October ski - put a fork in it!

Signed, sealed, delivered. Right out the back door.

Time to get the kids real XC skis, I think.

the excellence of adjustable poles

but first: snow angels

second: snowman

then skiing

we shall call him "Juniper Breath"

June 2017 monthly ski - RMNP Trailridge Road snow patch

Trailridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is a much appreciated go-to ski for June. It didn't disappoint us: almost warm, breezy, easy hike to corn snow patch - we even got a close-in parking spot.

the tundra rolls right to the sky 

reminds me of old gunslinger pictures

we get great clouds in the Rockies

N bags his June ski

go N, go!

I did not photoshop out my poles. really. why would anyone do that?

O say can you see

just a dollop of corn snow

O nabs June

T gets the dramatic backdrop

hero shot

October ski!

Brainard Lake got some new snow WOOT!

It's a good feeling to only have to drive 45 minutes to get to our October ski. It may have only been a few inches but it worked...

trusty skins on the kids' Lucky Bums skis gave them great traction 

it's official: T & N skied

it's official: O skied

The kids seem to have a love/hate relationship with the poles. When they want them - they want them SO MUCH. When they don't...on the ground they go.

T & I independently went up to Long Lake for a quick view. old mining bucket here

September Ski - done!

Technically speaking, this was probably the worst "snow" I've ever skied. I'm not saying it couldn't have been worse. Frozen solid, it would have been so much worse, even dangerous. And I'm not saying it was the roughest snow I've ever seen — some "snow" above Tunemaha lake in the Sierra takes that honor (1986, horribly worse: hard frozen, bathtub sized suncups with wickedly sharp rims). But these were memorable...

Despite snow in the forecast for the weekend, we had to take our shot at our September ski before heading out on a raft trip. Like a fast-food burger, Saint Mary's Glacier wasn't particularly tasty but it was quick.

We leaf-peeped on the drive in. Fall River Road had great Fall colors.

TWO mine openings I never noticed before

By far the best way I've found to carry skis in wooded terrain:

my favorite way to carry skis in wooded areas: Voilé strap + biner. it keeps the tips out of the trees and away from your heels and calfs. the one downside is that you do have to keep a hand on them so they don't wag. using 2 biners separated can solve that but for short hikes like this one, why bother

balance is important

a balancing trick: angle the strap and catch the strap on either side of the binding hinges.

up the Elevator. at first N didn't want the poles shortened...

kinnikinnick

really lovely. carrying O, the Boba proved its worth once again

St. Mary's glacier greeted us a little further up the hill than last month. and boy was it worse for wear.

panorama of St. Mary's Glacier. we ski up toward that v on the upper right

How rough was it? Let's try something different: look at the photo below with crossed eyes. Make it so there is one overlapped image in the middle. Voilá: 3D view! Did it work for you? It's a little exaggerated but it gives you some idea of how rough the snow was.

look at this photo with crossed eyes. make it so there is one overlapped image in the middle. voilá: 3D view! did it work for you? iIt's a little exaggerated but it gives you some idea of how rough the snow was. those are pretty dang deep runnels there!

the Lucky Bums + skins made it easy to get around. these poles are the beefy helinox GL145 - just 15.8 oz/pair (448g/pair)

O gets his September ski. note that the Helinox poles actually adjust small enough. their adjustment mechanism is so easy that we adjust the poles all the time and they never slip

T! I tried the digital zoom for the photo - ugh!

And so another notch in the belt...