Having both just finished up a crazy workweek stuffed full of travel, we were due for a getaway. Friday night after work we busted out of Denver en route to Crested Butte, a classic mountain town nestled in the Elk Range. To break up the trip we decided to camp half way at a free campsite between Buena Vista and Salida. Being it was colder than expected when we originally planned on camping, we determined it wasn’t really weather to grill out on the truck tailgate. So instead, we grabbed a

The Cliff Notes: Don’t make bartenders advice your only source of route planning, ski crampons are worth a hundred bucks, backcountry skiing can also mean hiking and bushwhacking...

After watching Michael run 100 mile last year (struck with amazement and intrigue) I said to myself, "self, you could run at least half of that distance." Probably not a normal reaction, but one that got me excited. The idea of signing up for something that I could possibly fail at seemed like a much bigger goal than anything I'd done before. So remove rationale and insert determination - I signed up for the Leadville 50 mile trail run.