Tag: outdoors
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Aloha to the PCT – The Crystal Range Traverse
When I had a conference to attend in South Lake Tahoe, I made sure to book my flight so I could stay through the weekend and romp around the Sierra Nevada. In addition to business clothes in my suitcase, I packed a 70L duffel bag full of camping and adventure gear (I’ll let you guess…
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Capitol Peak – The Harder Way
Capitol Peak is widely regarded as Colorado’s hardest 14er. After summiting this beautiful and horrifying mountain and coming safely back to earth, I finally see why it holds that superlative. I wish this was a simple tale of taking the standard route, “only” a Class 4 scramble, but my friend Ryan and I chose to…
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A Taste of Van Life: Climbing, Hiking, and a Desert Wedding
July kicked off with a bang! Three commitments lined up for an adventurous and fun filled week: a pair of friends were celebrating birthdays with a local climbing trip, our PCT friends were coming to Colorado to backpack, and a couple was getting married in the New Mexico desert. There was quite a bit of…
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A Climb Worthy of Two Thumbs Up – The NW Ridge of The Thumb
The Sandia Mountains have a lot impressive granite fins and spires packed into a small mountain range. I remember hiking the La Luz trail for the first time in 2020 and seeing climbers dot the towering walls all around. At the time, I never really thought I would be one of those climbers, questing up…
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Baby’s First Alpine Climb: Wiskey Ridge, Sandia Mountains, NM
A few weeks after our little climbing adventure in Spain, Maggie and I had a free weekend. The psych was still high, so when Maggie asked me what we should do, I said, “Well I was thinking about this ridge traverse in the Sandias.” I showed Maggie the route and she was instantly stoked to…
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Semana de España Part 2: Climbing in El Chorro
I got the bug. Not an ailment, but an obsession with rock climbing. When Maggie and I first started looking at this trip to Spain, we were trying to decide what to do. Suddenly I remembered that Spain is a world renowned destination for rock climbing. A quick internet search yielded a solid climbing area…
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Big Days with the Boys – Mt. Massive, Jicarita, and Bandelier
I’m not going to lie, Maggie’s knee injury was a major bummer. More so for her than me, but it put a damper on all the things we love doing together outside. I had big dreams for summer 2024, which largely disintegrated along with Maggie’s ACL. I stayed by Maggie’s side as much as possible,…
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From the PCT to NM – The Pecos Wilderness and Beyond
On our first day of the Pacific Crest Trail, Maggie and I briefly met another couple, Bennett and Gina. We ended up leap-frogging each other all the way to Crater Lake, hanging out together in a handful of trail towns, and building a budding friendship. They even hosted us in Chicago when Maggie and I…
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Learning to Climb Clean – El Rito, NM
If you’ve read some of my posts, you have probably come to understand that I quite enjoy hiking and running in the mountains. Spending five months on the PCT, doing nothing but hiking, was incredible and I loved every day of it. That said, the trail itself is kind of boring, rarely exceeding a grade…
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Rim to Rim to Rim – The Grand Canyon
A seemingly insurmountable geographic barrier, The Grand Canyon is surrounded by as much lore as the canyon is deep. Traversing from rim to rim and back is a popular test piece for endurance athletes, especially now that the National Park Service has well maintained trails and water stations at several points along the way. When…
Distance Over Time 