TR: Upvalley from Gothic, CO

[elinck]

I'm spending the winter as caretaker at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Gothic, Colorado, outside of Crested Butte. Which is to say, skiing a lot. Wednesday's storm dropped two feet of heavy snow on a fragile snowpack, and then dropped temperatures to the minus 20-degree range. Thursday meant getting out to fight cabin fever while avoiding areas of high avalanche risk and not freezing to death. I ended up skiing upvalley along (approximately) the 401 trail past Avery Peak, then bushwhacking inelegantly through tight spruces and over deadfall to discover a distant meadow where I had lunch and hot tea and then schussed back to the road. A fine day sliding (well, slogging) in the mountains.

[SkaredShtles]

You're a fortunate individual to have landed that gig. Great pics, too. Love that part of the world...

[Holzinger]

Wow, that last pic is sweet!


Enjoy your winter.

[dschane]

Damn, sweet gig. Thanks for the pics.

[MattB]

Hey, I know that place! Great photos!

[cesare]

One of my favorite places on earth. Lucky you!!!

[James]

This thread is full of win.

[lone telemarker]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!!!

[Valdez Telehead]

Sno-bology…cool gig. Good looking bowls under the distant peaks in the third pic.

[Skichef]

Great TR...Amazing Pix..Thanks!

[QuiverQueen]

Wow, great pics! I can feel the cold. Amazed you could get photos.

[Rock_Doc]

I'm spending the winter as caretaker at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Gothic, Colorado, outside of Crested Butte.

Saw a presentation at a meeting in Gunnison this past spring that discussed using long-term observations and data collected at RMBL in science classrooms - looked pretty interesting. From my recollection, these data have been collected by billy barr for nearly/over 30 years and might make a good resource for studying climate change in alpine environments. Here's a link: http://www.digitalrmbl.org/p141.php?pageID=152

p.s., looks like a fabulous place to spend the winter!

[wayne]

Beautiful, keep 'em coming!

[elinck]

Thanks all!

See you on Snodgrass, MattB!

[polemonium]

Cool! Do you have to ski in to the lab in winter? (I don't know the area/road)

Nice pictures, I would love to see more updates through the season.