Mt. Elbert Spring Snow Ascent

“Permission to shop granted. Roam you are now my hero.

I've been wanting a reason to get go to www.kahtoola.com. Would that be sufficient?”

“those are high grade tools at kahtoola - they'd be great - just make sure whatever you get works with your boots. Unless you buy true mountaineering boots, you'll want strap on style crampons.

I have a set of Black Diamonds... I'll send you a link to what I have - got 'em at EMS around 85 bucks, i think.”

“I'll be using my mountaineering boots and crampons and have my snowshoes as well.”

“Thanks roam, preciate it. Sounds like the right plan ENS.”

“I'll carry/use my snowshoes but I might just bring YakTracks for the top. If you look at winter summit pictures all the snow blows off the top.”

“these are the crampons I am getting, hopefully for xmas. I called The Mountaineer in Keene Valley, NY today and they recommended them for my boots.



http://store.everestgear.com/gri074a02.html

these are the boots I have.
”

“nice boots!

Adv makes a good point - once we're above treeline they likely won't be but a smattering cover of snow - these mountains are really just big piles of rubble towards the summits, may be a bit overkill to have full 10 points.”

“What mountaineering boots are those? Koflachs?”

“BHM to DEN - $340
ATL to DEN - $274

I assume these $150's are into DEN?”

“DEN yes but I'm flying in from Chicago.”

“I figured Chicago and Philly for yalls air, just making sure I'm checking the correct arrival point.”

“Wait, now im gonna miss ENS, Pennsy, and Diane??? And maybe Dayhiker??? Thats not fair!”

“an den”

“emmy - your just gonna have to come visit us! Do they have direct flights from San Diego to Leadville?”

“There's an easy solution embear and you know what it is. Don't MAKE me be the only girl :-)

It's been too long. Hope all is well in your world.”

“Yeah, what she said.

ENS - what flights were $150? I haven't seen anything close to that?”

“Yeah, I'm seeing more like $250 RT.”

“I booked my plane ticket. Flying out Thursday night, the 19th and flying home Tuesday morning the 23rd. I got round trip out of Baltimore for $143. not bad at all.
last edited: 12/16/06 10:11:23 AM”

“What are your arrival and departure times. Trying to coordinate so that the pick up and drop off won't be a burden.”

“for some reason flights out of Baltimore to Denver are really cheap right now. That's such a deal. If it stays like that, I'll fly out to Denver more often.

Roam, did you find good deals into Baltimore for the Black Forest Trail Trip?”

“I'm arriving in Denver at 744pm on Thursday and departing at 840am Tuesday.”

“Cool, thanks. Going airfare shopping :-)”

“The cheapest I'm seeing from here is $346. If I drove to ENS's and flew from Baltimore, I'd have to take 4 vacation days, thurs, fri, mon and tues. Since I'm taking 3 weeks off in July, 4 days might be tough. Hmmmmmmmmm”

“maybe you can take a half day that thursday”

“Pennsy, did you look out of Phillie?”

“I get in a 7:40 Thurs and leave at 8:50 Tues. Pretty good coordinating eh?

Pennsy, where there's a will, there's a way. Hope you will find a way :-)”

“out of Philly the cheapest I saw was $240. I wonder why Baltimore is so cheap to Denver.”

“It's a little cheaper out of Philly, but it's kind of a pain. I much prefer Allentown because it's 15 minutes away and my brother can drop me off and pick me up. That way I don't have to drive to Philly and do the long term parking thing. The costs just about even up.

Anywho - 1/2 day thurs would probably work for me. What about flying out Mon night or would that be cutting it close? I guess I should be asking about the trip details, eh? ;o) Like, what happens when we get to Denver and stuff? Is Roamy gonna have a bus or would we be renting a car? Does he have a chalet or will be motellin? Don't ya love all these questions? I'll have more. I'd ask ENS when I hike with him tomorrow but we all know what a bonehead he is. ;o)”

“You should be fine flying out late Monday.”

“Bump -- Pennsy's looking for info.

I was assuming that we'd all just throw our sleeping bags on the floors of the DEN folks but last time I got off the plane in DEN they forced me right on to the trail for a night in RMNP. :-)”

“We'll be able to find a way to crash at my place, it might be a tad crowded, but what the heck, we'll manage.

I figure we can work a way to get transportation without having to rent - unless the number of flatlanders grows too much more.

There should be enough locals to get the packs and stuff to the trailhead.”

“Are yall coordinating car rentals so that folks share a car or is each person grabbing one themselves?”

“I'd like to think we could work it out without people having to rent - between, me, Bison and Adventurist and maybe EddieS there oughtta be a way.”

“Please don't strap me to the roof of your car again, PLEEEEASE!”

“weenie - you told me you LIKED the feel of the wind in your hair!”

“....and icicles in the nose hair.”

“btw, I'm asking questions just in case. I figure I have about a 10%-20% chance of pulling this trip off, but you never know until you try to plan it out. I need to get to planning on that rafting trip to help make the decision on this one. I'll also have to get in better shape than I am now. I probably weight 175-180# now. I'd probably need to get to the low 160's. The other issue is that I don't have winter boots. Here in the SE you can get by with trail runners year round. I do have some insulated boots I hiked in 4-5 years ago, so maybe it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be.”

“I'd like it to go on record as having no visible nose hair!”

“dayhiker, cool - just let us know if you can make it - I'd love to host you out here.

When I first moved out here from TN/NC/FL (pick one) my very first gear purchase was winter boots (I moved in November)!”

““weenie - you told me you LIKED the feel of the wind in your hair!”

It's been a long time since I felt wind in my hair. *sigh*


Roamy - that would be awesome if we had a place to crash and not having to rent a car. I reckon if the group gets larger, we could improvise.

Ok, I'm in! I'm still undecided on how to fly out there. I might take adavantage of the $150 Baltimore flight, drive to ENS's and ride with him to the airport. I'm also waiting to hear back from Sir Pete cuz he expressed interest in CO. I called him last night and he was eating dinner. He said he'd call me after dinner. That was last night, must be some dinner. ;o)”

“Yippee!”

““I'd like to think we could work it out without people having to rent - between, me, Bison and Adventurist and maybe EddieS there oughtta be a way.” (Roam)

Ahem.... :-)”

“Oh, and that Tim guy too.”

“I've got some interest. I'll let you know for sure by the end of the first week in January”

“Cool deal!”

“How was dinner?”

“TMac - lol

Looking forward to hiking with you and the hysterical EddieS again. This time I'm determined not going to fall for any of his toilet paper tricks.”

“Pennsy, get your ticket already..”

“This trip's on my radar. It would be way cool to go to CO after my first busy season as an accountant.

I've never been out in them real mtns before. Would this be a good trip for me?”

“I completely forgot to call you back....as if you didn't already know that!”