The Cog Railway just announced the 3rd Annual High Altitude Happy Hour. Slated for Friday, September 10, the fundraiser will support the Manitou Chamber of Commerce. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased at www.80829.com. Nice idea, but I assume drinks will flow freely on the train ride up the peak, and, well, have you ever had a drink at 14,000 feet? All I’m saying is don’t make plans early the next day.

Sometimes when COS is mired in murk, as it is today, Pikes Peak is an island in a sunny sea of clouds. This morning? Not so much.

This year will go down in memory as a year no one in the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon got snowed, hailed, or blown off the mountain. The weather was beautiful, even hot. The sky stayed clear, even for the slowpokes. Congrats to all who finished. The times are posted HERE.

(Photo from Marin Independent Journal, not Colorado Springs)

Any cyclist who has ever been warned or cited by police for riding on a downtown sidewalk might shake their heads and wonder, “Don’t the police have anything better to do?”

Apparently, people riding illegally on downtown sidewalks is enough of a problem that Colorado Springs Police are asking City Council to change the bike-riding law.

According to a memo from police to the council, citations written for cyclists caught riding on sidewalks around Acacia Park have been thrown out by judges because city ordinance doesn’t seem to prohibit that. So police are asking the council, at its Aug. 24 meeting, to change the ordinance to define sidewalks as “all pathways intended for pedestrian use, including that portion of an alley or driveway between the curb lines or lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines.”

Read the memo here.

Ride The Divide, the award-winning feature-length documentary about the world’s toughest mountain bike race, makes its Colorado Springs premiere on Wednesday, September 15, at the Stargazers Theatre. The film chronicles the story of several mountain bikers who attempt the 2,711-mile race named the Tour Divide along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.

Read the rest of this entry »

Who wants to think about ski passes in the dog days of August? But if you’re planning on hitting the slopes more than a couple times this upcoming winter, now’s a good time to start thinking about your pass.

The Aspen Times recently ran a story about ski pass prices:

Most Colorado ski resorts are boosting their season pass prices by modest amounts for the 2010-11 winter after holding firm or even dropping prices to spur business last season, according to a survey by The Aspen Times.

Most resorts have already released their prices and set early purchase deadlines to generate revenue. The Aspen Skiing Co. will release its ski pass menu and prices today and start selling passes on Aug. 23, according to spokesman Jeff Hanle. He said Skico made some “adjustments” to its pass options in response to feedback from customers.

The Skico was praised by some locals last season because it dropped the price of the full-season ski pass. Other skiers and riders criticized the company for eliminating a pass exclusive to Aspen Highlands, a seven-day Classic Pass and the two-day-per-week pass.

Hanle wouldn’t comment prior to today’s announcement on the changes the Skico is making or the pricing.

Elsewhere in the state, resorts have raised pass prices from a nominal $10 to $100 or more at major destination resorts similar to Aspen-Snowmass.

Read more here.

Southern Colorado’s Monarch Mountain was not included in the story, so I called them to ask about their prices. Here’s what I found out:

The ski area is raising season pass rates from $419 to $429, if bought after Nov. 6, said spokesman Greg Ralph. The early sale price is $329, also up $10 from last year. Monarch also expanded the number of partner resorts, where pass-holders get free or discounted lift tickets, to 17.

Ralph said the ski area will take part in the Ski Free Colorado program again starting in January, in which skiers who buy 10 gallons of gas at certain stations can get a buy-one, get-one-free lift ticket coupon

These are shots I took on a recent Friday. All these utes are from C. Springs and just came up for the day to relax. There is also video posted a few clicks below.

If you’ve followed the saga over the Section 16 property over the years, which the city leases from the State Land Board but does not own, then you have quite an attention span.

The on-again, off-again negotiations over the price of the land have kicked into high gear lately, and a sale now appears on the horizon. According to a legal advertisement in today’s G, the land board will consider selling it to the city for $3.8 million at its meeting Oct. 8. The agency is taking public comments through Sept. 24.

The reporter says: “Trail runners tend to love nature, not only for its beauty but for its exciting—and terrifying—power. Glaring sun can turn to blowing snow during a mountain race, making the finish line a test not only of athletic ability but also of survival skills.” Read the rest here.

Rock star, gun lover and unapologetic redneck Ted Nugent has been fined $1,750 for illegally baiting deer in California for his television show “Spirit of the Wild.”

Baiting is not allowed in California. It seems the troubadour who gave us  “Cat Scratch Fever” and oh-so-many Fox News appearances also shot an immature buck on the show, which was only discovered by authorities when a California Fish and Game warden saw it on television and “just about fell out of his chair.”

Read more at the website of our sister paper, the Marysville Appeal-Democrat.

The peak must be revving up for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon this weekend. As my old climbing mentor Rob Gilbert would say, “Better pack your woolies.”

This posted to the Pikes Peak Mountaineering groups listserve by one of the members who witnessed Spence’s death. He was a good friend and we are saddened by the loss:

This trip was Spence and Karen’s third Italy Via
Ferrata trip, another climber’s second trip and the first V.F. trip for the
rest of the group. We had been climbing for one week when the accident
occurred.

We would all like to find some justification and reasoning as to why this
could happen to such a seasoned mountaineer. Those of us present on the
mountain that fatal day are also trying to understand how this could have
happened in an area the rest of us passed through safely (without Spencer’s
assistance), yet this same area is where he lost his life.

Via Ferratas are rated 1-5 (A-D) The via ferrata that we were on is rated a
2B. We were told by the SAR volunteer that rating might apply to perhaps
September. He said It is a north facing route that retains snow most of the
year, sometimes even in high summer resulting in buried cables. He said
2010 was a heavy snowfall year.

We were 2 nights into our 8 night hut to hut trip, hiking to the 3rd hut,
along the Alpinisteig, (the 2B via ferrata). We kick stepped across several
steep snow fields due to the cables being buried under the snow. The first
2 were short, so we did nothing more but kick stepped across. The 3rd and
4th were longer so Spence took out his rope, kick stepped across the snow
field while one of the girls belayed him, and attached the rope to the
opposite side. No problems. We all crossed safely.

The 5th snow field was also covering the cable, but there was a steep scree
path running down along the side of the snow so once again Spence pulled out
the rope and we all proceeded down the scree via rope. When we reached the
bottom, we had to hike back up the opposite slope to locate the next via
ferrata cable. The group waited in a small area while Spence threw the
rope down to his wife Karen and proceeded down that same steep scree slope
with his hiking poles. Incredible talent! When he safely reached the
bottom, the rest of the group decided to move farther up the trail since the
area we were standing was a small surface area, not a lot of room for Karen
and Spence once they hiked up the slope to where we were standing. That was
the last time most of us saw Spence.

To locate the next via ferrata, we walked between and over some small rocks
and into an area that was between the rock wall and a small snow berm,
(which had pulled away from the wall as it melted). To drop down into this
safe area between the rock wall on our left, and the snow berm on our right,
we had to get over a rock, 2-3 feet high that was between the wall and the
snow. Most of us straddled the rock to get over it, and then began walking
along the path between the wall and the snow. I was clipped into the end of
the next section of the via ferrata, when Karen, Spence’s wife reached me
and asked me to put the rope in her backpack. Spence was about 8 to 10 feet
behind us. Just as we started moving forward, Karen heard Spence make a
short yelping sound. She turned her head back towards him, to witness him
rolling three times toward the edge of the cliff.

The most likely scenario is that instead of straddling the rock that was at
the entrance to the path, he stepped on top of it, with wet boots. The top
of the rock touched the snow, so it probably was wet, and may have been icy,
as well. Because he was rolling so fast when Karen looked around, he must
have fallen backward and immediately started into a side roll, without
knowing the precipice was near. The ground where Spence fell was not snowy
or icy…just bare and downsloping toward the cliff. He fell approximately
150 meters. There was no other sound from Spence. He was gone.

This sequence of events was confirmed by the guides that recovered Spence
and rescued us. After everyone was safely taken off the route, the guides
flew back up to the scene of the accident. They found no slide marks on the
snow or the ground, no evidence of a struggle, which upheld the account
Karen gave them. They suggested that because Spence was probably thrown
backwards off of the wet rock, he may have hit his head enough to be
stunned, and unable to help arrest his fall. They were also able to confirm
that Spence died instantly of massive head injuries.

So… after avoiding it for years, I am finally writing about Paradise Cove, aka Guffey Falls. I avoided the subject for years because I did not want to ruin this special place that has long been a locals’ secret, but now the word is all over the interweb, so I decided no harm done. Forgive me, it was delicious, so sweet and so cold.

A Boulder man found out.

From the Daily Camera:

Police arrested a 38-year-old Boulder man Monday on suspicion of biking while intoxicated, after he admitted to hitting a car and trying to run a red light.

Officers who were on foot near the intersection of 28th Street and Valmont Road saw Jonas Rizzo almost crash his bike about 4:40 p.m. Monday, according to detective Sgt. Melissa Kampf. When they contacted him, Kampf said, he was visibly drunk and he told them that he hit a car while trying to run a red light.

It’s the third drunk-biking arrest in Boulder this year.

The monsoon is here, and it’s ticked off.

That’s what the weather has seemed like lately, with daily deluges from the Springs throughout the mountains – not just the afternoon thunderstorms we expect in summer, but fierce downpours posing threat to life and limb.

In the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a Texas couple was killed when an intense rainstorm washed them off Crestone Needle.

In Woodland Park, it washed out a portion of the Lovell Gulch Trail. In the Springs, it washed out Constitution Avenue. In places around the state Monday, rainfall was measured at an inch an hour. Climbers are canceling trips to the mountains and a flash flood watch remains in effect for much of the state.

But there’s good news for the weekend: The National Weather Service says we can look forward to a return to normal conditions by Friday.

THE PATTERN IS FORECAST TO CHANGE HEADING INTO FRIDAY WITH A MORE

TYPICAL SUMMER TIME THUNDERSTORM REGIME. EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO
DEVELOP ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS
AND REMAINED TIED TO THE TERRAIN INTO THE EVENING BEFORE
DISSIPATING AFTER SUNSET. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND SMALL HAIL...HOWEVER THE MORE
ISOLATED NATURE OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LEAD TO A REDUCED RISK
OF FLASH FLOODING. THIS PATTERN IS FORECAST TO PERSIST THROUGH MONDAY