February 8, 2008 |

Helluva day

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Speed is your friend. ~ Common saying among gofasternators


Today, Luke and I headed up to the Basin (against my mother’s recommendations, I might add). See, she has a thing for staying indoors when the guys on the weather channel start spouting nonsense about high-wind advisories, winter storm watches and the like. I happen to believe proclamations of this ilk are calls to get off that couch and get out there. So, accordingly, I did.


Loveland Pass was closed so we had to go through Eisenhower and through Silverthorne to get up there, but man… it was SO worth it. Great snow conditions, coupled with no one on the mountain made for mass chaos.


Luke and I are planning to do the Enduro – A Basin’s yearly charity event in which teams of two compete to see which team can complete the most laps on Pali in a 10-hour period. Teams ski the North side of the mountain and are required to do each and every run in a specified order. No fair just selecting your favorite (and fastest) route to the bottom, you have to ski the bumps, steeps, chutes and everything in between. The record, 70 laps, is held by Jamie Olber and Ollie Holmes and was set at last year’s event. Do the math… that is an average of 7 runs per hour. The lift ride (in case you were thinking that might not be too tough), takes about 7 minutes, so for every 7-lap hour skied, you are sitting on the lift for 49 minutes. Um…. yeah. Sick.


Today, Luke and I were really just scoping out some of the runs with which we are a lot less familiar and trying to see how fast we could ski. We also paused to jump off a few rocks just for fun. It’s not all business out there on the slopes.


I ran out of steam after about 3 hours or so (still recovering from this wicked cold) so we went back to ‘Zuma to see about making some fresh turns but Elephant Trunk was shut down for some reason. The jury is still out on ‘Zuma Bowl for me but if it takes the pressure off the front side of the mountain (which it seems to be doing), then hey, I love it!


Post skiing we headed back to Boulder to mount up my new sticks. I bought myself a pair of K2 Hell Bents for my birthday because I have been such a good me to me this year. Tomorrow, we’re heading to Eldora for their maiden voyage. Frankly, after today, I can’t wait.


On the way back to Boulder, Luke’s truck ran out of gas. Fortunately, this event took place in the parking lot of the gas station so we were able to push him the rest of the way to the pump. This happened to me once in highschool, actually. I coasted down the hill, through the parking lot of a Kenny’s Shoe Store and across 4 lanes of traffic into the gas station. Pretty sweet. I think I even made it back to class on time but can’t remember for sure.


Ok… more news tomorrow. Planning to ski a little, go to a movie, and play the rest by ear.


~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