A Cold Day's Inspiration

Well, it's been cold and clear here the past few days, and the weather reminded me of cold night spent sleeping in a yurt on a mountain pass above Leadville, Colorado this past December.

I decided to celebrate the end of the year by getting the hell out of dodge and going to Colorado. My good friend Peter Peil and I booked a yurt from Leadville Backcountry in late December. This would be my first trip to Colorado all year long, which is some kind of record as I usually make it out there at least twice a year!


This turned out to be a great decision for a number of reasons. I spent a great afternoon hanging out with Mike, an old friend from MBI who I hadn't seen in much too long, and my research assistant, Kathy, met me at Mike's so we could head up to Leadville and then trek to the hut.

We drove to Leadville and met Peter Peil, a good friend of mine who just happens to be from the same area in Wisconsin and also happens to share my love of the outdoors and crazy motorcycle vacations. The three of us set off to go up to the hut in bright sun with packs full of food, sleeping bags, and wine on our backs.

The hike up to the hut is about six miles, plenty of that running straight up the hill. I brought snow shoes, while Peter and Kathy skied. The snow was packed hard, and my snow shoes quickly came off and I walked up in hiking boots. I have to admit, I had forgotten how much work it is carrying a 30-pound (light, I know) pack up a snowy mountain trail, and I was struggling for the first couple of miles.

But I settled in, and was boosted by the fact that Peter and Kathy are great outdoors companions--both are very upbeat people who like to laugh and joke around.

The second half of the hike is the steepest, and was the most difficult part of the day. We were all moving slowly but steadily . . . well, Pete and I were, while Kathy ran up ahead!

Near the top, you come to a little broken-down cabin that breaks out into the pass. Kathy had been going ahead of Pete and I, and was sitting under the one tree by the cabin and shared her frozen rock-solid Snicker's bar with us. We only had a 1/3-mile left to go, and all were up and optimistic. That last 1/3 mile was brutal, as the snow was deep, the path is very steep, and the yurts are out in the open so the wind is just vicious.

The real temperature, by the way, was -18, and the wind had to be blowing at better than 20 mph. I don't think I want to know what the wind chill was!

It took a long 30-40 minutes to climb that last 1/3 mile and we were exhausted when we got in. We made a fire inside the yurt, as it was COLD in there (zero as I recall). We huddled around the woodstove in our little yurt, took off wet clothes, and drank hot tea. It took about two hours for the yurt to warm up to 50 degrees or so, and then we made supper, told stories, and drank all of the wine.

The next morning we had to go back down the mountain, and it was a long, hard trek. The wind was blowing very hard, and snow was coming down--it was a blizzard! The first section was all downhill and no problem, but the last section had a very long gradual uphill that was rugged. I was wiped out when we made the car, and we were pretty glad to go back to Peter's house. We went out for burgers and then watched a movie (or Peter and Kathy watched a movie--I fell asleep!).

That wasn't the end of the Colorado adventure. I spent New Year's Eve seeing an old friend, Joan, who was staying with friends in a condo at the Keystone ski area.

The blizzard we walked through to get down off the mountain was part of a huge storm that hammered Colorado, and by the time we had settled in and were watching our movie at Pete's place, Interstate 70 was closed! We were concerned we wouldn't be able to make it over to Keystone, but fate was good to us and the ONLY roads open near Leadville were a short piece of I-70 and Hwy 91. Those two roads led to Keystone. We made it there. When we exited off 70 at Silverthorne, the freeway was closed from traffic going further and a long line of cars were sitting there, waiting for the interstate to open up again.

Joan had just come off the hill when we arrived, and it was COLD on the hill. We went back out and the skiing was still a little cold but the lift lines were short and it was awesome skiing. Conditions were nearly perfect on New Year's Day. In fact, New Year's Day was a Perfect Day in general, and included skiing, swimming, good wine, and a great fondue meal at the top of Keystone (you have to ride two gondolas to get up to the restaurant).

I was reminded how much I love Colorado by the trip, and can't wait to get back out there!