Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Skied for a while, first by myself, and then I ran into Frank B. and skied with him until it was time to remover skis and don running shoes. Then ran well past dark, with two up-n-close personal moose sightings for added flavor and excitement. One was a bull moose of a few years of age with a middling set of antlers, nothing great, but at least more than just spikes. The other I couldn't be sure of, because it had no antlers. This is the time of year when antlers are coming off, so that's no longer a reliable sign. It was quite large though, and some combination of size and general appearance made me inclined to think it was a bull, too.

Beautiful sunny day, mild during the middle of the day in town, with the usual afternoon winds kicking in as the sun lowered.

Yesterday morning, returning home from some random errand, I happened to notice an isolated cloud situated over the Happy Jack massif. It looked like it might be dispensing snow, of all things. But I forgot about it, until later in the day, when then I went up to run, and found there was a fresh and unexpected 2" of snow. I think some passing crow must have noticed the bared grounds, and, taking pity upon the local skiing conditioned, signaled to some powerful god--or could it have been North Korea, instead--to deliver some snow.

My plans had been to run, and in any event I hadn't packed skis along with me, so running it was, and it was a delight to see the new snow. And it looked like it was enough to refresh the trail conditions in most parts back to "decent".

Today I knew better, and headed up to take advantage of the improved skiing circumstances; no way to know how long it will last, and without more snow, it will probably get thinned out quickly enough in the more notorious sections of the trail net, and then it will be back to all running and no skiing again.

First time out this year, on the 13th, which is remarkable when compared to any previous winter. It sets a new standard for a skinny snow season, almost no matter what might follow from here.

I was checking out one spot that is especially prone to be windswept when a figure emerged from around a bend, and started waving at me. At first I couldn't figure out who it was and the context of it was what threw me, because it was Doug Berling, and I just had no reason to think I might run into him up there.

He had some startling news: just in the past few days there had been an influx of large numbers of Norwegians to the Denver area, and the authorities were quite concerned: what if they were there to spread their jeans, or were planning on relocating to Nederland to embark on raising high altitude hip hemp? I wondered if any of them might have compasses and finger sticks with them, but Doug did not mention anything about that.

Strange times indeed, but after all the skiing was said and done--easier said than done, I must add, because my skis were sic slow--I went running anyway, looking for and finding several moose in the dark.

As a test of how ridiculously mild it is, I am going to go out and saw some wood in a t-shirt and shorts--dressed exactly as I would be if this were summer time. I will report back when I am done. If I don't report back, it will mean it was wayyyy colder than I thought, and I froze to death.

Btw, I should just add, in case anyone worries about this, nothing to worry about. After all, we have a self proclaimed stable genius in charge, which is easily the best type to have. Plus, it's like, really bigly mild outside, so the chances of freezing to death are very small.

I am back. Okay, I didn't break a sweat, but maybe I just didn't stay out long enough. Might be time for some iced tea, though.

Enjoyed running in record high temps (new all time high for the date here today)! Plenty of wind helped reduced the risk of overheating, fortunately. Any of the trails hit by sun had been transformed into slush, and it looked and felt like it could as well have been late March. Rumors of snow on the way tonight, and we shall see. Still haven't skied so much as a second in this new year.

Running on snow trails late in the day was almost 100% Fun, and the one thing that took a few percent out of the overall experience was seeing a sub-moron had ridden a horse out and back along the Summit Trail, right down the middle of the groomed ski trail. You just have to wonder what the thought process could be. It would be bad enough even under normal snow conditions, but with the cover as thin as it is, just about every hoof print brought up dirt.