Day 36 - Snowmass

Today’s hike:  Up Snowmass Mountain - Fanny Hill to Dawdler to Lunchline to Max Park to Trestle to Adams Avenue

Length:  5.5 miles

Elevation gain:  2,000’ (starting at 8,400’)

Thoughts:  Skiing these runs is a lot more fun, but if I can do 3 miles and 2,000’ uphill at this altitude, I’m ready.

With kitty’s needs fully attended to and NZ just a week away, I decided to take a day off from skiing to get my final training hike in.  Today was my chance to get the middle-distance hike focusing on elevation gain under my belt, and see what all this training over the past few weeks has done for me.  So where do you go when you are in ski country and looking for a good uphill hike?  Up the ski trails!  So I strapped a set of Yaktrax over my hiking boots and started climbing, taking care to stick to the groomed runs.  

Seeing a ski hill from this perspective is really interesting.  You quickly realize how steep some of the terrain really is - even the green/easiest runs.  It’s also interesting to observe how the skiers react to you.  Some were oblivious to me and cruised right by, leaving me in their ski wash.  Others stopped to ask about the hike, route me on, tell me they thought I was crazy, etc.  It was very entertaining.

Hiking on a ski area also gives you a fantastic perk - the chance for a hot lunch.  After I’d huffed and puffed my way up to 10,400’, I started back downhill to the closest on-mountain restaurant.  Here was my view from today’s lunch.  Not bad, huh?  :)

With my breath back and a full tummy, I headed back downhill to the car.  Along the way I ran into a few skiers I’d talked to earlier in the day and they stopped again to cheer me on.  Pretty cool.  

So that’s it for the training hikes.  Next stop - NZ!