Boulder Mountaineer School

Boulder Mountaineer School at CMC Boulder

This year the family and I joined the Colorado Mountain Club.  They are the premier hiking club in the Rocky Mountain Region.  Their state headquarters is in Golden, but several groups have clubhouses in cities around the state and one of the most active is the Boulder Group.  The group conducts lots of hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, cross-country and back-country ski trips.  They also have several environmental stewardship type volunteer opportunities.  The group publishes some of the best guide books around.  They also help maintain the Brainard Lake Skiing and Hiking Area and two nearby cabins.

One of the activities they conduct that I was most interested in is the Boulder Mountaineer School.  This is a group of introductory level courses in several of the areas they provide classes in, including hiking, climbing and mountaineering.  They also support back-country skiing courses.  I originally enrolled in several courses in hopes of completing the entire BMS curriculum this year.  But planning around family vacation and kids summer activities, I was forced to drop some.

Each course consists of a set of lectures held at the club house, usually two or three evenings from 6:30 PM and lasting a couple of hours a piece.  The lectures are then followed by a field trip of sorts, where the class goes out to practice the skills they've learned.

The first class is Hiking and Survival Essentials.  Honestly most of this class was review for me, but I suppose they have to make sure everyone has a foundation of knowledge, which is why this course is a prerequisite for most of their other courses.  There were several things that were new though.  There was a presentation about hiking and backpacking food from a nutritionalist that explained how much and what types of food your body needs while participating in outdoor activities.  Before I always just grabbed some beef sticks and some GORP and hit the trail.  Now I know better what to pack and how much.  The section on weather was also very informative, explaining what to watch out for, when to let the weather turn you around and when it's okay to stick it out.  They provided lots of information and talked at length about the "ten essentials".  They explained that traditionally this was a list of gear items you should take with you on every hike, but has recently transformed into a list of gear systems instead.  They gave a presentation about clothing that was kind of like a hands on version of the clothing section of Andrew Skurka's gear presentation.

The highlight of the course for me was the field trip.  We went to Big Elk Meadows off of highway 36 between Lyons and Estes.  We split into groups and built emergency shelters and practiced varying methods for starting a fire.  It was just like building a fort when I was a kid!  Okay, so maybe it was a tad bit more structured than that.  After all, we were trying to demonstrate what they had taught us, but it was a blast!

Here's me working away...

...and here's the rest of my group standing in front of our finished fort, I mean, uhm, emergency shelter!  Thanks to Jon Campbell for the pics.

The other class I took was the Hiking Navigation class.  This class was really great!  They teach you all about various maps and other hiking resources, but they primarily use 7.5 Minute USGS Quadrangles for the class.  Next they teach about compasses and which ones work best.  Then they teach you how to use the two together.  I had forgotten most of what I learned in the Army, so I got a great deal out of this class.  At the end we took a field trip to Green Mountain where we put our skills to the test.

I have also participated in a hike to the summit of Mt. Audubon and I had a great time there as well.  See the pic I snapped from the summit above.  One the best parts of going through the classes and participating in the hikes is the people that you meet.  I'm looking forward to taking more classes and going on more hikes with the group.

So if you're like me and you are looking to spend more time in the outdoors, but want to be safe and have the right skills, or if you are just looking to meet some great people that share your love of the outdoors, check out the Colorado Mountain Club!

Snowshoeing Finch Lake Trail

Snowshoeing Finch Lake Trail

 Finch Lake Trail is located in the Southeast corner of Rocky Mountain National Park in the Wild Basin area, near Allenspark.

During winter months, you have to park at the Winter Recreation Parking area, which adds an extra mile to the hike.  In the summertime, you can park right at the trailhead.

I figured that this weekend might be one of the last chances to get out the snowshoes for the season.

The trail crisscrosses a couple of other trails and you can continue on past Finch Lake to Pear Lake.

If you were really ambitious, you can even continue on to the Cony Lakes or even on the Cony Pass.

The road from the Winter Recreation Parking area to the trailhead was well packed and icy when I headed out around 6:15 AM.  Above is a snapshot of what the trailhead looked like when I made it there.  There was one set of tracks that went just far enough to realize that no one else had traversed the trail since the recent 54 inches of snow they received this week and then they must have turned around.

Somebody has to be the first one, right?

One thing I love about snowshoeing in fresh powder is all the evidence of the local wildlife's scampering about.  Anybody care to name the owner of these tracks?

Even with my 930s, I was still post-holing really deep.  Up to two feet sometimes.  On one extreme drift, oen of my trekking poles, set at 125 cm, sunk in all the way to the grips!

When I made it to the nose of the ridge, I had a good view of Meeker and Longs.  The peaks were obscured by clouds off and on all day.

On the other side of the ridge, the snow switched from soft, undisturbed powder to windblown, sunshine crusted fun.  Even if it isn't as deep, this stuff is harder to trudge through because it initially holds your weight and then breaks through and you have to absorb the sudden sinking through the powder underneath.  There are some nice groves of Aspens on this side as well.

The tail is well marked at the major trail junctions.  Keep heading west.

A portion of the trail comes close to a steep slope where you have some terrific views of the valley below and the peaks opposite, if the clouds don't keep them shrouded.

I got a little off trail to take some pictures and was struggling to find my way back to the trail.  Instead of doubling back, I whipped out my map and compass to figure out if the trail was above or below me and I easily found my way back to the trail.  My CMC Boulder instructor would have been so proud!

There is another trail junction where you can choose to head straight West and downhill to Calypso Cascades, which is a series of short falls along Cony Creek just before it dumps into Ouzel Creek.

My progress was so slow in the deep powder that I was still about a mile from Finch Lake when I decided to call it a day and about-face shortly after noon.

About 1:45 PM, just after I had rounded the nose of the ridge on the way back, it began to snow on me, just a light dusting at first and slowly increased to a winter wonderland!

Winter Backpacking Clinic

Winter Backpacking Clinic

I had the opportunity to meet one of my personal heroes last night.  I attended a Winter Backpacking Clinic hosted by Andrew Skurka, at the Colorado Mountain Club headquarters in Golden.  Andrew has been described by National Geographic as "a superman among trekkers" and Outside magazine named him Adventurer of the Year in 2010.  He's become famous for his extraordinary long-distance through hikes, including the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails as well as a 4,700-mile Alaska-Yukon expedition.  He is also the author of National Geographic's The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide.

The clinic was excellent.  Especially for someone that is fairly new to winter backpacking.  I usually take my backpacking trips in the summer and reserve winter for skiing/snowboarding.   His presentation was extremely informative and very insightful.  Andrew walked through his methodical trip planning process in detail and explained all the gear systems that we would need to make winter time backpacking more comfortable and safe. He went over all of the various systems that he uses explaining when you would use each piece and when you should leave it at home.  He went over several gear options and explained the advantages and disadvantages of each.

I left the clinic with more confidence to do more human powered back-country recreation during the winter months and maybe not so much riding the lifts at the expensive resorts.  I also left with a personalized, autographed copy of Andrew's book.

Thanks Andrew, it was very nice meeting you.