A Little Ski Mountaineering Tour...

Rex came over from Dolores to go do a ski tour. We went up to the "Minnehaha" basin and climbed Bonita Pk...A cool thirteener. The snow was fairly hard on our descent....

Old mining structures...

Bonita Pk - 13,286' - Rex heading for the ridge.

Walking the ridge to the summit

Summit pic!

The descent gully is off in the distance, below the saddle...bad snow.

Christmas Day - 2011

Christmas day was sunny and warm. We headed out for some fresh air after we opened presents. Sledding was the plan. We found some good snow for sledding and saw a bit of wildlife along the way.

Eagles

Turkeys

Sledding

Elk!



Holidays - 2011

We headed to Durango for a couple nights to visit Kenedy. Piper, Kenedy, and I skied Durango Mtn on Friday while Wendy did some shopping in town. We had a great day skiing with sunny skies!

We had a nice dinner at Mutu's Italian and Kenedy opened presents back in her room.

Climbing Comp

We traveled to Grand Junction on Saturday for the first climbing competition of the season. The routes were rated by difficulty and a point system. The kids had to do some bouldering and top-rope routes. Piper was in a group with Jesse and Alexis. It was a fun day!

XMAS Tree

We only had a couple of hours to get out and find a tree on Sunday. I had been skiing in the morning and Piper had some stuff going on too. Wendy had drama practice in the afternoon, so she couldn't go. So, we started out from the house around 2:30ish. Not much time when it gets dark around 5pm these days. Hobie came too.

We decided to head up county road 10 towards Owl Creek Pass. I knew there was National Forest up that way, just wasn't sure how far. It turned out to be snowy and beautiful up there. We arrived at the National Forest sign after a bit.

We had to put on the snowshoes because of the foot of new snow on the ground. We hiked around for a bit, and found a great tree. Hobie was loving running around in the fresh snow!

MS Basketball - Last Regular Season Games in Ouray

Piper gets some direction from Coach during their game against Ouray.

Working the play, moving the ball around.

                                                           Lining it up for the free throw.

Thanksgiving - 2011

We decided to rent a cabin in Vega State Park for turkey day this year. It was beautiful and very quiet. We were the only people in the park! We stayed Weds and Thurs nights.

It was very relaxing, we played games, read, hung out. Piper and I did a little ski tour through the woods too!

Powder Turns

Got out early for a few turns before leaving for Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful blue-bird day out in the San Juans....didn't see a soul.

Fall in Ridgway

A couple pics of fall colors from the house.

MS Demons Take 2nd!

Headed to Ignacio last Saturday for the end-of-season San Juan Middle School Volleyball Tournament. The girls played great, easily advancing to the final against Dolores. They played about 7 hrs straight and were a bit tired in the final and fell to Dolores.