A weekend outdoors in the woods and on the snow.

It started with a scheduled search and rescue alpine training day set for Sunday at St. Mary's Glacier. Saturday was going to be a easy day at home. That changed Friday night when a non-emergency search was called for the driver of an abandoned SUV up Phantom Canyon Rd. for Saturday.

Saturday morning after meeting at the Sheriff's Office, we went up Phantom Canyon Rd. (back way to Cripple Creek/Victor) to the red bridge, about 12-13 miles. We spent 4 hours "purposefully wondering" the a draw to the north looking for the owner of the SUV that had first been spotted a couple of weeks before. There was not much info available, so we were clearing areas around where the vehicle had been parked.

We worked up the draw about 2.5 miles, then headed back to the trailhead. We may be back here again in the future, this is pretty rough country.

Saturday we left the house at 8am and returned at 6:30pm.

Sunday started with a wake-up call from the alarm clock at 3:45am. The drive to St. Mary's glacier is 133 miles and about 3 hours.

We met up with Kevin and Craig at 5am on Hwy 9 to carpool (truckpool) for the trip. Other then a stop in Silverthorne for a breakfast burrito (something I will regret) we arrived at the trailhead about 9am.

Gear/ropes were split up among the group and after gearing up in harness', crampons, ice axes, beacons, etc. we were on to the glacier. It looked like there were two other groups of about a dozen folks each, were also on their way up for a day of alpine hiking and self-arrest training.

We were going to practice moving roped up, setting snow anchors and rappelling.

The start though was a roped hike in teams of two, to the head of the glacier.

Marlys is amazing, I started calling her the mountain ant as she trudged up the glacier carrying a pack of 30+ pounds, which is over a third of her weight. Plus because of her gait length, she takes many more steps then the rest of us vs. the rest of us, with packs that may weigh more, but are less then 20% of our weight.

Amazing.

We must have looked pretty hardcore during the ascent as a couple of guys coming down asked if we were training for Denali. Does the ego good, especially in our 6 decade in to this life (very pc).

We had lunch at the glacier head, where the breakfast burrito started a dance in my gut. We were above tree line so finding a high enough snow drift was the only privacy possible. I would end up making 3 field trips and one to the porta-potty by the end of the day. I still feel less then well this morning.

We did some climbs up the sidewalls of the glacier placing snow pickets, building a equalizing anchor and rappeling back down to the glacier surface. About 3pm we started to collect and repack gear arriving back at the parking lot just before 4pm.

One equipment plug. I have been looking to replace my current Gore-Tex hard-shell with a newer, more technical cut one. My current NF hard-shell has served me well for 12 years, but it was time. I also wanted to get a more breathable shell, because as most folks know, I sweat...a lot.

Last week looking through the clearance rack at REI, I spotted a hard-shell made from eVent fabric, which I had read was highly breathable. So much so that it doesn't require pit-zips for venting. At least that is what the propaganda and online tests said.

I gotta tell you after wearing this hard-shell as a windbreak, on the glacier yesterday in the high 30's, I am totally sold on its breathability. No clamminess, no sleeve moisture drips. Still need to test the waterproofing, but it looks like that is not going to be a issue. It is also lighter in weight compared to my 3 layer Gore-Tex.

Today I am looking for a pair of eVent pants to replace my Gore-Tex ones.

After a Starbucks/7-11 stop in Frisco, we got home about 7:30pm, beat and sunburned.

Today is a rest day (no daily hike), sorting gear and replenishing the mountain money (TP) in my pack.