Eric & Jenny's Adventures

2009-12-04T20:03:00.001-07:00

Getting married was certainly a highlight of the summer, hence the blog title change. Both Jenny and Eric will (attempt to) keep the general public updated as to their latest adventures, trips, escapades, crimes, kitchen fiascos, mileage, elevation gain, etc.

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.

The Grand

2006-08-07T21:39:00.000-06:00

The Grand Teton has been on my list for a long time and over the weekend I finally got a chance to climb it. We climbed the Owens-Spalding route which is definitely a lot of fun.

After climbing in the cold shadows all morning, Ali and I were pretty happy to be sitting in the warm sun at the top.

The view from the summit is quite breathtaking.

Peachtree Road Race

2006-07-04T11:30:00.000-06:00

I made it back to Atlanta to visit family and run the Peachtree 10K Road Race. The extra oxygen closer to sea level was much appreciated and I ended up with a PR time of 37:48.

Little Bear

2006-06-18T14:53:00.000-06:00

This weekend I went with Joe and Jonathan to climb Little Bear peak. Joe had been wanting to drive the infamous Lake Como road while Jonathan and I needed to tick Little Bear off of our 14er list.

I opted to ride with Joe in the Jeep while Jonathan decided to run the road into Lake Como.

We were making good time until with got the Jeep stuck on a rock close to the lake. After a couple hours of winching and jacking we got the jeep off of the rock and drove the rest of the way to Lake Como.

The climb up Little Bear was nice and uneventful. We ran into a bit of verglass through the hour glass, but other than that the climbing was straightforward.

Horsetooth Mountain Run

2006-06-11T15:19:00.000-06:00

I ran the Horsetooth Mountain Run again this year. I finished in 1:05.26 which was slower than last year, but I felt decent during the run. I'm hoping that a few more weeks of training will bring the speed back in time for Pikes Peak in August.

Challenger, Kit Carson, and Crestone Needle

2006-06-04T15:03:00.000-06:00

Last year, Phil, Dan, Jonathan and I attempted to climb Challenger, Kit Carson, and Crestone Needle, but were turned back by high winds on Challenger. This weekend we decided it was time to head back down for another attempt.

Here's one of the amazing views of Crestone Peak with the Great Sand Dunes National Park in the background.

To access Crestone Neede we followed the Cottonwood Lake trail. Here's one of the views we encountered along the way. The Cottonwood Lake trail is a beautiful if some what arduous hike.

Longs Peak attempt

2006-04-29T15:21:00.000-06:00

Ali and I attempted to climb the cable route on Longs Peak this weekend, but were turned back back bad weather at the base of the route. I did manage to get this picture of the Diamond before the clouds moved in.

Silverton Mtn

2006-01-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

We'd been hearing about the incredible skiing at Silverton Mountain so we decided to check it out for ourselves. This is a picture of the one lift and base area. Too bad more resorts are like this.

We timed our trip to coincide with a big storm, and Mother Nature came through for us with about 20" of powder.

Red Mountain Pass

2006-01-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

Doug, Mel and I decided to explore the back country skiing in the San Juans and we weren't disappointed.

We were treated to fresh powder and another beautiful bluebird day.

Aconcagua

2006-01-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

In December, some friends and I went to Argentina to climb Aconcagua (22,841'). We all successfully summitted via the normal route.

At the entrance to the Aconcagua Park

2006-01-07T19:43:00.002-07:00

View from the summit

2006-01-07T19:43:00.001-07:00

The sunsets from high on the mountain were spectacular.

2006-01-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

A view from 18,000 ft

2006-01-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

The view from the top of South America

White Rim

2005-11-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

The 100 mile White Rim loop in Canyonlands is a classic mountain bike ride that I've been wanting to ride for some time. Well, this past weekend I finally got a chance. It's a great ride that I definitely recommend. I rode the loop with a ride time of about 8 hours and had some great support from Joe, Desere, and Randy in the jeep.

The white rim road.

Mt. Whitney

2005-09-06T13:29:00.000-06:00

Over Labor Day, I went to CA to climb Mt. Whitney with some friends.

Mt. Whitney

We climbed the mountaineer's route and then ran over to Mt. Muir to tick its summit. We also attempted to climb Mt. Russel, but turned back because of the exposure on the east ridge.

Pikes Peak Marathon '05

2005-08-21T19:13:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, I ran the Pikes Peak Marathon for the 3rd time. Jonathan, Dan, and Steve also ran the race. Jotham paced Dan down from the summit.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling good and ready to run. Once the race started, I ran a bit faster than planned on the paved section to get ahead of the pack before the W’s. This worked out well since once the pack hit the W’s I never had trouble passing and not may people passed me. The remainder of the ascent was fairly straight forward. I felt decent most of the way.

Starting at about the 2 miles to go sign, some slushy snow from the previous day’s storm covered the trail. The trail got progressively wetter as the summit neared, but the snow didn’t cause any real slow downs. Towards the top, my legs felt like they could cramp, but didn’t. The last couple miles, I felt like I wanted to go faster, but mentally wasn’t able to push any harder.

After reaching the summit it’s always a nice change to turn around and head down. After a mile or two a couple other runners caught up and we ran together for awhile down through the crowds of runners still heading toward the summit. At tree line one runner from the pack went on ahead and a couple of others had dropped off. I was trying to control a side stitch and couldn’t keep up anymore. I walked through the A-frame aid station drinking as much as possible which left me by myself for the remainder of the descent.

On the descent, I felt better than years past although I was fighting a side stitch most of the way down. I’d get into a rhythm for a half mile or two and then the pain would come back. My leg muscles were starting to complain too. Finally, just after the 2 miles to go mark, my calf muscle cramped and I had to stop and stretch. At that point 3 or 4 runners passed me as I hobbled towards the finish line. It’s always a welcoming site to see the spectators on Ruxton, but that section of road always seems long. Finally the last corner and the finish line came into view and the race was over.

I sat in the medical tent for a bit, and when I got up to leave, quickly realized I couldn’t stand up so I sat back down and had some more Gatorade to drink. After a few more minutes I was able to collect myself and wandered out to watch the other runners finish the race.

Things Done Right:
I decided to not carry any water with me and only depend on aid stations. This strategy worked well. I carried 7 gel packets and ate 5 of them. A season of training at altitude paid off again. After the A-Frame, I don’t remember anyone passing me until the 2 to go mile marker on the descent.

Things Done Wrong:
I decided to carry gloves in my pockets, but even though the weather was cool and cloudy at the top, I ended up not needing them. I gave them to Carol who was waiting for Dan at the top.

Looking at my heart rate splits, I may have started out too fast. This might have contributed to the leg cramping and side stitches I experienced towards the end of the race.

I may have not rested enough earlier in the year. Even after tapering, I didn’t quite have the mental edge to push hard through the tough parts of the race.

Race Goals:
My goal for this race was to beat my time of 5:12 from last year and if possible to break the 5 hour mark. I succeeded in running a PR for this race (5:07), but will have to wait until next time to break 5 hours.

Splits:

		Avg HR	HR
13:02	0:13:02	168	178
17:36	0:30:39	185	188
14:04	0:44:44	188	188
9:53	0:54:37	186	179
15:33	1:10:11	182	169
9:53	1:20:04	178	178
11:23	1:31:27	181	183
13:04	1:44:32	180	180
13:57	1:58:29	178	172
18:28	2:16:58	176	175
17:41	2:34:39	173	174
16:32	2:51:12	173	169
23:38	3:14:50	170	172
11:42	3:26:32	165	167
8:47	3:35:18	164	161
8:22	3:43:42	168	168
10:02	3:53:44	166	166
6:41	4:00:26	168	168
7:07	4:07:33	170	165
6:46	4:14:20	170	177
7:41	4:22:01	173	171
10:47	4:32:48	166	165
6:19	4:39:08	165	165
8:28	4:47:36	166	163
12:14	5:59:50	163	166
7:28	5:07:17	171	182

	5:07:17	174	192max

Strawberries

2005-06-12T19:18:00.000-06:00

The strawberries in my garden have been looking very healthy this year. The birds enjoyed the berries more than I did last year so this year I covered them with netting. Well today I picked the first berries of the season. Mmmmm...

Horsetooth Mtn Race.

2005-06-12T19:16:00.000-06:00

I ran the Horsetooth Mtn. Race this morning. It's a 7.3 mile trail race with 1800' of vertical gain. It's a fun, low key race with about 100 participants. My time was 1:04.23. I was hoping to break 1 hour, but that goal will have to wait until next year.
Things done right:
Pacing up the first hill seemed about right. Definitely hard, but with enough left to push on the rest of the course.

Things done wrong:
I approached this race as a training race and didn't taper as much as I could have. I'm not sure the lack of taper effected my time very much. I felt rested going into the race. It would have been nice to have run the course more recently to have a better feel for what was coming.

Nighthawk

2005-06-11T19:05:00.000-06:00

My new guest - a nighthawk who has taken up residence on my balcony railing. She (he?) has been roosting on the railing for a week now.

Liberty Ridge, Mt. Rainier

2005-05-25T18:02:00.000-06:00

After almost 13 hours of post holing through knee deep snow, LLewellyn and I made it to the summit of Liberty Cap, a sub summit of Mt. Rainier.

Liberty Ridge is the ridge in the center of the photo.

Old Town Ft. Collins Half Marathon

2005-05-08T17:53:00.000-06:00

This mother's day, several friends and I ran the Old Town Ft. Collins Half and Full Marathon. I ran the half. Here's my race report with format borrowed from the Incline club.

Race Name: Old town half
Race Location: Ft Collins, CO
Race Date: May 8, 2005
Race Distance: 13.1 miles
My Goal: beat last year's time with a 1:25
My Race Time: 1:24.23

General Summary:
The old town half marathon is run on a fast course that is down hill or flat for most of the way. There is only one moderate hill about 6 miles into the race. Towards the end it seems like there are several hills as the bike path undulates over a bridge and under some streets, but you'd probably not notice these hills unless you were running a marathon.

Things Done Right:
My training over the winter with track and tempo sessions over the past couple of months seems to have paid off. My race morning "breakfast" of a cliff bar and cytomax sat well and gave me plenty of energy during the race.

Things Done Wrong:
I started out faster than my goal pace of 6:30/mile. I probably should have slowed down through the middle aid stations to drink more since I only drank 3 mouthfuls of water during the race.

Any other stuff:
The weather was perfect with a temperature just under 60 degrees with cloud cover. We had a tail wind for most of the course except for a brief section of head wind on the dog leg section.

Mile	Split	Avg HR	Max HR
1	5:59	167	175
2	6:21	177	179
3	6:20	181	189
4	6:14	183	183
5	6:35	187	188
6	6:34	188	189
7	6:18	188	191
8	6:27	190	192
9	6:31	191	192
10	6:29	192	193
11	6:24	195	197
12	6:33	197	196
13	6:42	198	202
.1	:50	201	201

Long's Peak - North Face

2005-04-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

After talking about it for several seasons, the schedule finally worked out for several of us to make a snow ascent of the old cable route on Long's north face.

The cable route goes straight up the middle of this picture.

2005-04-17T13:21:00.000-06:00

We had hiked into the boulder field the day before so we were nicely positioned for the day's climbing. From the boulder field, we scrambled up to the start of the technical climbing.

While the climbing is easy, we opted to rope up since a slip here would give you a long ride with an unpleasant landing.

2005-04-17T13:20:00.000-06:00

After the technical part, Dan and Jason rappelled down the cable route and returned to our camp in the boulder field while Jonathan and I continued on to the top. Towards the top there were sections of drifted loose snow that didn't make for fun climbing. Finally, the angle of the route backed off and we topped out on the broad summit plateau.

Jonathan (on the right) and I were pretty happy to be on top.

2005-04-17T13:19:00.000-06:00

Our plan was to descent the less steep keyhole route in order to avoid the loose snow on the upper north face.

Here's where our descent off of the summit plateau down the home stretch started.

2005-04-17T13:18:00.000-06:00

After making our way down the home stretch we made our way through the narrows. In the summer, I never noticed the exposure through this section, but with the ice and snow we carefully made our way across.

The traverse across the narrows was rather enjoyable. The snow was good and the ledge is actually quite a bit wider than it appears in this picture.

2005-04-17T13:16:00.000-06:00

Since the trough was covered in good consolidated snow, the descent went quickly.

After the trough, we crossed over to the keyhole and were glad to be finished with the technical section. We descended to our camp at the boulder field, packed up, and hiked out towards the trail head. The hike down should have been uneventful, but at about tree line we lost the trail and earned a few bonus miles as we post holed around searching for the trail. Fortunetly, it wasn't long before we got back on the hard packed trail and soon were back to our cars.

Kane Creek, Utah

2005-03-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

4 wheel drive lets you go in places where you probably shouldn't be driving.

2005-03-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

"I'm pretty sure we don't need that part." If I keep driving through places like this I'll have to upgrade my truck.

Poison Spider Mesa - portal trail

2005-03-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

One of the draws of Moab mountain biking is the desert scenery. The portal trail certainly offers plenty, but my eyes were pretty much glued to the trail. The exposed sections of the trail aren't all that technical, when the trail drops off several hundred feet just to the side of the trail.

I didn't need a sign to tell me to be careful. After the exposed section the trail turns into a technical descent that's really fun. Put this trail on your list of must rides.

2005-03-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

It's a good idea to keep your eyes on the trail through here.

2005-03-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Once you make it to the overlook the exposure is over. Hang onto your brakes and enjoy the descent.

Overlook on the Portal trail.

Arches National Park

2005-03-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

A trip to Moab isn't complete without a stop at Arches National Park.

Court house towers

2005-03-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants a picture of the arch

2005-03-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I got a picture of Delicate Arch, too.

Snow camping

2005-01-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

Since I moved to Colorado several years ago, I’ve spent almost every winter weekend skiing at the well known resorts. However, at the end of last season I realized that I was missing out on the truly great part of the Colorado winter – the back country.

This last weekend Dan, Phil, and I decided to do some back country exploring. We had originally planned on a winter attempt of Kit Carson, but after monitoring the avalanche report we decided to stick to something a bit closer to home. Saturday morning we meet up at the Brainard Lake winter trail head with our packs loaded. The temperature was about 20 degrees with a brisk wind blowing. We were prepared and headed off in search of a camp site for the weekend.

A little way up the Mt. Audubon trail we found a sheltered camp site in some trees. Dan and Phil proceeded to setup the tent while I dug out a foundation for my BD MegaLite. The MegaLite is really just a light weight tarp so I was a bit concerned about the amount of shelter it would provided in the winter conditions. I definitely wanted to make sure that it would stay up the whole night. After a good bit of digging, I hit ground about four feet down and was able to get some stakes in the frozen earth. I was counting on the combination of snow walls ant solid stakes to provide shelter throughout the night.

After camp was setup, we headed over to Mitchell Lake to have a look around. The wind and snow constantly change the winter landscape so even with blowing snow in your face, it’s hard to turn back. There’s always a more spectacular view around the next corner.

The sun was quickly setting however, and with our stomachs growling we headed back to camp for the evening. Over dinner and hot drinks we discussed our plans for the next day. We decided that if the winds died down we’d see how far up Audubon we could get.

The next morning I was happy to wake up beneath a still solid shelter. However, the winds were still blowing and the weather didn’t look promising. Since we were so close, we headed up the trail anyway. About tree line, we were hit with blowing snow and intimidating clouds over the summit of Audubon. It wasn’t too hard to come to a consensus to limit our exploring to the relatively sheltered forest. We turned around, packed up camp, and made our way back to the cars.

Long's Peak

2004-12-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

I captured this picture of Long's Peak a couple weeks ago.

It sure is windy

2004-12-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

This morning, it's definitely windy here in Boulder. Probably the windiest I can remember at my house. Running into work this morning was certainly entertaining.

First off, I got blown off the sidewalk. Then, while I was waiting to cross the diagonal highway I just about got blown over. After crossing the highway, I cut through some of the trails by the reservoir. On 63rd street I started feeling the spray from the water off of the lake. My route takes me along the reservoir dam so I knew it would be interesting. On the turn from 63rd toward the reservoir, I was running pretty hard into the wind but wasn't really making any forward progress.

I finally got up onto the dam and was amazed to see the "storm surge" against the dam. There were 3-4 foot waves crashing against the dam with spray blowing in sheets across the trail. I took off across the dam and really had to concentrate to keep from getting blown off. By the time I got to the other side I was wet, but with the wind it wasn't too big a deal because it dried things out pretty quickly. Luckily after that section I turned and had a full on tail wind. Certainly good fun.

It was pretty impressive to hear the wind whistling through the power lines. I'm glad we have showers at work because there was quite a bit of sand imbedded in my hair by the time I got there.

Welcome

2004-12-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog.

On occasion, I plan to post accounts of what's been happening around here. Don't count on regular updates or anything too outrageous. Check back from time to time though. You never know what you'll find.