The Conundrum2

I would have liked to title the post "The Conundrum: Solved" but I must admit it has not quite come to that.

I'm alive, which is good.

So here's the story: Our group of 8 was slow to get organized. Leaving Denver after 7, and arriving in Aspen after 1, with bags still to be negotiated and no avalanche beacons due to all the rental places being closed. We were up by 6 the next morning but a few missing gloves and further backpack renegotiations, as well as a mile-long "no-parking" spell kept us off the trail until after 10. After less than a mile on rented Touring skis with cheapo skins, there were further delays for the application of band-aids, walkie-talky fixing, etc. It was slow moving at first, as 5 of 8 hadn't ever ridden on cross-country skis before.



We stopped for lunch at 12:30, after traveling 2 out of 8.5 miles. Then we lost the trail, had to traverse some scetchy climbs and falls and an even sketchier self-made river crossing.



This expended a lot of time and energy, left 2 crew-members with wet shoes, and one crew-member completely submerged in the water, comically flopping around on his back, unable to upright himself due to weight of backpack.

We pushed on even harder, but by the time the sun had set, we had only travel 4.5 out of 8.5 miles, and had, for maybe the 5th time, completely lost the trail and dead-ended into a river.

Exhausted, wet, cold, and lost, we decided to set up camp for the night. It was almost certainly a good call, definitely the safest, as we hadn't even entered the truly dangerous avalanche terrain, and were all completely exhausted and had no sunlight to guide ourselves by.

We stomped down the snow, set up tents, gathered logs (difficult through 6 feet of snow) and made a fire on top of the snow. As time passed, whiskey bottles declined, the temp plunged into the single digits, and the fire sank further and further into the snow, forcing the digging of surrounding seats and leaving us with a very quaint fire-den.




We had another slow morning start, partly due to the fact that all our water and water filters had completely frozen. The trip home was far more enjoyable due to a lack of skins, a downward slope, and the promise of a hickory house only 6 miles from the trail-head. It was extremely scenic out there, and is highly recommended, although it's rumored to be quite crowded in the summer and quite impossible in the winter.



SO yeah, we didn't make it to the hotsprings, but we probably had even more fun drinking in the fire den. Yeah, it was a cold night, but warming and numbing have little effectual difference. Yeah, it might have been a little reckless attempting something like this with nearly every crew-member lacking XC sking or winter camping experience, little knowledge of the trail and area, and no beacons, but it was easily worth the risk, and I plan on attempting it again before leaving this wonderful state.