May 26, 2007 |

Day 47

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The important thing is not to live but to live well. ~Socrates


Day 47 was a helluva day. Though I seem to recall saying the same thing about days 45, 44, 43, 42… not 46 though. That day was jacked.



Luke, Pete and I jumped on the bikes shortly after 6 this morning and rode in to the Mitchell Lake Trailhead west of Brainard. The Brainard Lake road was relatively clear with only a few major drifts to negotiate. There were quite a few people at the trailhead with a similar plan to our own but we seemed to be the only ones heading up toward Mitchell. After about 30 minutes made it to the Mitchell Lake trailheadh and hit the trail (which is currently not much of a trail, being that it is still covered with several feet of snow) and fairly quickly found ourselves at the base of Audubon on a glorious Spring day in the Rockies.

Skier carving down a snowy slope beside a rocky cliff under a clear blue sky

We started to “sneaker pack” up the main bowl and, after several minutes extolling the virtues of The Big Lebowski opted for the more secure and skier-preferred “boot pack” technique. Seems running shoes don’t a) kick steps very well and b) aren’t super stable in steep snowfields. Go figure. We selected a couple of nice couloirs to tackle and headed up the southern-most first as it was the most sun-exposed. After following Luke up his killer staircase (thanks for kicking steps all day, Luke!) for who knows how long, we made it to the top of the pitch, put on our gear and started the fun part of today’s adventure. The top was still in the shade, so pretty scrappy but conditions quickly opened up to hero conditions and great turns.

Three skiers standing on snowy mountain slope under a blue sky

We repeated the effort on the more northerly pitch and were treated to more of the same with a gorgeous “summit”. There were some fox or coyote tracks at the top and the marmot and pika were out in full-force. We dropped back down and headed back out to the bikes for a quick cruise back to the cars in a total of just over 6 hours round trip.


A beautiful day with more of the same planned for tomorrow.


In keeping with my promise to share the movies I have been watching, here is my list for last night:


  • Delicatessen: I have seen this one before and was a bit distracted last night preparing for today’s adventure so I’ll have to watch it in full later this weekend. This is a very dark film by the makers of Amelie.
  • Jesus Camp: Scary as hell. Makes The Exorcist look like The Apple Dumpling Gang.



Thanks to Luke for the shots. Check out the full gallery. Hope you are having an awesome weekend.


See you out there.


~stubert

Thoughtful strategy. Practical execution.

Clear thinking, honest perspectives, and experience shaped by years of doing the work. No shortcuts, no borrowed opinions, just lessons learned by showing up, solving problems, and following ideas all the way through.

Four hikers with backpacks walking along a rocky mountain ridge under a blue sky
May 8, 2026
We are each our own greatest inhibitor. People don’t want to do new things if they think they’re going to be bad at them or people are going to laugh at them. You have to be willing to subject yourself to failure, to be bad, to fall on your head and do it again, and try stuff that you’ve never done in order to be the best you can be. ~ Laird Hamilton Yesterday: Hit Range Balls/Hike – Casa del Critters, 1:15 Today: Run – GGCSP, ~2 hours Tomorrow: Ride – Somewhere singlespeedy, ~2 hours Yesterday, Rach and I took a nice stroll in the woods around our house. The songbirds were going crazy-nuts and surprisingly, we only saw one other person walking his dog. I love where we live – close proximity to fun trails and the ability to get away from it all in just a short walk from our house. During lunch yesterday, I went to the driving range to get a few cuts in before playing a round of golf with my dad next week. I don’t get to play very often so need to brush up on my skills (or lack thereof) whenever I can. I am looking forward to playing with my pops and hope to break 100. I shot a 102 the last time I played so I am within striking distance of the sub-triple-digit score. We’ll see how things go. I usually do okay for most of the round and then fall apart on a couple of holes pushing my score way up. Dad shoots in the low 80s usually (I think). I am not sure I will ever play enough to be that good but it is fun to get out on the course now and again. I also went to see Dr. Paul yesterday for my ankle problem (which seems to have been resolved) and my knee (which is still a bit swollen but has decreased in size markedly over the past several days). The knee stems from my unscheduled nose-dive back in May (see this post for details). The shot some pictures and believe that everything is a-ok so that was good news. I just need to select better places for splashdowns in the future. And today is Luke’s birthday. Age is one place where I will always beat him but visit his blog to congratulate him on trying to catch up. Until next time…
Runner silhouetted at sunset on a rocky trail, mid-stride between hills.
May 8, 2026
Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience. ~ Elbert Hubbard Yesterday: Run – Casa del Critters/Flume, 1 hour 15 minutes Today: Ride/Hike/Relax Tomorrow: Run/Hike – Pawnee/Buchanan Passes, 6 hours? Yesterday I ran around the house. Not literally, mind you, but in the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous evening – calm, cool. Perfect. The wildflowers are really starting to take off up here and I was treated with a bold display of color throughout my run. Tons of Columbine lined the trailside as I ran on old mining roads and singletrack trails. It is really fun to see how much differently I am able to handle familiar terrain. I used to have difficulties running this loop and would have to walk major sections. Last night, I ran the entire loop without trouble and was able to moderate my speed to maintain a steady cadence through the run. Good times. Contracting is staying steady. A bit of a drop-off this week given the holiday but I am still managing to put in a decent number of hours. I picked up another new project today and will need to get started immediately to ensure that it gets completed on time.  Tomorrow, we are going to head up Pawnee Pass and loop back around to Buchanan Pass in the northern Indian Peaks Wilderness. This should be a fun challenge as we’ll get up pretty high, have to navigate some snow (most likely) and will be out for quite awhile. I am looking forward to it for sure . Movie time: I forgot to mention Shopgirl, a Steve Martin vehicle, we watched the other night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but found this to be a charming film about loneliness. It was well acted and would recommend it for sure. The pacing is steady throughout and some might find it a little on the slow side but it was an engaging film that had a lot to say without being overly sappy.
Hands holding a tablet displaying a video player interface. The video is paused.
February 20, 2026
In case you hadn’t seen these (and also for my friends at Adventure Film ), here are a couple of must-see running movies from Joel Wolpert:  Geoff Roes: Slogging to the Top