to the outdoors, not how fast or slow you are moving."

At the same time, however, I get the too-fast argument. We live in a culture on electronic crack. We are immersed in our devices, that though they may enhance how we experience the world, give us very little room to simply slow down. There is free WiFi at the summit of Mount Fuji. We keep expanding on our limited planet. There are no longer empty spaces on the map, no places to get truly lost.

But, for me, that over-stimulated reality has very little to do with the basic urge to run, to find the limits of our own potential the way Scott Jurek has done. When it comes down to it, the pace you want to push to encounter inner wilderness is simply up to you.

Photo: Orin Salah

CALL • CLICK •

OR

COME ON DOWN

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QUICK HITS

09.15

TECHNOLOGY

Even on low-light settings, action cameras have a hard time with nearly no light.

The Sidekick Duo features a spot and flood light and bolts right on to the side of your action camera to illuminate exactly where the lens is pointing. Now you can see those bumps in the night. $150; lightandmotion.com

GEAR WE LOVE PELICAN LIGHT CASE 9000

Add a 200-lumen light to the strong protection of this 8"x5"X2.5" hard box and you have a very useful case for nearly any adventure that requires those delicate electronics. $60; pelican.com

BOOKS TRAILHEAD BY LISA JHUNG

From nutrition to self care, gear to trail etiquette, Lisa Jhung explains it all for trail runners new and old. No matter if you’re a casual jogger, ultra-marathoner or somewhere in between, this book will help you improve your game and keep you polite about it in the process. (Read Jhung's trail running feature on page 25.) $19; velopress.com

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photo by GAIL AND PORTER STOREY

LIGHT & MOTION SIDEKICK DUO

LIFE ON THE TRAIL SURE WE KNOW ABOUT THE RECORD BREAKERS AND CELEBRITIES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STORIES OF EVERYDAY PEOPLE WHO TAKE ON LONG DISTANCE THRU TRAILS? MEET GAIL AND PETER STOREY. “If I ever think of doing something like this again, remember: too long, too hard, too much pain, I miss Gail,” Porter Storey wrote from his mosquitoinfested camp in California’s Desolation Wilderness. Porter scribbled this warning on his thru-hike of the 2,663 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2004.

Now, he’s ignoring his own advice. In March, Porter, 63, retired from his career in hospice and palliative medicine and began the longer, harder Mexico to Canada hike: the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail. “There’s something wonderful about being away from everything at life’s big transitions,” he says.

He plans to reach Canada before snow buries Glacier National Park, but he won’t be able to say he walked the whole way, because he’s not pushing to achieve the end goal at all costs. His first weeks on trail taught him to surrender—an unspectacular lesson often forgotten by adventurers set on pushing past pain to accomplish a goal. “We don’t value enough the wisdom of saying uncle and retreating in peace,” he says.

In northern New Mexico, a storm buried Porter and his tarp in a foot of snow at 10,000 feet on the side of Mt. Taylor. He woke up wet and decided to backtrack 15 miles to the nearest trailhead.

Two hundred miles north of Mt. Taylor, Porter encountered a search and rescue team looking for a missing hiker. “It was hard. I turned back, and I’m here to tell the tale. A rescue team isn’t looking for me,” he says.

Updates from Colorado presented an even more troubling tale for a thru-hiker with ultra-light gear and plans to complete the trail by mid-September.

Spring storms left the trail through the state buried. Photos showed road signs disappearing beneath the blowing snow. He decided to skip the state because of the deep snowpack. He bailed about 60 miles from the state’s southern border and

TRUE ROMANCE: GAIL AND PORTER ENJOY SOME CIVILIZED TIME BETWEEN JAUNTS IN THE DIRT. THE COUPLE MAY NOT BE SETTING SPEED RECORDS, BUT THEY DO ENJOY THE TRIP.

picked up the trail in Wyoming. When he jumped ahead, he hoped to complete Colorado after wrapping up the rest of the journey this September, but with many miles still ahead, he will put it off until another year.

His wife, Gail Storey, meets him at remote trailheads or where the road meanders near or crosses the trail and drives him to neighboring towns for rest and resupply.

Like Porter, she has learned and respected the limits the trail sets. Over a decade ago, Gail, 67, hiked 900 miles of the PCT with Porter before significant weight loss forced her off the trail. She’s traveling most of the CDT’s distance by vehicle, but she still embraces the adaptability nature forces on travelers: “I love living in the don’t know,” she says. “Which of us knows what next week is going to look like?”

Porter began planning and training for the trip a year ago. He stitched his own lightweight gear—stuff sacks, rain shorts, pack cover and rain coat out of the ultra-lightweight cuben fiber. He hiked, biked and cross-country skied to prepare for the challenging miles. The lack of a defined trail makes navigation a great challenge that he did not encounter on the PCT. He uses the GPS app Guthook’s Guide to find his way. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but so rewarding,” he told us from Rawlings, Wyoming.

—Rose Conry

HANG ON TELLURIDE’S VIA FERRATA WILL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU—OH, AND IT IS DAMN FUN. Telluride is a town that will convince you heaven really is a place on earth. Most already know that this little mountain oasis is a one-size-fits-all for thrill seekers: It offers world-class skiing, ice climbing, mountain biking, fly-fishing and more, so good luck choosing. And, of course, every sunset is flawless. But the best kept secret? The via ferrata.

A favorite for both locals and visitors, this climb—which is comprised of a series of iron

BE AN OUTLIER WHAT IT IS: A two-mile trail along the side of a cliff with a 200-foot drop to the canyon floor.

Via ferrata is Italian for “iron road,” meaning the route is fixed with steel cables and iron rungs to aid hikers as they ascend, traverse and descend.

WHO IT’S FOR: Anyone who wants to give their mother a heart attack when she sees social media photos of the trip.

HOW IT’S DONE: You’ll need a harness, helmet, approach shoes and a via ferrata safety lanyard. Since the exposure makes it extremely dangerous, first-timers should use a professional guiding service like The San Juan Outdoor School (tellurideadventures.com). They provide guides, snacks and safety equipment.

WHERE TO STAY: How do you feel about shacking up in a place right downtown with a daily breakfast buffet that makes you excited to get out of bed? How about bar service by the outdoor hot tubs, where you can recover from a day of adventures while looking up at a gorgeous sky? Treat yourself to a stay at The Hotel Telluride (thehoteltelluride.com).

—S.W.

THE KROGERATA: NICKNAMED AFTER CREATOR CHUCK KROGER, TELLURIDE'S IRON ROAD WILL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU IN REALTIVE SAFETY. photo by KERRY KOEPPING

rungs that you clip into and out of for protection— offers some of the most stunning views of the canyon. It was started in 2006 by Chuck Kroger, a quiet and unassuming climbing legend of the 1960s. After cancer kept him from finishing the route, friends saw his project to completion, appropriately naming it the “Krogerata.” Not only is it one of the most photogenic adventures you’ll ever experience, but the dramatic terrain is surprisingly accessible and offers just the right amount of stomach-dropping epicness without feeling like you’re in over your head.

You will never feel more terrified, yet more alive, than when you’re traversing across a series of horizontal monkey bars with 200 feet of sheer exposure beneath you. It’s intimidating at first, but as you will quickly discover, being constantly attached to a steel cable turns out to be the ultimate freedom.

From start to finish, the via ferrata (which means "iron road" in Italian) is the best adventure in this town. Fall just might be the perfect time to go because when the aspens start to pop, Telluride is, quite frankly, so Instagram it hurts. In other words: What are you doing this weekend?

—Sidni West

WINTER PARK, CO PIZZA, MEXICAN AND BIKE PARADISE ARE JUST A SHORT TRIP AWAY FROM DOWNTOWN DENVER.

EAT For the ultimate in family friendly dining, Hernando’s Pizza Pub (hernandospizzapub. com) has it nailed. It’s loud, there’s a huge stack

of high chairs and the walls, ceiling and tables are completely covered with decorated $1 bills providing endless entertainment for anyone with a curious bone in their body. The food is hearty and well priced for feeding families of any size.

Good Mexican food can be hard to come by but Casa Mexico (coopercreeksquare.com) will satisfy the pickiest of Mexican connoisseurs. They even have horchata which always counts as a plus in my book. To start your day, pop into Carvers (carvers-wp.com) for the best breakfast in town.

SLEEP

GET IN ON THE DEBUT OF VAIL'S NEW OFF-ROAD FESTIVAL. The term “off-road festival” might conjure up images of mud-splattered jeeps, but in the case of the Vail Outlier Off-Road Festival, think mountain bikes—lots and lots of mountain bikes.

The inaugural Outlier debuts in Vail on Sept.

25-27, with a weekend that includes a crosscountry mountain bike race, an enduro race, 2016 bike and gear demos, live music and a $25,000 total prize purse. Event director Mike McCormack, who has also been behind popular Colorado races such as the Breck Epic and Firecracker 50, called the new festival “a mashup of Outerbike (in Moab), Sea Otter Classic (California) and CrankWorx (Whistler).”

The Outlier XC features a 35-to-40-mile course that promises big climbs and epic views. The exact route is pending U.S. Forest Service approval, but it will begin in Lionshead Village and head toward Vail’s Back Bowls.

“It will be on courses that have never been raced,” says McCormack. “I think the mountain is underexposed, and there are a lot of hidden secrets that people will discover.”

Besides the three-stage enduro race, attendees will also have the chance to test out next season's bikes that will have been shown for the first time nine days prior at Interbike.

Race registration is currently open at www. outlier.bike. See you there.

—Melanie Wong IT'S NOT WINTER JUST YET: THE TRESTLE BIKE PARK AT WINTER PARK STAYS OPEN AFTER LABOR DAY FROM 10 A.M. TO 5 P.M. RIDE THREE LIFTS UP TO 58 TRAILS OR ESCAPE OUT AND AWAY ON CROSS-COUNTRY SINGLETRACK. photo by CHRIS WELLHAUSEN

Ski resorts typically feature plenty of lodging optons, but with everything going on in Winter Park in the fall, there’s no better way to be right in the thick of it all than by staying at the resort base area by booking a condo through the Winter Park Lodging Company (winterparklodgingcompany.com). These are cozy privately owned units that provide easy access to all the great activities in the village. A paved bike path leads down into town but be ready for the ride back up.

PLAY Come summer, the Winter Park ski area transforms into Trestle Bike Park (trestlebikepark.com). Complete with lift access to 58 trail sections, it features a tasty mix of easy green rolling runs and intermediate blues with bypass elements that help you work your way up to bigger jumps and berms. Then, when you’re ready go to big, Winter Park's expert black runs will up your heart rate with massive jumps and drops.

Beyond the park, miles and miles of cross country trails range from cruisy family friendly rollers to fun technical routes. Need a ride? Beavers Sports Shop (winterparkskirental.com don’t let the URL throw you) can set you up.

—Cameron Martindell

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WILL THE WOLF RETURN? CONSERVATION GROUPS SAY IT'S FINALLY TIME TO BRING GRAY WOLVES BACK TO COLORADO, BUT FEDERAL AGENCIES SAY THEY WILL HAVE TO COME OFF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST FIRST.

by ELIZABETH MILLER The grass was just starting to green up on the hillsides near Kremmling this spring when a hunter looked down the end of his scope and took a long-range shot at what he thought was a coyote.

When he got closer to the canine he’d felled, he realized he’d taken down something else: a 90-pound male wolf that had wandered more than 500 miles from Montana.

The only wolves we can confirm we’ve had in Colorado are the dead ones—the female from Yellowstone that died on Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs in 2004, another female from Yellowstone in 2009 that was poisoned by a now-banned substance used to kill wolves and coyotes that attack sheep, and Echo, the wolf named by schoolchildren, possibly passed through the state on her way to becoming the first wolf seen near the Grand Canyon in more than a century, before she, too, was shot by a coyote hunter.

There are reported sightings, and suspicions, and hunters' online forums propagating their own words of wisdom for how to handle it if you spot a wolf: Shoot, shovel and shut up. But will the pressure from conservation groups, and reintroduced wolves themselves, increase so much that wolves will once again thrive in the state?

THE CHALLENGE OF RECOVERY For a decade, Colorado has carried a plan to protect and manage conflicts with wolves that was drafted, if somewhat begrudgingly, with the idea that inevitably as the wolf population reestablished in Yellowstone spread throughout the West, some of the animals would find their way to Colorado. But given the management practices allowed in neighboring states that call for culling the number of wolves down from more than 1,000 to under 200, it seems unlikely. So conservation groups have shifted gears to a more pro-active approach, launching campaigns to see wolves deliberately reintroduced to Colorado.

“If we just wait until they wander in from the northern Rockies, or from New Mexico or Arizona, I don’t think it's going to happen over several lifetimes,” says Delia Malone, with Sierra Club, which has targeted its outreach and organizing efforts on those often most-vocal opponents of wolves: ranchers and hunters.

They’re coordinating informational meetings for experts in reducing wolf attacks on cattle, and encouraging Colorado residents to contact Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which manages the elk and deer herds and issues hunting tags, to express support for wolves.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Matt Robbins responds, “It is a very delicate conversation, and we don't have much to say about it at this point.”

WildEarth Guardians is coordinating “wolf pack” meetings in Denver, Boulder, Vail and Pueblo to build support for wolf recovery, and pack members are encouraged to write letters to public officials, in addition to hosting wolf-themed art exhibitions and wolf dances, hanging wolf silhouettes around town and painting faces (there’s a how-to guide online).

“The challenge of wolf recovery is fundamentally one about political will and population support…”

“Inspiration comes in all different shapes and sizes,” says John Horning, executive director of WildEarth Guardians. “The challenge of wolf recovery is fundamentally one about political will and population support, so you start with education, information and hopefully a good dose of inspiration and turn that towards political targets, and for us right now it's Colorado’s two U.S. Senators. … These are political decisions, and so political leaders are the ones who need to be the target.”

BUILDING THE BASE There’s no telling how long it would take to drive this campaign to fruition, however.

“We’re at the very beginning of a multi-year process to build the base,” Horning says. “We've got a lot of work to do. A lot of people don't even know that wolves don't exist in Colorado, that they were more or less exterminated. We’ve got a lot of base-building to do and that’s going to take at least the next couple years.”

But seeing wolves along the entire spine of

COLORADO NATIVE? THE TRUTH IS THE ONLY CONFIRMED WOLVES IN COLORADO RIGHT NOW ARE THE DEAD ONES.

the Rocky Mountains has long been a goal for the agency, Horning says. The southern portion is covered by Mexican wolves, which were reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico in 1998; the north, by gray wolves from Canada's and Yellowstone’s populations that now roam Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and, just recently, into California. Colorado is a last hold-out, and has room and prey enough to support, by some estimates more than 1,000 wolves (though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cautions this number may no longer be relevant).

If there were a congressional workaround, it wouldn’t be the first time. Congressional riders pulled wolves off the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is the agency charged with administering the Endangered Species Act, which means weathering pressure from both sides of a long-controversial issue. It's made clear that it's ready to get out of the business of managing gray wolves.

“The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is not to have wolves everywhere they ever were in North America,it’s to have enough wolves to have a viable population that's self sustaining so you no longer have any threat of extinction,” says Mike Jimenez, USFWS northern Rocky Mountain wolf coordinator.

Accordingly, the USFWS has been trying to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list and hand management off to states, but that move has been tangled up both in the court system, and in the peer review process for the science involved. The Endangered Species Act specifically states that endangered species must be managed using the “best available science,” and the proposal to separate the listing for wolves, which includes both gray and Mexican wolves, S E P T E M B E R 2 015 / E L E VAT I O N O U T D O O R S . C O M

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has had some problems.

The last peer review of the USFWS's proposal unanimously concluded the agency wasn't using the best available science. Jimenez says they'll look for additional opinions.

To hear the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tell it, the endangered species protections wildlife conservation groups have been trying to preserve for the species are the source of the very red tape that would tie Colorado’s hands, should state wildlife officials want to bring wolves back. Were wolves delisted, Colorado would take charge of management of any wolves in the state, and it would be up to Colorado and other states in the West to decide to reintroduce wolves.

“We can't do anything until the current status changes,” says Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Robbins. That doesn’t mean the agency necessarily wants to craft a plan, just that delisting would, at the very least, be likely to prompt a review of the possibility, he says.

THE MEXICAN SOLUTION The thing is, there’s already a plan drafted and put forward to the federal government that would bring wolves back into Colorado. In 2010, the USFWS assembled a team to revise the plan for Mexican wolf recovery. The scientists on that team told the Service that a viable population of Mexican wolves would consist of three populations, of no fewer than 200 wolves each, spread over three areas in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

Those recommendations were presented to the stakeholders, including representatives from

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each of the states concerned, and cattlemen's and sportsmen's groups. They were not well received.

“Were wolves delisted, Colorado would take charge of management of any wolves in the state, and it would be up to Colorado and other states in the West to decide to reintroduce wolves.”

“Those folks were generally opposed and shocked at the number of wolves that would be required, 750, but you can imagine that spread over the parts of three states, that really is not very many animals on the landscape,” says David Parsons, who was hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the early 1990 to oversee the Mexican wolf program and was on the team to draft the new recovery plan.

The USFWS has been sued by a number of environmental group for failing to manage Mexican wolves in a way that provides the species real recovery; they’re classified as a non-essential population, and therefore some of the Mexican wolves reintroduced are captured or killed each year to manage conflicts with ranchers.

Because of those lawsuits, Fish and Wildlife Service staff largely decline to comment on the status of Mexican wolf recovery plans and intentions, but via email, public affairs specialist

Jeff Humphrey said, “At present we don't have a Mexican wolf recovery plan that includes recovery goals. ... A Mexican wolf recovery team will need to assess (among other things) the actual gray wolf subspecies (or transition zone between Rocky Mountain gray wolf and Mexican wolf) that occurred historically in southern Colorado to determine the geographical appropriateness of Mexican wolf recovery efforts in Colorado.”

In other words, there’s no reason to assume they’ll use the existing recommendations.

Public input doesn’t often seem to move the bar, but lawsuits do. A lawsuit propelled Mexican wolf recovery from theory to practice in the 1980s, and a lawsuit stopped wolf hunts in Wyoming when the state set a target population of wolves at 100. The courts are one way of working around a volatile issue: A defendant gets to tell one half of stakeholders that they’re simply doing what the court required.

After more than three decades of working on wolf recovery, Jimenez, with USFWS, says, the lessons have been in how to balance wolves and human wants.

“We learned that opinions are very, very strong, and they don't change with time very much and those are the things that the states are going to have to deal with now that they're managing the wolves,” he says. “The good news is you can manage them, you can recover them, you can bring them back but it's a real exercise in compromise and respecting opposing sides.”

Elizabeth Miller has been covering environmental issues for Boulder Weekly since 2011.

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ELEVATION O U T D O O R S / S E P T E M B E R 2 01 5

Rediscover your adventurous, fun and relaxed side along our miles of historic jeeping and hiking trails, within our secluded canyons, among our ghost towns, and in our sulfur-free hot springs.

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09 .15

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ROUTE CODE: ELEV0039 Scan for this route’s GPS Hike!

HIGHLANDER: BAG FOUR FOURTEENERS IN ONE MASSIVE DAY.

THE ULTIMATE PEAK BAGGING CIRCUIT DOWNLOAD THE FREE VIEWRANGER GPS APP AND THESE WAYPOINTS AND TACKLE THE DECALIBRON LOOP. YOU’LL TOUCH THE TOP OF FOUR FOURTEENERS IN ONE DAY.

by CHRIS KASSAR Welcome to the DeCaLiBron. This seven-mile loop in the Tenmile-Mosquito Range brings you over four Fourteeners—Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross—in one fell swoop. You’ll gain 3,600 feet, but most of the climbing comes early, leaving you to enjoy a long day above treeline.

KITE LAKE TRAILHEAD Take Colorado Hwy 9 to Alma. In the center of town, turn west onto Kite Lake Road (Park County 8), which is marked with a small sign.

Follow it northwest up Buckskin Gulch for 6 miles to Kite Lake (12,000 feet) where there are a few camping spots (and a $5 parking fee). Hike past the lake and follow the well-traveled path north out of the basin. Walk past a collapsed mine shack and follow the rugged, rocky trail above it to reach the bottom of Democrat’s east slope.

BACK IN THE SADDLE At about 12,800 feet, the trail snakes south and then turns north to reach the 13,380-foot saddle between Democrat and Cameron. From here, follow the trail as it turns left and climbs up steep terrain past some abandoned mines to the 13,900-foot summit ridge.

MOUNT DEMOCRAT SUMMIT From the ridge, it’s an easy climb to the summit at 14,148 feet, where you’ll be greeted with breathtaking views and a good look at the rest of your route. Descend back to the saddle and head east along the trail which stays below Cameron’s west ridge. Regain this ridge around 13,500 feet.

MOUNT CAMERON SUMMIT Follow the ridge to reach your second summit at 14,238 feet. Since it only rises 157 feet from its saddle with Lincoln, this is not ranked as an “official” Fourteener. (To be considered official, a peak must rise at least 300 feet above the saddle that connects it to the nearest, higher peak.) We say it’s still a high point over 14,000 feet, so revel in your accomplishment! From here, descend northeast toward Lincoln MOUNT LINCOLN SUMMIT From the saddle between Cameron and Lincoln, follow the trail up a rocky, class-II ridge to reach your third and highest summit of the day.

At 14,286 feet, Lincoln is the highest peak in the Tenmile-Mosquito Range, the eighth highest in the state and the eleventh highest in the lower 48.

Feeling tired? Don’t fret—it’s a short 1.5 miles to the last summit and three miles to the car.

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN Retrace your steps to reach the saddle between Cameron and Lincoln at 14,100 feet.

Then, head southeast to reach the Cameron-Bross saddle at about 13,860 feet. Continue southeast and head right when you reach a trail junction at about 13,900 feet. Fairly quickly, you’ll reach a road intersection. Stay left and follow the trail, which skirts south below the summit and eventually intersects a gully that drops steeply to the right.

(Bross is privately owned so there's no clear path to the summit.)

7.

MOUNT BROSS SUMMIT Enjoy the room to lounge on your final peak at 14,172 feet. Please note that Mount Bross may be closed when you go. If so, stay on the trail that skirts close enough to the summit. Head back to the trailhead via Bross’ West Slope route which cuts down a steep gully to reach the basin east of Kite Lake. Take care, as this scree-filled section can be slippery.

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S E P T E M B E R 2 015 / E L E VAT I O N O U T D O O R S . C O M

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HOT SPOT

0 9 . 15

FALL IN LOVE WANT TO GET ALL DREAMY EYED OVER THE BEAUTY OF COLORADO? GET OUT ON OUR FAVORITE LEAF PEEPING HIKES THIS FALL.

By CHRIS KASSAR

As the days get shorter and the mercury drops, hillsides throughout the state begin to glow gold, crimson and burnt orange. The action in the mountains typically begins in mid-September and continues in the foothills and plains through November. Though classic, must-do drives like the Peak to Peak Highway, Independence Pass, Aspen Ridge and Boreas will give you a good foliage fix, there’s nothing like hiking to get up close and personal with autumn’s splendor. Experience a rainbow of colors on foot with these hikes.

CATHEDRAL LAKES, ASPEN This spectacular (and, therefore, popular) 6.5mile out-and-back hike ends up at a sparkling turquoise alpine lake that sits in a stunning cirque surrounded by toothy granite spires and ridges and the imposing Cathedral Peak (13,943 feet).

Seeking a longer adventure? Continue to Electric Pass (13,500 feet), a breathtaking perch between Cathedral and Electric peaks.

BE A PEEPER: FALL IS PEAKING, SO GET OUT THERE AND BASK IN THE FOLIAGE ON THESE CLASSIC COLORADO HIKES THAT DELIVER THE GOODS.

WHY DO IT: The lake, which rests at 11,886 feet, is

worth the trip, but this entire hike delivers. As you climb 2,000 feet through the Maroon-Snowmass Wilderness and up Pine Creek Canyon, you’ll be greeted by blazing aspen groves, cascading waterfalls, open meadows, sweeping vistas and spruce forests buzzing with birds.

GET THERE: Follow Highway 82 west toward Aspen. At the roundabout just before town, go right on Castle Creek Road for 12 miles. Just past the ghost town of Ashcroft, turn right onto a gravel road. After about .5 miles, find the trailhead on your right. More Info: tinyurl.com/lpx8ju7

EAGLESMERE LAKES, SILVERTHORNE This moderately strenuous 12-plus-mile loop that gains 1,845 feet as it meanders along the Eaglesmere, Surprise Lake and Gore Range Trails to visit Eaglesmere, Tipperary and Surprise Lakes.

The option for a 7-mile out and back to Eaglesmere Lake makes it great for families. Alternatively, if you’d like to immerse yourself in the wild, extend this into a backpacking excursion.

WHY DO IT: You’ll visit overlooks with incredible

views of Lower Cataract Lake, Cataract Falls, Eagles Nest Peak and the Williams Fork Range, which bursts with spectacular fall foliage. As you dive deeper into the Eagles Nest Wilderness, the character of the hike changes, giving the feeling that you are truly remote and on your own.

Looking for wildlife? Keep an eye out for bears as you reach the moderate grades and grassy slopes near the Wilderness boundary.

GET THERE: On Hwy 9, drive 16 miles north from

photos by CHRIS KASSAR (main), DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN (inset)

Silverthorne. Turn left onto Heeney Road (No. 30), go 5.3 miles and turn left onto CR 1725. Drive two miles to reach the Eaglesmere Lakes Trailhead.

More Info: dillonrangerdistrict.com/trails/ Eaglesmere_Lakes.pdf

LOCH VALE TRAIL, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK It may be very popular, but this moderate six-mile round-trip hike is worth it. Begining in a riparian ecosystem, it climbs along Glacier Creek, winds through pine forest and aspen groves, and finally squeezes through a small gorge to reach The Loch, a magnificent subalpine lake set in a rugged valley surrounded by jagged granite towers and peaks. Continue on to Glass Lake, Sky Pond and Andrews Tarn for a bigger day.

WHY DO IT: This is a visually impressive route

complete with cascades, deep gorges, dramatic alpine terrain, arresting glacial valleys and, of course, plenty of opportunities for viewing the glory of autumn. At The Loch, you’ll find excellent fishing and some of the most dazzling scenery in the park: Taylor Peak and Taylor Glacier tower above while Thatchtop (12,668 feet) and the Sharkstooth (12,829 feet) frame the gorge.

GET THERE: Shortly after Rocky Mountain National Park’s Beaver Meadows entrance, turn left on Bear Lake Road and follow it 8.5 miles to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.

More Info: nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/upload/ RMNP-BL-Summer-2015.pdf

RACCOON TRAIL, GOLDEN GATE CANYON STATE PARK This moderately challenging 2.5-mile loop gains 500 feet as it travels through shining aspen groves and tranquil stands of blue spruce and Douglas fir. The short, but superb hike provides the perfect introduction to 12,000-acre Golden Gate Canyon State Park, one of the Front Range’s hidden jewels.

WHY DO IT: The entire park, which is only 20

miles from Denver, lives up to its name in fall when all those aspens create a glowing canopy that dominates the scene. The Racoon Trail, one of the most scenic in the park, passes by Panorama Point, a spot with fantastic views of the Continental Divide. Check out the interpretive display here which gives the names of each summit on the horizon. Though the trail is steep in sections, the scenery makes it worth all the effort while its modest length makes it ideal for families.

GET THERE: From Golden, take Hwy 93 north

for one mile. Turn left onto Golden Gate Canyon Road and continue 13 miles to the Visitor Center.

Continue 1.25 miles, and turn right onto Mountain Base Road and follow it to Reverend’s Ridge Campground. The trail starts behind the office.

More Info: cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/ GoldenGateCanyon/Pages/Trails.aspx S E P T E M B E R 2 015 / E L E VAT I O N O U T D O O R S . C O M

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0 9 .15

SYDNEY SCHALIT THIS COLORADAN LIKES TO SUFFER, OR AT LEAST SHE WANTS TO MAKE YOU FEEL THE BURN. THE ORGANIZER OF THE 12 HOURS OF PENITENCE TALKS ABOUT HOW TO FUND A LOCAL RACE—AND HOW TO SURVIVE IT.

by CHRIS KASSAR Sydney Schalit’s zest for life shines through her infectious smile. Get this 30-year-old Colorado native talking about her passions—mountain biking, coaching, inspiring others to ride—and it’s obvious she’s an unstoppable force of nature.

Luckily, for those of us living here, Sydney returned to the Centennial state after college and now calls Salida home. As you’d expect, Sydney, who’s been in Salida for eight years, isn’t content with just living, working and playing in this mountain town. Almost everything she does—from sitting on the planning and zoning commission where she advocates for affordable housing to coaching the high school mountain bike team—comes from a deep-rooted desire to build a better future and create change not only for herself, but also for the entire community. We sat down with Sydney to talk about her life and her latest endeavor: The 12 Hours of Penitence, a mountain bike race on a 21-mile loop through magical Penitente Canyon on October 18.

WHY ORGANIZE A RACE LIKE 12 HOURS OF PENITENCE? I love the San Luis Valley. The area has so many amazing trails that no one knows about—with flowy spots, crazy rock drops, cactus fields, petroglyphs, rattlesnakes—that it’s prime for a race. I want people to come here, see how special it is and I want them to come back and bring their friends. It’s my hope that this will draw people to the area and that, in turn, will help to put small, but awesome, communities like Del Norte and Hooper on the map as bike-friendly destinations. photos RYAN SCAVO; COURTESY SYDNEY SCHALIT (inset)

HOW HAVE YOU FUNDED IT? I applied for grants from Rio Grande and Saguache counties and I received both, which was exciting and surprising. Local businesses have also been huge in making this happen via sponsorships and in-kind contributions. I’m doing everything I can to use local companies in every aspect from socks to Porta Potties to the timing company to the prizes. The outpouring of support from local businesses, big and small, has been overwhelming.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO DONATE THE RACE MONEY TO VOLUNTEERS OF COLORADO (VOC)?

VOC gets a ton done to improve trails across the state by helping volunteer groups of all kinds channel the energy and manpower they have— but don’t necessarily know how to utilize—into something constructive. This is what makes them special and unique, and I think they deserve more recognition because they do so much. So few folks realize it.

WHY WOULD PEOPLE WANT TO SIGN-UP FOR A RACE YOU CALL “SUFFERING ON TWO WHEELS?” It’s a strange and wonderful thing when—for fun—you push yourself to see how far you can get and what you can actually accomplish. We all have those moments when we’re in it, we’re scared, everything hurts and we want to quit, but we push on and come out the other end smiling. That’s how you know you did it right, why you love it and want to do it again. I hope this race inspires people to push themselves further and that everyone comes out smiling—maybe not that day, but at least a few days later!

YOU ALSO ORGANIZE A WOMEN’S MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE EVERY WEEK. TELL US ABOUT THAT. I know so many women who want to ride, but they are scared or intimidated, so I wanted to create a non-judgmental, friendly space where anyone can come try it regardless of ability. This first year has been amazing. We’re gaining momentum and popularity with riders and businesses. For

HOME RANGE: SCHALIT (PICTURED IN INSET) WANTED TO SHOWCASE THE BEAUTY OF THE SAN LUIS VALLEY.

instance, Absolute Bikes offers free rentals to women who want to join and Elevation Brewing Company has now come on as a full sponsor.

YOU ALSO COACH THE HIGH SCHOOL MOUNTAIN BIKE TEAM? Riding has a huge impact on these young girls.

You can have a bad day at school—where you were bullied or did poorly on a test, but then you get on your bike and though you might not ride the first bit of trail cleanly or you might not get over that rock, eventually you’ll clear something you didn’t think you could and suddenly, everything else is okay. This is why I do both—coach high schoolers and organize the ladies ride. Seeing that sense of pride flush over girls who are 14 (or 54) is liberating and empowering. I know it sounds cliché, but really it’s true.

WHERE DO YOU GET ALL THIS ENERGY? I get so much out of contributing to the community in any way I can. Mountain biking was therapeutic for me. In the Peace Corps, a man attacked and beat me. When I got home, friends urged me to try riding and at first it was just fun, but then it started to turn into something different. I wasn’t thinking about anything else when I was on my bike. It was an escape. I could take in the scenery, get away from everything, and though there were inevitably crashes and bits of blood, riding got me through the tough times. There’s a lot to be said for what solo endurance sports can do to help healing and confidence. But, I think these impacts are multiplied when you ride or run or suffer with a group. Getting to watch other people have similar revelations is amazing. It actually gives me energy.

To register, volunteer or become a sponsor of The 12 Hours of Penitence, go to 12hoursofpenitence. com. For more info on the work Volunteers of Colorado does, head to voc.org.

S E P T E M B E R 2 015 / E L E VAT I O N O U T D O O R S . C O M

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Photo: Markus Greber

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25.03.15 08:48

HOT 'CROSS RIDERS

R ACIN G CYCLO CROS S ME A N S YOU N EED TO H AV E O NE HEL L OF A BO D. T R A ININ G , N U T RI T IO N A N D P URE DEDIC AT IO N M A K E A CH A MPIO N . W E TA LK ED TO T HE BES T LO C A L RIDERS IN T HE SP OR T TO FIN D OU T HOW T HE Y DO I T. | BY S I DN I W EST

JEREMY POWERS AGE: 3 2 | HEIGH T: 5’11” WHY HE’S HOT: Powers is one of the most accomplished riders on the planet, with more than 60 UCI victories and three USA Cyclocross National Championships. He’s also a founding member of the JAM Fund, a nonprofit that supports developing 'cross riders through mentoring and helping to lower the financial barriers of the sport. Just look at him popping out of the water like a majestic merman in his National Champion kit, basically inciting the sport’s sexual awakening. Thank you for being a national treasure, Jeremy.

TRAINING: “My favorite workout is to hit the gym, run and then do a longer ride. I don't get to do the workout often because it's pretty intense.”

DIET: “I always drink water with fresh lemon when I wake up and I have very little sugar.

Otherwise, I focus on greens and good protein.”

ADVICE: “Always being on a 'diet' isn't great— work on a healthy lifestyle with good, fresh foods and hang out with like-minded folks! I always tell people that it's a part of my job to eat healthy, and it's a part of my job I enjoy!”

photo by MOTOFISH IMAGES

MINDSET: “I love hiking with my family (wife and yellow lab Moose). I also had a couple fat bike snow rides this winter and loved it. Hope to do more of that this coming off season.”

JEREMY P OW E R S

S E P T E M B E R 2 015 / E L E VAT I O N O U T D O O R S . C O M

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NICOLE DUKE AGE: 41 | HEIGH T: 5’11”

TRAINING: “My training has gone down as I am retiring this year, but I still participate. My body is actually responding better to less exercise. Usually I would train 12 to 15 hours per week on the bike but now I am only riding four to eight hours, but include running, stand up paddle boarding, yoga, and some dirt biking. My favorite cross training is any time in the water, which usually means paddleboarding. I've also fallen back in love with trail running because of its simplicity.”

DIET: “I am gluten and dairy free and have been for the last seven years. My body just responds better that way. I don’t believe in depriving myself—life is too short. I love the way my body and mind feel when I’m well hydrated and can eat a lot of seasonal fruits and veggies.”

MINDSET: “I find if things are not going my way, the best thing to do is to throw all expectations out the window and just race with what you have. The added stress only detracts from your experience and result. I've been doing this long enough to

photo by DAVE MCELWAIN

WHY SHE’S HOT: I knew Nicole would be a great fit for this list when I noticed my friend had her saved in her phone as “Hot Cyclocross Mom Neighbor.” This mother of two (Ryder, 9, and Canin, 6) has spent 20 years casually winning some of the world’s most grueling races. She’s also a nationally ranked whitewater stand-up paddleboarder. Seriously, Nicole, what kind of witchcraft makes you hotter than most of the twenty-somethings in Boulder?

N I C O LE DUK E know, sometimes you just get what you get, no matter the circumstances.”

ADVICE: “My best advice for leading a healthy lifestyle would be to shop like you are at a farmers market, stick to the outside isles of the grocery store. Eat fresh and seasonal. Find a few activities that you love and find your exercise in those, that way you forget that you are even exercising; you are just enjoying what you love to do. My biggest one is don’t over train. I think in Colorado most of us are used to and expected to go to the extreme with our sports. Remember to give your body and mind time to rebuild and recover and you will find

much more strength and enjoyment out of your activities. Be diverse, well rounded and your body will naturally find a healthy rhythm.”

Ryan Trebon AGE: 3 3 | HEIGH T: 6 ’6” WHY HE’S HOT: Over the past 12 years, Trebon has been on the podium at 'cross nationals every year but two, winning two national titles (2006, 2008) and finishing second six times. A man that tall, that fast, chasing you around the track has to be a scary feeling. Someone grab me a water bottle because the thirst is real.

TRAINING: “Typically during most of the year, its somewhere between 20 to 27 hours a week just riding bikes. I like to ride a lot, not so much just specifically doing intervals. I just enjoy spending time on my bike, just riding for riding's sake with no set agenda. My favorite cross training activity is riding dirt bikes (motorcycles).”

DIET: “I don’t have a very strict diet, I always tend to say that it's the amount you eat not what you eat that makes a big difference. My favorite meal is salad and french fries. I eat a salad so I don’t feel so guilty about eating the french fries.”

photo by MATTHEW LASALA

MINDSET: “Typically for CX races when I am riding the trainer, I like to mentally try and memorize the course and lines I want to take. It helps take my mind off the anxiety of waiting for the start and I feel more confident when I can memorize sections. I enjoy spending time with my dog, Frank and riding dirt bikes with friends, too.”

RYAN T R E BO N 22

ELEVATION O U T D O O R S / S E P T E M B E R 2 01 5

ADVICE: “Everything in moderation, even moderation. People spend so much time just training on the road to go faster in CX races yet they don't spend enough time learning how to ride their bikes faster and more efficiently off-road.”

KAITIE ANTONNEAU AGE: 2 3 | HEIGH T: 5’2” WHY SHE’S HOT: After years of dominating the under-23 ranks, Kaitie Antonneau now routinely crushes competitors twice her age. The superhuman cycling prodigy placed second at Cyclocross Nationals this year.

DIET: “I generally eat a healthy, balanced diet that includes a little bit of everything. My favorite food is definitely Mexican tacos.”

MINDSET: “At home, I like to completely disconnect from social media and the Internet in general. I just enjoy time with my favorite people and try to stay present in the moment.”

K AITIE AN TO N N E AU

ADVICE: “Have fun with it.”

KATIE COMPTON AGE: 3 6 | HEIGH T: 5’6” WHY SHE’S HOT: The reigning World Champion possesses the ultimate combination of speed, strength, stamina, and technical skills.

She’s a natural stunner, something that comes with having 22 World Cup wins, four medals at the Cyclocross World Championships and more than 90 UCI victories, making this blonde bombshell the most successful U.S. Cyclocross athlete, male or female, in the sport.

TRAINING: “I ride anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week depending on the time of year and my racing schedule. I ride my cross bike, MTB, road and track bike at different times throughout the seasons. I like the variety, I get to work in different skills, and it keeps it fun. I try to do some yoga and stretching/core a few times a week. For cross training I like to run trails, mainly uphill runs, and do the Incline. I do this year round.”

DIET: “I have some food intolerances so I avoid things that don't make me feel well. I have a wheat allergy so I don't eat any wheat, and I also eat a low histamine diet when my seasonal allergies are bad. Otherwise, I eat a diet with moderate protein, healthy fats and lots of veggies. I love fruit and sweets so I try to avoid eating too much of that since I don't want to stop once I start. My favorite meal is sushi. I could eat sushi every day for the rest of my life and be super happy about it.”

MINDSET: “I usually visualize the course, go through all the lines and gear shifts as well as where I can attack and recover. I also think about tires and pressures for the course. After that, I don't stress about it, just think about what I need

photo by MARK LEGG

photo by TODD PREKASKI

TRAINING: “I have a coach and how much I ride depends on where I’m at in the season. A week will look like anywhere from 10 to 18 hours on the bike.

I do yoga, running and lots of core stuff. When 'cross season is over, I take three to four weeks off the bike before getting into road season.”

K AT I E C O M P TO N to do to ride my best. In the off-season, I like to go skiing, hang out with friends, and hike with my dog. I like to cook, too, and do some baking.”

ADVICE: “Try to ride your bike at least eight hours each week, more if you have time. Make sure to do some high-intensity intervals a couple

days a week, add in some running and/or yoga if your schedule allows and eat a healthy diet. Find a group to do 'cross practice or 'cross rides with once per week for fun and ask questions if you're not sure about something. Most importantly, enjoy what you're doing and take a few days off when you need a mental or physical break.”

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750+ Miles, 150+ Trails of Riding Paradise.

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hit the trail running WANT TO GET MOVING OUT ON THE TRAILS IN THIS GLORIOUS FALL WEATHER? WE HAVE YOU COVERED, WHETHER YOU ARE NEW TO THE SPORT OR A VETERAN LOOKING TO UP THE MILEAGE.

by LISA JHUNG

I

’d never run—or even hiked—13,223-foot Mt. Audubon in the Indian Peaks Wilderness before. But, with its high-elevation start near Brainard Lake, switchbacks through the pines, and a few miles above treeline adding up to a 7.8-mile round trip, the route looked appealing as I scanned my trail map, seeking a weekend adventure run.

That’s the beauty of trail running—pick a trail, start running. It can be that simple. Sure, the Mt. Audubon run required a little planning, and some banked fitness from a summer of running, but it wasn’t epic. I recruited a friend to join me, packed about 50 ounces of water, some gels and such, the map, and a lightweight windshell and gloves in a small pack. I checked the weather to make sure a storm wouldn’t require us to start so early that I’d be wrecked the rest of the weekend. And there was the drive, a little over an hour.

Running a lap on Sanitas down the street photo by LIAM DORAN

from my house in Boulder would have been more convenient, definitely easier. But running the Mt. Audubon trail, which proved to be quite rocky for most of it, requiring more hiking than I’d anticipated, made for a Colorado adventure—with stunning views, marmot encounters, wildflowers and bluebird skies—worth the effort.

FOR BODY AND MIND

Running on the non-pavement, non-concrete surfaces of trails has undeniable physical benefits.

Studies have proven that soft surfaces are easier on joints and increase strength. The varied terrain of trails requires your body to recruit core muscles while strengthening connective tissues to make a body more durable overall.

All that strength not only makes a person a better trail runner, but it crosses back over into road running and any other sports you do. By running trails, you’re building up your cardiovascular engine, getting stronger overall, and becoming more agile as you navigate trail

TAKE IT ALL IN: NOT ONLY DOES TRAIL RUNING GET YOU UP IN BEAUTIFUL SPOTS LIKE THIS, HIGH ABOVE BRECKENRIDGE, IT ALSO MAKES YOU STRONGER AND MORE AGILE WHEN TO COMES TO OTHER SPORTS.

obstacles like rocks and roots (a skill that improves the more you do it).

And the mental benefits of trail running are just as compelling, if not more so. Studies have proven that exercising in nature helps combat depression.

And sports psychologists have said running on a technical trail, where you have to think about foot placement, can be a mental break for people struggling with anxiety.

But if you’re someone who likes to just zone out while running and not worry about twisting and ankle, running a smooth dirt, gravel, woodchipped or grassy path counts as a trail run, too.

With that in mind, here’s how to find a trail run that’s right for whatever fitness, experience level, or mood you’re in on any given day…and what you need to know to get the most out of it.

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OPEN YOUR STRIDE: BIG MOUNTAIN RUNS CAN GET YOU OUT ENJOYING SPOTS YOU HAD ONCE THOUGHT ONLY ACCESSIBLE ON BACKPACKING TRIPS.

SHORT OUTINGS

photo by LIAM DORAN

WHERE TO GO: Head to a trail you can run out-and-back that lets you control the time and distance you’re out. Or, try a short loop, knowing your trail miles will be slower than your road miles. If you’re looking for something flat and mellow, consider dirt and crushed gravel paths and trails good for dog walkers, naturalists and baby joggers. If you’re looking to gain elevation, consider trails popular for hikers.

30- TO 45-MINUTES

WHAT TO BRING: Unless it’s blazing hot, you’re probably okay without water. If you’re starting your run dehydrated or know you need fluids for a 30- to 45-minute workout, carry them in a small handheld bottle or minimalist waistpack (bonus if it fits a phone). Don’t bog yourself down with an over-the-shoulder hydration pack on a short run.

WHAT TO KNOW: If you run uphill from the start, count on the descent being faster (so aim to run or run/walk a few minutes longer on the way out than the return). And if you’re just starting out on any kind of trail, try a run/walk combo, starting out walking and then running for a minute or two for every five minutes.

TRY THESE TRAILS: >> Bobolink Trail, Boulder. Flat, smooth and mellow, alongside South Boulder Creek. >> Boulder Valley Ranch, Boulder. Flat to

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rolling, mostly smooth with occassional ruts, big open meadows. >> Devil’s Thumb Ranch Trails, Fraser. Wide dirt and grass paths through meadows and up (and down) rolling hills. >> North Tenmile Creek Trail, Frisco. Gradual incline, right off I-70, somewhat rocky, scenic.

MEDIUM/LONG RUNS 45- TO 90-MINUTES

WHERE TO GO: Choose longer trails that either let you run at least 30 minutes in one direction before turning around, or bigger loops. Longer trail runs often deliver bigger rewards—better views, fewer crowds, etc.

WHAT TO BRING: Carry fluids in either a handheld bottle (but switch hands often to avoid muscle imbalances), or a waistpack with small bottles distributing the weight evenly and not bouncing around as happens with one large bottle.

If you do wear an over-the-shoulder pack, make sure it’s small and light and doesn’t bounce too much. (Jog in place in the store while trying on any of these items). Bring easily digestible fuel you’d eat on a long road run, think energy gels or chews. And bring your phone, but know that it might not get service where you’re running (so don’t rely on it too much).

WHAT TO KNOW: Remember that the very nature of trails—varied terrain, uphill and downhill, softer surfaces—means that your road

running splits will not translate to the miles you run on trails. With that in mind, run for time, not distance. If a five-mile trail run takes you 75 minutes, feel good that you ran and got stronger for 75 minutes. Don’t do the math to figure out your mile splits, because it doesn’t matter.

TRY THESE TRAILS: >> Mount Sanitas, Boulder. Major elevation gain in a short distance. Very rocky and steep in parts. >> Mesa Trail, Boulder. Rolling, rocky, treecovered, paralleling the base of the Flatirons. >> Burro Trail, Breckenridge. Gradual incline from the base of Breckenridge ski resort heading south. Rocky, tree-covered. >> Hunter Creek Trail, Aspen. Wooden bridges through flittering aspen trees, gradual to steep incline. Ideal for fall.

MOUNTAIN EPICS

90+ MINUTES.

WHERE TO GO: Connecting multiple trails for a major loop, or choosing a destination run (like the summit of Mount Audubon) can make for an epic adventure. Getting a trail map of your local area can open up a world of possibilities. Choose a trail, then research the route online. There’s a lot of info on hikes and mountain bike routes (which you can make into runs) online.

WHAT TO BRING: A waistpack with enough storage and bottle carriers for at least 30 ounces of fluids (more if it’s hot, you have a high sweat rate

or you’re running longer than 90 minutes), or an over-the-shoulder pack with a hydration bladder.

Either can be paired with a handheld bottle—carry electrolyte fluids in the bottle, plain water in your pack, for instance. Enough energy food to get you through, a thin jacket or long-sleeve top if running in the mountains. Consider basic first aid, and bring your phone.

WHAT TO KNOW: These types of runs only require fitness that anyone can build up to, and a good attitude that will increase with the more trail running you do. Embrace long runs like an adventure, enjoying a long day or couple hours out enjoying the beauty of the Rocky Mountain wilds, either in the Front Range or up in the high country.

TRY THESE TRAILS: >> Hessie/Fourth of July Trailhead, Nederland.

Climb gradually into the Indian Peaks Wilderness, alpine lakes and all. >> Mount Audubon, Ward. Mostly above treeline, rocky trail to the summit of this Thirteener, with outstanding views. >> Maroon Bells, Aspen. Run out and back as long as you like in the stunning Maroon Bells Wilderness, knowing that ultrarunners tackle the 28-mile “Four Passes Loop” in a day. >> North Vail Trail #1896, Vail. Multiple access points, climbing into the White River National Forest off the frontage road in Vail.

Lisa Jhung is the author of Trailhead (see page 8).

Photo: Trent Bona

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Get your tix in person at the Bristol Dry Goods Store and get a free Bristol beer! Or go to ticketfly.com and search Freewheelin Fest. More info awaits at bristolbrewing.com

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Photo | Chris Miller

SEPT. 11&12 2015

In the

Flow

YOGA ON A STAND-UP PADDLEBOARD MAY SOUND INTIMIDATING, BUT GET OUT ON THE WATER AND YOU WILL FIND IT EASIER THAN IMAGINED. HERE ARE SEVEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE IT A TRY.

O

by LISA FIERER

ne of the first things I learned about yoga was how vital it is to feel the ground beneath your feet. So the first time I attempted a downward facing dog pose while teetering precariously on a standup paddleboard (SUP), I was pretty sure I’d lost my mind. Why the heck would someone practice yoga on the water? Well, let me tell you exactly why:

in which I have instabilities and asymmetry. For example, when practicing downward facing dog pose on my standup paddleboard, I am acutely aware that I place more weight into my right hand, which causes the left side of my board to pop up. If I tense up, it furthers the instability of my balance on the board, but when I breathe and relax, I can tune into these nuances and stabilize.

FLUID BALANCE: SUP YOGA DREW A CROWD OUT TO EXPERIENCE THE SHIFTING BALANCE, AND NATURAL BEAUTY, OF TAHOE AT WANDERLUST IN SQUAW VALLEY.

#1 Water is where we began

#4 Water invites fluidity

Water covers more than 70 percent of the surface of the Earth, but about 64 percent of the population is afraid of open water. As I moved painstakingly into that first pose, I quickly reminded myself that our first environment is the life-giving liquid of amniotic fluid, so some part of me felt right at home in that floating down dog.

In SUP Yoga, we’re asking people to trust, not to tense up, to create balance out of releasing, rather than clinging. On the paddleboard, this is most evident in our toes. The most common mistake is toe crunching. When the water and waves move beneath our boards, there’s a tendency for our toes to tense up and try to grip the board. The yogic practice, especially on water, is an invitation to align the placement and movement of our bodies with the fluidity of water, much like the movement of our breath.

SUP Yoga invites a much-needed break from technology. We are overwhlemed by overstimulation. With the increasing dependence on technology, people are required to do less physical activity, at the same time increasing mental activity. While often useful, if not managed carefully, this can manifest into poor health.

#2 Water encourages embracing rather than avoiding The practice of yoga encourages us to move toward things we might rather move away from. It invites us to become curious about the places where we tense up, both in our bodies and in relationships and other life situations. SUP Yoga is a great practice for many, like me, who tend to get into the habit of putting our yoga mats in the same place, for the same yoga classes. On the water we become aware of the things that we do in attempt to create an external sense of stability. After all, why do I want a yoga practice that’s only good when things are stable?

#5 Yoga emulates nature

#3 Practicing yoga on the water improves balance

Yoga postures (called asanas) are reflections of the natural world. We call the poses things like tree, cobra and pigeon. When we align our bodies into these shapes in the midst of nature, rather than indoors, we have a deeper opportunity to experience a sense of interconnectedness.

The root of the Sanskrit word “yoga” is “yuj” which translates to mean “union.” For the last eight years that I’ve been teaching yoga, I’ve consistently said to students, “we really should be practicing outdoors, in nature.” For example, at the Wanderlust Festival at Squaw Valley SUP Yoga practicioners actually got out and experienced the

I find that being on the water, and the instability of practicing yoga on the board, highlights the areas

photo by ALI KAUKAS FOR WANDERLUST FESTIVAL

big blue of Lake Tahoe, instread of just staying under the tent.

#6 Water provides a reprieve from overstimulation

#7 Practicing on the water is practical If I only have a practice that is useful when things are stable and contained, is that a very useful practice? As we take the shape of Savasana (corpse or surrender pose) in SUP Yoga class, I trail my fingertips in the cool water, and close my eyes. I feel the rippling waves from a far-away speedboat, lapping under my board, and recognize that if I only know how to mediate when things are smooth, I’m kinda screwed.

Whatever the reasons are that people show up to a SUP Yoga class, I always hope that the ground feels different after they’ve practiced on the water.

Lisa Fierer teaches yoga, SUP yoga and rides her motorcycle in Boulder, Colorado. Read about her upcoming memoir, Thirst, and find her class schedule at lisafierer.com.

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GEAR

0 9 . 15

BY FOOT

1

IT’S FALL. THE BEST TIME TO ENJOY THOSE CRISP, BLUE MORNINGS HIKING OUT ON COLORADO’S TRAILS. SO SLIP INTO OUR PICKS FOR BEST HIKING GEAR OF THE SEASON AND GET OUT THERE BEFORE THE SNOW FLIES.

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1. PUFFY: MONTBELL SUPERIOR DOWN PARKA There are tons of insulated jackets out there, so how to choose just one for hiking and backpacking trips this fall?

Weighing in at just 8.7 ounces and beefed up with lofty 800-fill Power Goose Down, this puffy topped our test. It's light and compactible enough to hide away in your pack, but offers up all the warmth you need when things get chilly. $159; montbell.com 2. POLES: BLACK DIAMOND ALPINE FLZ It seems silly to have two sets of poles: one for trekking and one for skiing. No fear. Simply swap out the baskets here depending on the season. Either way, these are some impressive sticks. BD's Z system makes it easy to deploy them or pack them away, and they weigh in at just one pound, five ounces per pair. $140; blackdiamondequipment.com 3. WOMEN’S HIKER: LA SPORTIVA SYNTHESIS MID GTX We loved Sportiva's men's Core GTX so much we gave it a Peak Gear Award in June, so it's no surprise this lower women's version impressed our female testers. It's also built with Gore's Surround technology, which breathes and provides waterproofing through the whole shoe, and it hits the ideal balance between comfort and support. $180; sportiva.com

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4. MEN’S HIKER: OBOZ FIREBRAND II BDRY The Firebrand II is that shoe you most want to take on a road trip since it does just about everything well. The beefy sole sticks to slickrock but will also crush through dirt. It has a low profile, but it provides plenty of stability. And, it looks casual enough to hang out a the brew pub. $140; obozfootwear.com

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5. SHIRT: STIO BUCKHORN If you like to fly the flannel, this will be your new go-to shirt.

That's because the Buckhorn (which Stio claims is worn by all its Jackson-based employees) is lined with a warm layer of micro-fleece that cuts the autumn chill. $165; stio.com

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6. PANTS: TERNUA TAUPO Spanish brand Ternua has just begun to bring its stylish technical apparel over from Spain to the U.S. We were impressed by these Schoeller hiking pants that felt light enough for fall hikes but could also work for nordic ski tours in winter. Look for them coming soon. ternua.com

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7. SOCKS: FITS LIGHT HIKER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK Fits partnered with The National Park Foundation to help support one of our favorite stomping grounds, Rocky Mountain National Park, with this light sock that combines wool and nylon for a comfy feel and ... well, fit. $20; fitssock.com 8. PACK: DEUTER 28L AIRLITE Combining airy mesh and a light frame system, this day pack gives the best of both worlds— it allows airflow over your back (and the shoulder and hip straps are also built from breathable mesh) but it still has the structure to haul bigger loads without getting all floppy. In fact, it was light enough to serve as a pack for bike trips, too. $119; deuter.com

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7

GEAR

09.15

BY WHEEL WHETHER YOU PLAN ON COMMUTING TO WORK THIS FALL OR RACING IN MUD AND COLD IN ’CROSS SEASON, WE HAVE THE GEAR THAT WILL HELP YOU DO (OR GET TO) THE JOB. 1. JACKET: SMARTWOOL PHD PROPULSION 60 Meet your new favorite cold-weather training layer.

Smartwool put just enough merino insulation in the front of this top to ward off the cold while providing stretch fabric in the sleeves that won't impede your rapidly moving bod. That made for the ideal insulator for high-output activities ranging from 'cross riding to fast-paced hiking. $260; smartwool.com

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2. SHIRT: THREADSMITHS CAVALIER You know cotton kills, but damn does it feel good against your skin. Well, Australian brand Threadsmiths has created a technical cotton in this tee. A hydrophobic nanotechnology application shucks off water and spills that would otherwise stain, making it the ideal shirt for the transition from bike commute, to office, to bar. $55; thethreadsmiths.com

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3. CYCLOCROSS: GIANT TCX ADVANCED PRO 1 With a handcrafted composite frame that tips the scales at just over two pounds, five ounces, this is the machine that can help get you to the podium. Add in hydraulic disc brakes and Ultegra Di2 1x11-speed electronic shifting, and this baby handles like butter. At under five grand, it's reasonably priced for a race bike, but if that's still too rich for you, the Pro 2 model rings in at $2,700 without the electronic shifting. $4,500; giant-bicycles.com 4. ENERGY: FURTHER FUEL + CAFFEINE We are going to warn you right now: It is too easy to gobble down this stuff, so try to stick to the recommended three chews per day. That serving will provide you with 1,200 mcg of B12, 750 mg of L-Tyrosine and 150 mg of Essentra, plus a jolt of caffeine equal to a cup of coffee. $15: further-fuel.com

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5. CARGO COMMUTER: XTRACYCLE EDGERUNNER 24D Got a lot to haul to work in those new bike lanes all the drivers are complaining about. With a sturdy-but-not-tooheavy Chromoloy steel frame and a 20-inch rear wheel that gives this station wagon of cruiser bikes extra stability, the utilitarian EdgeRunner can haul up to 250 pounds of gear (or three kiddos). $1,999; xtracycle.com

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6. PACK: GREEN GURU RUCKUS 30L It's easy to get behind a responsible company like Green Guru. After all, the Boulder-based brand uses upcycled bicycle inner tubes and waterproof truck tarpaulin fabric to craft this urban cool pack. But the real sell is how well the pack carries everything you need for the office and keeps it protected from splashes and storms. $150; greengurugear.com 7. EBIKE COMMUTER: FARADAY PORTEUR 5 Sure you have heard of eBikes. Perhaps you have even hopped aboard one and become a convert once you felt how smoothly they operate, but the price has long been a barrier to actually purchasing one. You may want to reconsider that stance: Faraday set out to build affordable eBikes and this 39-pound, belt-drive, five speed beauty, powered (when you want it) by a pedal-assist motor that will last for about 20 miles of riding, could be first eBike you buy. $2,799; faradaybikes.com

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AUTUMN GROOVES COME FALL, COLORADO IS PACKED WITH SHOWS, SO YOU NEED TO CHOOSE WISELY. WE SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT THESE FIVE ACTS COMING TO THE FRONT RANGE THIS FALL WITH NEW ALBUMS IN TOW.

by JEDD FERRIS

RAILROAD EARTH NEW ALBUM: ASHES AND DUST (WITH WARREN HAYNES) PLAYING: Red Rocks, Morrison, Sep. 18; Boulder Theater, Boulder, Sep. 19

Multi-dimensional string band Railroad Earth has amassed a loyal following behind a sound that combines expansive acoustic rock jams with the thought-provoking lyrics of frontman and predominant songwriter Todd Sheaffer. This year, though, the group stepped out in a supportive role as backing band to guitar hero Warren Haynes on his new album “Ashes and Dust.” While normally one to plug in and rip, Haynes, a North Carolina native, decided to make a record that took him back to his Appalachian roots. With a versatile style that can include Celtic flavor, straightahead bluegrass fury, and gritty backwoods rock, Railroad Earth helps give Haynes a traditionalist edge to explore blue-collar themes on standouts like “Coal Tattoo” and “Company Man.” Although the band did back Haynes at select shows this summer, this month it will return to Red Rocks as a headliner, playing September 18 with opener Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead fronting his band Billy and the Kids.

photos COURTESY OF ARTISTS

GALACTIC NEW ALBUM: INTO THE DEEP PLAYING: Red Rocks, Morrison, Sep. 19 (with Grace Potter)

On the album “Into the Deep” (released over the summer), the veteran New Orleans funkexpansionist crew gets by with a little help from their friends. The 11-song set features the sextet augmenting its usual high-powered instrumental grooves with an all-star cast of special guests on vocals. JJ Grey adds his swampy howl to the electro-soul room shaker “Higher and Higher,” and Macy Gray leads the inspiring R&B swagger of the title track. There’s also the catchy gospel bounce of “Doesn’t Make a Difference” with Mavis Staples, and the hard-hitting hip-hop flavored “Dollar Diva” fronted by David Shaw of the Revivalists. It’s more impressive work from a band that’s spent the past two decades taking retro sounds in innovative directions.

THE DUSTBOWL REVIVAL NEW ALBUM: WITH A LAMPSHADE ON PLAYING: Hi-Dive, Denver, Oct. 9

This eight-piece California outfit has become known for throwing rowdy hoedowns behind a sound that puts American roots music in a highenergy blender. “With A Lampshade On” is a mostly live album that offers a sample of the band’s brand of joyful noise, a collision of strings and brass that incorporates old-time foot-stompers, hot jazz dance numbers and vintage-style swing tunes. It’s all delivered with an orchestral force that can keep crowds moving.

JOSH RITTER NEW ALBUM: SERMON ON THE ROCKS PLAYING: Macky Auditorium, Boulder, Oct. 10

FALL LINEUP: (CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT) THE DUSTBOWL REVIVAL, GALACTIC, JOSH RITTER, BLITZEN TRAPPER.

“I wanted to play messianic oracular honky tonk.” Josh Ritter posted that description on his website when announcing that his new album, “Sermon on the Rocks,” which was made in New Orleans, comes out October 26. The first released track, “Getting Ready to Get Down,” showcases Ritter’s wry wit as he sings about a girl stifled by a Midwestern Bible college looking to let her hair down. The subject doesn’t feel so weighty since it’s delivered through an alt-country party song. Ritter and his Royal City band are playing a special show at Colorado University’s Macky Auditorium, backed by the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra.

He’s promising new arrangements of old favorites and songs from the new album.

BLITZEN TRAPPER NEW ALBUM: ALL ACROSS THIS LAND PLAYING: Bluebird Theater, Denver, October 26

Indie roots-rock outfit Blitzen Trapper has proven unpredictably inventive over the course of seven studio albums and a decade and a half together.

Sometimes the Portland, Oregon-based band takes off into realms of fuzzy, off-kilter space country (see the 2013 album “VII”), while other efforts feature tamer straight-ahead folk-rock tunes that thrive on the compelling lyrics and laidback vocal delivery of frontman Eric Earley. “All Across This Land” falls in the latter category. While the title track is propelled by electric riffs and twangy fills, the majority of the record has an even-keel mood.

Earley sounds like a less-cryptic version of Jeff Tweedy in the earnest ballad “Love Grow Cold,” and “Nights Were Made for Love” is a catchy piece of textbook heartland rock. Overall, it’s a satisfying, goes-down-easy album from a band building an underappreciated discography.

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THE ROAD

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PARADISE LOST OR THE SAGA OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CLIMBERS GET OLD AND BROKEN AND HAVE TO FIND NEW WAYS TO PLAY.

by MATT SAMET

As people who play in the mountains, we come to take for granted our intimate knowledge of the alpine terrain—the peaks and valleys, the deep, dim Ponderosa forests and burbling, unnamed brooks that trickle each spring off melting snowfields where krummholz fades into the tundra. In my twenties, I was up in Rocky Mountain National Park or chasing Fourteeners every summer weekend. It never occurred to me that someday these mountains might, at least for me, recede. That they might become inaccessible and, in a way, as distant and untouchable as a two-dimensional movie backdrop. Of course, we are not conditioned to believe that life or even our health could be anything other than what it is at present—at least, not until tragedy or circumstances intervene. At which point we become, like the Buddha under the Bodhi Tree: We are enlightened about the true impermanence of things.

Looking back, from the vantage of chronically poor health—ongoing fatigue and neurological issues caused by iatrogenic damage—I can see that in my younger years, I was free and blessed, filled with bliss and energy and purpose as I romped through Colorado’s above-timberline playground alone or with friends. There was such incredible joy in dancing along teetering, stegosaurus-spine ridgelines in the Indian Peaks, tagging spires and bouncing down talus with little more than a water bladder, some energy bars and a

“And so, I’d pulled into the lot at Fun City before my goddamned head exploded, and there they were, facing us, those slides.” rain jacket in my pack; in slowly and deliberately fishing a hand jam into an ice-lined fissure high on the vertical plane of Longs Peak’s Diamond as intimations of thunder reverberated through a gauzy late-July sky and my partner tugged ever more urgently on the rope; in toting a cumbersome crashpad miles up a glacial cirque to hunt for boulders we never named and could probably never find again.

Once, a girlfriend, Haven, and I humped loads over Pawnee Pass to camp beside the quiet black waters of Crater Lake with the mosquitoes on the western side of the Divide. The next morning, we awoke early and, as the blue gloom of pre-dawn photo courtesy MATT SAMET

FUN CITY: SAMET LEARNS TO RELAX AND LOVE THE KITSCH OF THE OTHER PARK: "IN THE PAST, I'D SIMPLY SEEN ESTES AS A NUISANCE, A TOURIST TRAP TO BE NAVIGATED EN ROUTE TO THE REAL ACTION IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK."

gave way to a warm yellow glow, snaked up a 5.7 the Stettner brothers first climbed in 1933. Dew clung to the granite, and short, technical rock steps interrupted long swaths of precariously steep tundra. We wiped the damp soles of our rock shoes on our pants legs and trod carefully, the gear between us minimal as we simul-climbed a broad amphitheater. At the top, twin cracks studded with black xenoliths sliced a sunless silver headwall.

The brothers had breezed up this route 70 years earlier, tagging the summit in just two hours. As I led their overhanging crack, I clipped an old piton or two, likely left from their same first ascent, up the nose of a beetling spire reminiscent of a Chamonix aiguille.

But these things are no longer, and I’m not sure I’ll get them back again. Because I have no choice, I strive to accept this reality, but it’s not always easy. At 43, I am young enough that, were my body still able, I would of course be up there as much as possible. But it's not.

All this has served to make me rethink and reforge my relationship to Colorado’s high country.

It has also, in fact, helped me to see the mountains with fresh eyes, the eyes, you might say, of the much-maligned “high-country tourist,” the firsttimer tooling along the Peak to Peak Highway

or heading into Estes Park with Midwest plates who might never get farther into the tundra than an overlook along Trail Ridge Road. Who gapes and gawks and hoots and hollers and stops in the middle of the highway to point a camera at anything furry or antlered because these things are so new, so far outside his day-to-day experience.

Yes, I’m almost there, simply because any trip to the mountains now, even if I can’t stray that far from the car, reminds me of what once lured me there, and how their power to inspire and to heal remains undiminished even if I’m seeing the peaks solely from the valleys or from the window of a vehicle. No, I cannot stand on the summits, but I can still feel a cool alpine breeze on my face and taste its hints of pine and loam and possibility.

T

his June, a month into one of the rainiest early summers I’ve seen in the Front Range, we took a family trip to Estes Park on a gloomy, drizzly Saturday. In the past, I’d simply seen Estes as a nuisance, a tourist trap to be navigated en route to the real action in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I’d always despised its traffic snarls and candy shops and rubber-tomahawk marts and hokey Old West photo shops. I looked down upon and usually unleashed a self-righteous (in-the-car)

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THE ROAD

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verbal tirade upon the throngs of tourists who idly strolled the main drag, cramming fudge into their gobs and buying up shitty plastic trinkets. “Look at these idiots!” I’d snarl. “Don’t they have anything better to do?” Well, my view hasn’t particularly changed about the tourist drag itself, but now I’ve actually had to stop and look at the place, to see it for the beauty of its station, and yes, even for the appeal of the tourist attractions.

If you’ve driven US-36 into the park, then you’ve seen them: the giant, wavy rainbow-hued slides next to the highway at the big bend before the final climb out of town. “Who goes there?” I’m sure the old me asked more than once as we blazed past en route to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.

“White trash? Losers? Poltroons? You wouldn’t catch me dead at a place like that.”

Yet on this Saturday, with rainsqualls moving through and with nothing resembling a plan, that was exactly where you’d have caught me. Our three-year-old was getting antsy, and kept, in increasingly tantrum-y tones, insisting “Want to do something, mama; want to do something, dada.”

The baby was squawking and he needed his midday feeding, the hound dog was flipping out with travel anxiety in the back, and my wife and her sister had been clamoring for me either to pull over at a Starbucks or at one of Estes’s many tourist attractions, so we could unload and decompress. And so it happened that I pulled into

the lot at Fun City before my goddamned head exploded, and there they were, facing us, those rainbow-hued slides.

“Let’s slide, daadaa,” said our older boy. “Let’s do it! Let’s do it now!!!”

“It never occurred to me that someday these mountains might, at least for me, recede. That they might become inaccessible and, in a way, as distant and untouchable as a two-dimensional movie backdrop. ” Now on this particular day, I was sicker than usual (the intensity of my symptoms, as often happens with neurological illness, can oscillate) and I could see that the many metal steps ascending the slides were going to be brutal. On bad days, I’m often doubled over with pain and debility, and have so much trouble breathing I have to crawl up the stairs of our home. So imagine what a climb of sixty-plus feet, at 7,800 feet in altitude, looked like. Still, with a young child, I’ve had to learn to fake it, to feign energy and enthusiasm even when I’m dying inside so as to preserve the sacred bubble of his boyhood. He doesn’t need to know that life can be miserable, even if that is the unfortunate truth.

And so we paid our $1 per rider, took our

burlap sliding sacks, and began the ascent.

Ivan was well ahead of me, bopping up the stairs with his boundless kinetic energy, turning around every few seconds to see if I was coming, saying, “I’m excited, I’m very excited!” The ride attendant, a high-school girl, awaited up top. I’m sure she had to wonder at the site of a perfectly healthy-looking young-ish man hobbling and sidling up the stairs at a sloth’s pace, railing clasped firmly in hand like an octogenarian emphysemic. Step by heavy step, I plodded up the risers; at the landings I would rest, leaning over the handrail, draping the sack there to protect my belly, pretending to take in the view.

It was the hardest climb I’d done in years, the fatigue burning in my quads and buttocks and shoulders and forearms as if I were taking the final step to the summit of Longs on the Home Stretch.

But in time, I made it. And from up there, I have to say, the view was pretty good—yes, I might never stand on the summit of Notchtop or Arrowhead or Shark’s Tooth, but at least here, on top of these slides, I was 60 feet closer to these snowy, daggered giants.

And you know what, the ride down was pretty damn fun, too. So fun, in fact, that I made the climb three more times to slide next to my son, to take in all that life, and Colorado, has to offer. To take joy in what I was able to do, and not grieve over that which was gone from me.

Matt Samet is the author of Death Grip: A Climber's Escape from Benzo Madness.

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ELEVATION O U T D O O R S / JS U EP LYT EAM UG BU ER S T2 2 0101 55

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ELWAYVILLE

0 9 .15

THE LONGEST, STRANGEST TRIP A LOVE LETTER TO AMERICA’S GREATEST BAND.

your own recent or long-gone favorite keyboard player here), may or may not be worthy of consideration in “World’s Greatest Rock Band” status. But they sure as hell take the gold as far as America is concerned!

by PETER KRAY

THE SUMMER OF THE DEAD

A Quebecois buddy of mine likes to argue about how America has the most rock stars—the greatest one-man solo acts of all time—but the U.K. can boast the best rock bands. Elaborating, he compares the likes of Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson to The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones. It’s a matter of all the wideopen independent space of America versus the cloistered, group-building dampness of England, and especially London, he says.

It’s hard to argue with him. After all, as much as I love the chiming guitars and rising harmonies of U.S.-bred acts such as The Beach Boys or The Byrds, who begat Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and REM, there’s nothing about any of their complete catalogs of music that completely alters your life (at least beyond “Good Vibrations,” “Eight Miles High,” “American Girl” or “Man in the Moon”). It’s just a beautiful sound.

Of course, I never offered up The Grateful Dead into this conversation. Maybe because loving The Dead always felt like such a homegrown slice of Americana, like making out at a drivein or dancing barefoot in the sun with a headful of mushrooms. Or maybe because they only had one top 10 single in their entire career—“Touch of Grey,” which peaked in 1987 at number nine, and only did so because the GD’s non-stop touring bandwagon had gotten so big by that time.

I’d like to offer them up now. I’d like to say that Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart (feel free to add

Twenty Fifteen was the Summer of the Dead, and rightly so. Fifty years after they kicked off their San Francisco Acid Test experiment, providing LSD-infused music to lose your mind to, their impact on music, the music business, and the very idea of “counter-culture” continues to grow.

As their 4th of July Chicago-show farewell loomed, Billboard, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and the Wall Street Journal pre-printed obituaries for the band. They praised their penchant for jazz-inspired freeform “noodling,” their unplanned set lists. They noted how those uneven performances and token onstage innovation created a new live music venue that left the one-hit wonder of studio recording behind.

And consider this: The Dead’s willingness to let their audience tape and trade their live shows proved pivotal to the music-sharing, digitaldownloading, only-buy-the-song-you-want-to-hear culture we live in now.

Adding on, a Public Opinion Strategies and Mellman Group poll found that the Dead have a 46 percent recognition rate among Republicans, compared to 37 percent among Democrats and 35 percent among independents, strongly suggesting that the band transcends political beliefs. Or at least proving how aging stockbrokers like to smoke weed and listen to a good jam.

That the Sirius Grateful Dead station seems to be on everyone’s auto-dial at every ski area parking lot, campground and pre-concert tailgate these days shows how the band’s legacy can continue, providing the soundtrack for untold cookouts, ski days and sunsets to come.

llustration by KEVIN HOWDESHELl / kevincredible.com

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TO LEAD MUST FOLLOW I didn’t go to Chicago this past summer—even though an old tree-trimming partner was offering tickets at face value for all three shows. I don’t like crowds the way I used to, and I figured the last time I saw Jerry and Bob at Red Rocks was a good enough goodbye.

But I did stream all of the 4th of July sets, sitting on the back porch with the laptop on the table and shuttling to the fridge for beer. The band was incredible! Especially Trey Anastasio of Phish, who filled in for the departed Jerry, and unleashed a fireworks show of cascading sonic wizardry from his guitar. (For anyone who follows this column, all Phish-bashing stops now!)

By the second show, I found myself wishing they would just say to hell with the finale and get the whole band back on tour. An entire summer of Dead updates, tie-dye shirt making parties and random general admission reunions could go a long way toward making this country whole.

At the very least, we could all dance again, flailing away to the rising chords of “China Cat Sunflower,” “Rider,” “Jack Straw” and a final “Scarlet Fire.” We could all spend one more night feeling good about the way we used to feel.

Ever since I first focused on that sound—on vinyl!—on my parent’s couch and then went in search of all the freedom that listening to music offers, “Ripple” has been my favorite Dead song, and it offers that now-apt coda: “If I knew the way, I would take you home.”

But even more, I think of the life-affirming line that precedes it, proclaiming to anyone who dreams of doing something different, “That path is for your steps alone.”

Elevation Outdoors editor-at-large Peter Kray is the author of The God of Skiing. The book has been called “the greatest ski novel of all time.” Buy it here: bit.ly/ godofskiing

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