Eric's Adventures

Conundrum Hot Springs

2008-06-01T21:29:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend, we packed into Conundrum Hot Springs. We had heard reports of deep snow and impassible creek crossings, but we decided to see how far we could get. Turns out that while the snow was deep in places, it was certainly possible to make it into the springs.

At the trail head the aspen leaves were just coming out.

The conundrum creek valley was hit pretty hard by avalanches over the winter. We crossed numerous run out zones and saw lots of downed trees.

Not too often that you don't have to share the hot springs with anyone else.

Crested Butte

2007-12-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend several of us decided to take advantage of Crested Butte's free skiing deal. Our timing was good because over the 3 previous days something like 60" if fresh powder had fallen. It's going to be a good season...

Desert scenery in Arches National Park

2007-11-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

Every trip to Moab seems to include a stop into Arches National Park. With scenery like this it's almost impossible to stay away.

I believe this formation is called Courthouse Tower.

Here are the Three Gossips.

Kokopelli's Trail

2007-11-03T22:24:00.000-06:00

Cooler days in the mountains of Colorado signal that it's time to start heading west to the desert so some friends and I headed to Fruita to mountain bike the Kokopelli's Trail. I rode from the Loma trail head and called it a day after riding to Dewey Bridge. I would have liked to have ridden further, but I wasn't looking forward to the riding the impending up hill alone at night. Besides that, I was tired after riding for 9 hours.

There's some amazing riding along the trail and I'm looking forward to riding the last section into Moab sometime soon.

Pikes Peak Marathon

2007-08-19T20:18:00.000-06:00

Today marks the 5th time that I've run the Pikes Peak Marathon. Today's performance wasn't as fast as previous years, but it was still a fun race.

Race data from my Garmin Forerunner 305 is at motionbased.com.

Snake Dike

2007-08-11T21:53:00.000-06:00

Our main object for the weekend was to climb the classic line on Half Dome called Snake Dike (5.7R).

In this picture, LLewellyn and Olivia are just starting out up the first pitch. A couple of other climbers can be seen several pitches up on the route.

Here's what the route looks like from several pitches up. Don't bother bringing much gear, because as you can see in the picture, there's no place to use it.

Yosemite National Park

2007-08-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

I've always wanted to climb in Yosemite so I took advantage of a few extra days off of work and headed out to the valley for a long weekend of climbing.

Wild Flowers

2007-07-29T20:38:00.000-06:00

Over the last several weekends, the wild flowers in the high country have been gorgeous.

Mesa Verde

2007-06-30T20:49:00.000-06:00

Over the 4th of July holiday, some friends and I decided to spend some time in southwestern Colorado. Between climbing fourteeners, we stopped in at Mesa Verde National Park.

Willow Lake & Challenger Point

2007-05-28T19:16:00.000-06:00

After a quick stop at the sand dunes, we drove over to the Willow Lake trail head for a climb of Challenger Point. We were greeted by much more snow than we expected and the"easy" hike into base camp turned into a long post-holing day. We finally did make it into base camp and summited Challenger Point the next day.

After a weekend of climbing we were happy to soak up the sun for a few minutes before making hike out and the drive home.

The Prow on Kit Carson

2007-05-27T07:14:00.000-06:00

On our way to Crestone Peak, we hiked the little used Spanish Creek Trail and were rewarded with spectacular views of the Prow on Kit Carson.

Northwest Couloir of Crestone Peak

2007-05-26T19:05:00.000-06:00

Over the long memorial day weekend, Ali, Jonathan, and I drove down to the Sangre de Cristo range to climb some fourteeners. After being turned around by bad weather on Friday, we were able to climb the Northwest Couloir on Saturday.

Here's a picture of the couloir that I took on Monday from the summit of Challenger Point. The Nortwest Couloir is the band of snow that runs up the middle of the peak.

Timisoara Romania

2007-05-18T19:12:00.001-06:00

This last week I've been in Timisoara, Romania working with the contractors who we outsource some work to. This church was down the block from the hotel where we stayed.

Forced balloon landing

2007-05-12T16:29:00.000-06:00

My neighborhood had some excitement this morning when a hot air balloon made a forced landing at the end of my street.

Apparently there was more turbulence than the pilot was expecting so he was forced to put it down at the first spot he could.

Quandary Peak - 14,265'

2007-03-25T20:10:00.000-06:00

Today we skied Quandary Peak. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Quandary, but I did manage to snap this picture from the summit of the mountains to the south.

Porcupine Rim

2007-03-18T20:01:00.000-06:00

As part of our Utah weekend, we stopped in Moab and mountain biked the Porcupine Rim Trail. The trail gives spectacular views of Castleton Tower.

San Rafael Swell

2007-03-17T19:59:00.000-06:00

Some friends and I spent the weekend exploring desert Utah. This picture is from Little Wild Horse Canyon.

Thailand and Cambodia

2007-02-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've been fortunate enough to spend the last 3 weeks traveling in southeast Asia. Here's some pictures from the trip. If you're looking for a more complete slideshow of our trip, Llewellyn, my good friend and travelling companion, has posted a combination of our pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/kurtzl

Hike Inn

2006-12-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

For the holidays, I spent a couple of days in the north Georgia mountains with my parents. We enjoyed a relaxing time at the Len Foot Hike Inn close to the start of the Appalachian trail.

On the equinox as the sun rises, it shines directly though the Inn's solar calendar. Since we were visiting close to the solstice, we had to make do with this view of the sunrise.

Nordic Center

2006-12-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

With the latest storm my house has been transformed into a ski-in, ski-out chalet with many miles of trails right out of my back door. I took these pictures on my ski tour this morning.

Looks like the Nordic Center won't be open much longer.

Snow storm

2006-12-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple days, the Colorado Front Range has been hit with a wonderful snow storm. Here's some pictures from my house.

Black Lake

2006-12-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today, Jonathan, Phil and I hiked to Black Lake in RMNP. From Black Lake we got this great view of the Trough on Longs Peak. Looks like a great ski descent to me.

Flight along the Sangre de Cristo range

2006-11-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Today, Steven Turk took us on a great flight along the Sangre de Cristro range in Southern Colorado. Along the way I got this picture of the Crestones.

We landed at a small airport in La Veta to stretch our legs.

54th fourteener bagged!

2006-09-03T14:59:00.000-06:00

Over the last 36 hours we've logged 20 hours of hiking and over 10,000 vertical feet climbed. On Saturday we summited both Maroon Bells and then on Sunday moved on to Capitol Peak. My legs are tired, but it's been a great weekend.

Capitol was my 54th Colorado fourteener so now I've climbed all the 14ers except for Culebra which is on private property.

Capitol is one of the more challenging 14ers with the easiest route being the exposed Knife Edge Ridge to the summit. What a climb!

Pikes Peak Marathon

2006-08-20T15:22:00.000-06:00

Today was my 4th Pikes Peak marathon. I finished 29th overall with a time of 4:53 which as good enough for a 1st place age group award.