13 June, 2014

REALLY high Rockies!

Because life peaks only above, at a minimum, 10,000 feet.

 Trail Ridge Road near Fall River Pass, Rocky Mountain,
12,183 ft/3.713 m

 A snowy black-and-white spring day that felt like winter near the Never Summers.

 Lizard Head Pass, San Juans,
10,222 ft/3.116 m

 Lizard, the Head above the Pass...

 Ingram and Bridal Veil falls.

 Better view of Bridal Veil Fall and Powerhouse.

 Sneffels, Telluride side, site of a close bear encounter on the Highline trail...

 Sneffels, Dallas Divide side.

 Telluride ski area.

Crater Lake below Maroon Bells, Elks.

 Maroon Lake and Bells.

 Back of Snowmass. In front of a large Taoist yin yang symbol an inscription on a boulder reads: "Surely the spirit and the beauty of the mountains fill my heart. I open to the awe and the sense of discovery. I feel free and alive and at peace. And nearby I hear God saying: 'Hello, do you want to play?'"

  Independence townsite, Sawatch.
First settlement in the Roaring Fork Valley: they picked a cozy spot at 10,830 ft/3.300 m!

 Trailhead to Linkins Lake, Independence Valley.

Same area from Linkins Lake, eight months earlier ...

 Independence Pass,
12,095 ft/3.687 m.
Opened just days earlier.

 North Fork Lake Creek below Indie Pass, Lake County.

 Mt Elbert,
Colorado's highest 14er (14,440 feet/4.401 m),
planned to climb it but way too much snow above 11.5 made trip impassable.

 Park County - two tornadoes touched down nearby two days later - at 10,000 feet!!!

 North Fork of South Platte. Not to be confused with the South Fork of the North Platte ...

 Above what I propose to rename Scott Hauenstein Pass in honor of my currently NM/formerly IN friend, instead of Hoosier Pass, 11,542 ft/3.518 m.

Arapahoe Basin might, just might, stay open til the Fourth of July.
This dude's ready. i wasn't. (A-Basin had closed for the season but decided to reopen, without consulting me, weekends through June at least.)
The country's highest ski area with a base elevation of 10,780 ft/3.,286 m.
Yes, that's the base!
 
 Loveland pass, front range,
11,990 feet/3.655 m.
Backcountry skiers playing on the flip side.
(Envious!)

 North Fork of Snake River below Loveland from way up high.

 You, too, can climb at 14er.
14,265 ft/4.348 m does not present much of a challenge since a road reaches within feet of the summit.
A little later, perhaps. For now the road's only open to (frozen) Summit Lake about 1,500 feet below.

10-mile Range.

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