Monday, April 29, 2013

Trip report: speed record and fastest known ascent of Point Six from my kitchen table.

On Saturday morning I set a new speed record for the ascent of Point Six using the route that starts from my kitchen table. Most people climb Point Six faster than me, but no one has ever done it faster starting from my kitchen.

Here are the splits:

Put down the coffee cup, make a Nutella sandwich, and get in the truck: 0:03
Get stuck at that damn light at Mount and Stephens, ponder how traffic circles would solve most traffic problems: 0:05
Exit freeway at Reserve Street: 0:09
Park at gate at Snowbowl: 0:24
Put on skis after walk through the mud and slush up the Bowl Runout: 0:44
Top of LaVelle: 2:21
Top of Point Six, stopping along the way to take three pictures: 2:46

This is the victory photo from the summit after setting the record:

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There you go people – the gauntlet has been thrown down. Don’t hurt yourself trying to beat me.

Then we went for ice cream:

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Meta-weather.

Whither April: When we got to Intercontinental Airport in Houston just before 6 am on April 8 the outside temperature was 66 degrees. When we landed in Bozeman five hours later it was 24 and snowing sideways. The past two weekends have seen some impressive snowfalls and plenty of cool (multipe records have been set in Missoula, including a Monday morning low of 15 this morning and a 16-degree reading last week) and cloudy weather. Spring seemed to emerge early this year, and I’ve been thinking for a while somewhere we skipped a month – I had supposed that we missed January somehow, but now it seems we missed April, too, and have substituted it with a month of meta-weather: the cold of March and the storminess of May.

Day 71:

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Who’s the overestimater now?: Including Sunday’s wonderful squall, I’ve counted 42.6 inches of snow at my house this season. My snow measuring equipment includes a snowstake planted in the back yard and eyeballing what has accumulated on the grill. Because of my, ah, enthusiasm for snow, I have been accused by “some people” of overestimating the snowfall. Now, however, we have solid proof that I may in fact have been underestimating: NWS Missoula is reporting almost 5 inches more than me!. NWS is at the airport, and while our elevations are practically the same, we are close to the mouth of Pattee and the foot of Sentinel so I would expect that orographics would boost our totals.

Day 73:

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Green-up: There are buds on a lot of trees, but we are still several days away from real greenery. Last year I reported green-up at April 25; I neglected to write it down in 2011 but estimate it happened around May 9.

Max Baucus: you jerk.

Day 74:

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Colorado avi deaths: This picture tells a sobering story.

YIKES!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Battle cry of the vacationing baby.

We took the baby to Texas for Spring Break. It was a week of a lot of firsts: first pupusa, first Pakistani food, first time to harass chickens, first time to see an alligator, first time to cry so long and so loud that people on the plane started to turn around to see what the commotion was.

It was also a week of nothingness, as in no biking, no skiing, no hiking. Weird but relaxing, too.

Poor chickens.

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Grey sands of Galvesteon.

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Buttery naan!

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Cars Come From Easter Eggs!  photo DSC06563.jpg

Taco Cabana!

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My old Easter outfit.

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Otis family chair.

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We saved roughly $1,000 -- no kidding -- by flying out of BZN. So why not make a warm-up vacation out of it: take the kid on his first Easter Egg hunt and get a run in in the Northern Bridgers.

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Twuk!

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