Truchas Bagged...Done....That's One Peak in the Bank...Next! NEXT!

Eric, Paul, and Dan successfully bagged Truchas Peak this past Sunday morning. The trip was great and the scenery was spectacular. We hit the trail Friday evening and hiked in four miles to Jacks Creek. We arrived at the first camp around 10:30PM.

The next day we hiked to Pecos Baldy Lake for a quick lunch and to fill up with water. We climbed up to a saddle and down Trail Rider ridge line toward Truchas. We had to move fast to get off the ridge as the thunder and lightening ushered us down the trail. We got rained on Saturday afternoon, but the rain did not last too long.

The wild flowers were also in full bloom and we saw many columbine, california corn lily, paint brush, and dozens of other species of alpine wild flowers. Eric really liked the columbine.

Sunday morning we were up early and climbed straight up the side to the knife edge on the north side of Truchas, then along the edge and into a couloir and right up to the peak.

On the way back we saw dozens of Big Horn Sheep (don't tell Paul they aren't mountain goats). We also saw a deer and many marmots during the trip.

Truchas Peak - Dark & Scary !

Ok, here's the Pre-Trip post. Dan, Eric & Paul will attempt a summit dash of New Mexico's 2nd highest peak. It'll be tough, because Eric has to WORK late, and we will do a reverse-Alpine Start........

What ?!? Oh, normally you start out on peak day really, really really early in the dark morning, but we will start out really really late on pre-peak night. Hike in as far as we can in the SCARY darkness, camp (in the scary darkness) then up early for the establishment of camp 2, and a dash to the summit (if the thunderstorms hold off).

So, that's the plan but we'll see what REALLY happens this weekend! Hasta!

Pablito

Skiing in Summer...anyone

Anyone interested in a ski mountaineering trip June 16-18th, or June 30th-July 2nd? Or biking?

AAS Laws

As per lizrdboy's last comment, I suggest we discuss bi-laws and such. With respect to how one becomes a member, I think a new member needs sponsorship from an existing member, and must participate in two AAS events, and then must be accepted by a majority of the members involved. With respect to what represents an AAS event, I think we should have at least two existing AAS members in the event, and the event should involve some sort of outdoor sporting event that includes the risk of serious injury or death. Climbing, skiing, and biking seem like a great list of specific acceptable sporting events. I am not sure we need an acceptable beer list...or maybe we need a beer blacklist. I vote that the beer black list include coors and bud or bud-like beers.

I also nominate Paul as AAS President, as he is the biggest AAS in the group ;-), however, I don't think any person in the AAS should hold more than one office.

Sundance Mt. X-Treme Ski !

Hey Team,
Just got back from a quick Ski-Mountaineering adventure in Rockey Mt. National Pk. CO.
The entire family was camping there, so Dad brought his equipment in hopes of a sneek-peak-bag and some spring snow! The back-country gods were with me, as I met one of the few back-country skiing rangers (Tyson) in the park within ONE minute of checking into our campground! When I asked one of his co-workers of he was the kind of guy that's stupid enough to wake up at 05:00 am to ski and she said yes, I knew I had a partner!

---

Here we are at 06:00 ready to shread! My wife Erika was glad I didn't end up doing it alone, and the fact that Tyson was an EMT and said he could "Postpone Death" was very comforting!














Here's an awsome set of cliffs we skied the side of. Our high-point is the red dot (Tyson fell into a small bergschrund here ;-) No worries...

There was some nice exposure climbing up the side of the cliffs. The jump off the lip and the steep ascent back up are the pic's below...

(I can't get the Pic's to line up with the words below here so...)

1) The ascent back up the side of the cliff

2) Me jumping the lip on the left, after launching from the side of the cliff... I was supposed to yell as I jumped so we could get me in the air, but I was kinda concentrating and forgot!


3) Tyson climbed and skiied well all morning then I got him about to bite it at full speed after jumping the lip at the left... I shot late and got the whipe instead of the pretty jump... I think he's now officially in the AAS !

All in all, it was a GREAT morning of skiing and climbing. There were MANY more places to ski and I think we all need to go back there next year for a little spring ski action !

Cooke's Peak - 20 May 06

Not a sanctioned AAS event, but a worthy adventure nevertheless. James "Weeds" Wedekind, myself and Matt (a shinny new Lt fresh out of AFIT) took 7 hours to make the 12 mile roundtrip to the summit of lonely Cooke's Peak (North of Deming). The hot weather and scant trails were the main obstacles. The summit was quite satisfying: small and airy with vertical cliffs dropping off on three sides. We were repeatedly buzzed by swallows practicing their dog fighting skills - impressive.