3 Ladies and a Dude

If you haven't noticed, Brandon and I spend a lot of time together.  The reason is that we actually like each other, and want to spend time together - which is convenient considering we're married.  This past weekend Brandon planned an excursion without me.  This is hard for me for three reasons: 

a.) usually I want to come on the excursion because they sound fun

b.) his excursions are usually more interesting than what it is that I'm doing

c.) at least I'd be there to watch him die due to poor judgment or prolonged exposure

Disappointed that I was not invited on this adventure, but trying to be the supportive wife who wants her spouse to develop healthy friendships and be a boy, I went about making my own plans.  A snowshoe session in RMNP sounded just perfect.  

Mills Lake, RMNP

This was a girls trip: 2 ladies playing on snowshoes with me skinning on tele skis.  So it was settled, a late start time (noon, in contrast to Brandon's 3:30am wake up call), a mellow afternoon in the hills, followed by a viewing of the full super moon rising over RMNP valley and concluded with really good BBQ.  

Alex and Kiea Getting their Snowshoe Slog on

Well come 2:30am, Brandon received a text with a very good excuse, however with a bummer of a message all the same - plans canceled.   So now I'm stuck with a sullen husband, and epic plans with 2 lovely ladies to slog through RMNP, making snow angels and giggling. 

What resulted was a compromise, of sorts.  A day spent with 2 fabulous ladies, a husband elated with permission and myself terrified that I will lose my spouse in an act of poor judgment as I watch him ski off to free solo ice 5 miles into the backcountry.  

Getting Ready to Ski Away

I had vivid images of returning to the car and waiting for him to show up.  I had planned how I would send the girls to get cell service to call in search and rescue.  I would then slog back into the backcountry on my tele skis (after a fair amount of energy put into figuring out how to get my skins back on the skis without sticking to me), 5 miles to find his body half buried in the snow, impailed on his ice ax from his 50 foot slide from the bulge on the ice.  I had my plans of how I would use my extra jacket, his skins and poles to rig a sled to drag his beaten body back to civilization.  

 

And to think, all I wanted was a giggly day with girls, accompanied by some snow angels.  

Kiea Making a Snow Angel Trailside

The day ended well, 4 people back in the Subaru safely, a super moon viewed (although general consensus was that it wasn't that super, but lovely nonetheless), BBQ devoured.  But any day that ends with good BBQ really can't be that bad.

Chopsticks

Tonight we used chopsticks (thank you Thai family).  I love chopsticks.  I think they are fun, challenging and allow me to focus on the fact that I should enjoy my food as opposed to shovel sustenance into my mouth.  Tonight after dinner, chopsticks became a competition.  We have a bowl that we keep filled with almonds (again, thank you Thai family).  We spent some time trying to see who could get the almonds in and out of the bowl the fastest.  34 seconds was the winning time.  Please, try this at home.  In honor of our friends and family in South Korea....

Brandon is back to blogging, check out his blog here.  Between his studies and blogs, he is still longing for the mountains - and the use of his ice axes.  When I returned from the grocery I was met by a monkey on the stairs - a monkey with Wolverine-like arm extensions.  The stairs of our apartment complex have become Brandon's new dry tooling playground. 

The Approach

One of my favorite past times is backpacking (and long day hiking).  I love the journey on the way to a destination.  And sometimes the destination really isn't even the point of my outing.  I'm one of those ladies who stops to identify every wildflower and tree, I smell the roses...and the bark of the ponderosa pine... I throw rocks in the creek, and take pictures of the shadows of the aspen trees.  This can be a challenge for Brandon.  The trail that gets us to where we are going should be the shortest distance from the car to the end, diversions for Indian Paintbrush, and frogs is not always scheduled into the agenda.  Shortcuts are a part of many of our adventures, and sometimes rapidly deteriorate into long-cuts, which of course I love - more things to sniff.  Today, we had a bit of a shortcut, that ended in a slide.  I was ecstatic, Brandon annoyed.  

But Brandon doesn't see the journey, he sees The Approach.  These two words have changed my understanding and definition of journeys in the backcountry.  There was once a time in my life where walking 6 miles round-trip...at 10,000 feet...in tennis shoes...in the snow...with 25 lbs on my back...with a headwind going both ways!...somehow gaining elevation both ways!...would have been a hefty day adventure.  Since marrying Brandon, this is simply the approach.  The adventure BEGINS at the destination.  Getting there is only 1/4 of the battle, maybe 1/5.  

Today was a phenomenal compromise.  Brandon's approach was tempered by my lolligagging and slow pace as we marched our way through Rocky Mountain National Park's Glacier Gorge up to Loch Vale.  It was a spectacular day!  

Coming Around the Corner to Loch Vale

Once we completed the approach, we spent the day ice climbing a flow pleasantly known as Crystal Method. 

Crystal Method

The ice was brittle, and the temps were cold.  BIG ice fell often and freely, making negotiating the belay and safety at times a concern.  I have come away unscathed, Brandon has only suffered minor soft tissue injury.  

Brandon impressively negotiated the sketchy freestanding 70 foot pillar,

Brandon Saying "No" to Crystal Meth

and had some impressive moments on top rope on some delicate and challenging ice.

Getting Through Some of the Delicacies

 

Frankly, today was not my day to shine.  Fear gripped me, and when fear wasn't nipping at my crampons, fatigue nailed me in the form of sitting a lot on the rope.

Marissa Moving up the Ice

We all have our good days and bad....today I guess, I was much more into the approach and less the destination.

Free Soloing to Set up the Top-rope Anchor...don't know how he convinced me of that...