photos/23/
By Alan Silverstein, ajs@frii.com (page updated Sun Mar 9 14:33:54 MDT 2025)
Parent directory/folder =photos/23/
After skiing less than a mile up Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mtn NP, in Jan 2022 from the winter closure at Many Parks Curve, I wanted to return and go all the way (4+ mi) to Rainbow Curve. This time alone, now with a Zoleo satcomm device. It was fun, but remarkably tough and slow! Partly because my metal-edged waxless three-pin skinny "track" skis were not ideal for this kind of outing, even though it was "just" up and down a consistent slope (road grade) with existing tracks.
I waited a long time for "the stars to align" on a free weekday with a good weather forecast including low wind. Drove up 1.5 hours home to trailhead with light traffic and nearly dry roads, but construction delays through Estes Park and a long line to enter RMNP! Then spent nearly 7 hours roundtrip (8.6 mi) ascending just over 1000' to about 10750' -- 3:16 up when I hoped for just 2 hours, and 2:52 back despite being able to glide most of it, but tired and had to rest often.
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