Katie Snowboarding at Vail

While we still have not found a ski house, Katie and I could no longer ignore the mountains.  A few weeks back we rented a condo for the weekend in Frisco and went for our first outing of the year to Vail; it was the only mountain that had decent snow.  The back bowls were not open, but it was a decent start to the season.  We followed up the next morning with a few runs at Keystone, which was easy seeing as there were only a few runs open…

View from Ski Santa Fe

Over Christmas we headed to Santa Fe with the misguided conception that it would be warm there.  It was not.  At all.  The temperatures had highs in the teens and twenties.  In any case, we went to Ski Santa Fe on Christmas Day.  It was really nice with a the short drive; the ski hill was about 30 minutes outside of town.  It was a reminder that we should ski Eldora sometimes instead of driving to Summit county.  As for the skiing, it was similar to Keystone; there were a very limited number of runs open.  We skied every single one of them.  And then skied them again, because what else was there to do but ski on Christmas Day!  It was nice exploring some new terrain, though I would really to try some of the more challenging upper runs if I go back.  I did take this very odd picture with my iPhone; I have no idea what happened to it.  If you know, send me an email!

Odd iPhone Picture - Ski Santa Fe

Finally over the last week I went up twice again, once on Tuesday to Breckenridge and then again to Keystone on Thursday.  Breckenridge was absolutely packed with 30-45 minute lift lines; it was not an entirely enjoyable day.  Keystone was much better, both in terms of lift lines and terrain from the previous visit.  The snow was fairly soft, the Outpost was completely empty in the morning, and my friends were moving fast.  It was the best day of skiing so far.  Hopefully the season will just get better, particularly so I can stop taking core shots on !

A Very Barren Keystone

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Bloodied Patagonia Boaris Limited Edition Shoes

A few weeks back Katie asked me if I would review a pair of Patagonia Boaris Limited Edition shoes when I went hunting in Wisconsin over Thanksgiving. And then she gave me a plastic bag containing the previously tested shoes…

I did take them home, and I wanted to hunt in them, I really did. But I also wanted to avoid losing my toes to frostbite; I could only use them sparingly. They fit my heel snuggly and had a surprising amount of traction; however I must question Patagonia’s color selection.

Read the full review on Backpacker here.

Patagonia will be getting some more love this weekend when I review fly-fishing waders this weekend – be sure to check back!

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Take Us Back Summit County!

Last winter Katie and I joined a Ski House in Dillon, CO.  It was great.  We had a bed every other weekend (along with any time during the week we wanted) and could take our dog with us.

This year, not so much.  The group from last year fell apart.  The group I tried to put together at work bailed as soon as I started asking for cash.  Then the guy renting his room on Craigslist reneged.

We have not given up yet.  If you need two more for your ski house, and a lazy bulldog, let us know!  We really do not want to do the drive constantly.  Alas.

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View at Hosking Farm

It has been almost half a year since Katie and I returned from our New Zealand honeymoon and in remembrance celebration I am posting the last piece of our four part adventure. After the painfully long flight into Auckland we met an old friend for a tour of the city. The next morning, still confounded from the flight over, we headed to Ahipara for a week of surfing.  Returning to Auckland, we took our time to casual tour the city and the harbour. While we certainly enjoyed exploring a new city and learning a new sport, our excitement for the trip was highest heading into Rotorua to try our hand at mountain biking.

Killer Black Swan

Katie had asked if we could stay on a farm while we were in New Zealand; uncertain with the low quality of websites advertising a farmstay I opted for the one with pictures of massive brown trout, the bed and breakfast at Hoskings Farm just outside of Ngongotaha.  I cannot say that all B&B’s near Rotorua are run by one of the uniquely pleasant and heppy ladies I have ever met, have a beautiful house surrounded by meticulously kept gardens, and fields of curious cattle and sheep; the 120 acres at Hoskings Farm certainly did. Oh, and I forgot to mention the really big trout.  Really big.

Our host, Trish Hoskings, was a vibrant lady who dotted over her gardens and her guests.  Always full of suggestions and eager to offer food from her garden, Trish made our stay truly delightful.  Trish introduced us to her massive country garden, and assortment of chickens, lambs, and cattle; her pride in the land was evident.  On our first tour of the grounds we met the amusing young cattle as they would follow us to the gates between fields, hoping to get a free trip to the fresh grasses.  We amassed some impressive views, though the pool of massive trout under the bridge was edged out by the epic sunsets.

Rotorua Mountain Biking

As difficult as it was, we left the farm and ventured into Rotorua to hire (that means rent in “American”) mountain bikes for three days.  At Bike Vegas ran into a shop guy from Eugene, OR and scored a pair of modified Haro Mary XC 29ers; the front derailleur was removed, leaving us with the middle ring.  The shop guy assured us we would not need any more gears for redwood forest where we would be riding; he proved correct.  We loaded the bikes and headed over to the Whakarewarewa Forest trails with a quick visit to the New Zealand of Walmart to buy some cheap shoes. And no, I have no idea how you pronounce Whakarewarewa…

The locals claimed the Whakarewarewa Forest has some of the best riding in New Zealand; having nothing to compare and with our epic experience, I cannot doubt the claim.  The forest contains more than 70 km of trails interconnected by fire roads (that means even more available riding distance beyond the 43.5 miles of trails).  The trails were primarily flowy single track through densely treed woods; better yet they were all one way so you never had to hold back in fear of a crash.   Maps were scattered through the area, the trails were well marked off the fire road, and a smattering of water stations were available.  The was not major amounts of climbing (at least compared to our Colorado trails), but if you wish to get in more riding with less fire road climbing you can take a shuttle.

View from Riding Down Split Enz

While we did ride during the week, we very rarely met into other riders on the trails.  Those we did meet, primarily Australians whom were quite pleased that nothing in the forest was going to kill them, all exposed the same excitement as was on our faces.  The trails were phenomenal and I hope to have a chance to return and properly chronicle all of them; our last ride took us down Split Enz, continuing on the Pondy trails, and finishing on Old Chevy.  The fire road climb was long and we passed a few groups of Australians before finally reaching the trailhead for Split Enz.  The trail is tightly built with fast flowy curves swooping through huge trees.  As difficult as it was to stop, it was well worth it to see the gorgeous views.  Upon being dumped out to the Pondy system we had some slower, gentler grades of curves with moments of downhill speed.  We came out on Old Chevy, an up and down trail with more fast curves.   All combined, these trails were the single favorite ride of my life.

Fly Fishing a Spring Creek Near Rotorua

On a ski trip in the Colorado mountains shortly before we left for New Zealand I fell ill and spent a day perusing the fly shops in Summit county.  At the time, the only travel fly rod I possessed was a Fenwick 5 piece 5-weight that my father had built in the 1970s; I needed a better rod.  I picked up a fast action Sage FLi in an 8’6″ 4 piece 5-weight with a Sage 1850 reel for $200 on clearance.  Like most fast action rods the FLi can really punch out a lot of line, however I was more interested in the backbone to handle large New Zealand browns.

The country is fiercely proud of their fisheries and go to great lengths to protect them by restricting what gear you can bring into the country – I took the rod, reel, hemostats, leaders, and tippet material figuring I could buy everything else in-country.  I picked up about two dozen flies, some floatant, and some split shot before heading into the water. From the top of the steep banks I spied a plethora of browns and rainbows, ranging in sizes from around 12 inches to the largest trout I have ever seen in my life.  Along with the impressive size, I have never encountered such a concentration of large fish – it felt like walking along a fish hatchery. The New Zealand trout however were a lot smarter than their counterparts raised in American hatcheries.  My first challenge was hot to approach the fish; with the high banks I could not easily drop in behind them and spooked quite a few trout in my attempts to do so.  Eventually I made my way in and started working upstream.  Notice I have mentioned nothing about waders; I had none.  The spring creek was cold.  Very.  Cold.  Of course after a few minutes my feet and legs had gone completely numb so it no longer mattered.

The first day I spotted a few feeding fish but was unable to get them to take.  The next day, after a brief consultation with the fly shop, I purchased some 7x tippet and headed back into the water.  With the smaller tippet I was able to coax a mid-sized rainbow into taking a midge on the surface.  Unfortunately I discovered another flaw in my system – I had no net and the steep banks offered nothing to work the fish onto shore.  After a solid fight, the rainbow broke off as I unsuccessfully attempted to land him. I continued the trend with a few other small fish, breaking them all off before I can land them. Then it happened; I hooked a massive brown easily approaching 30 inches. The fish pulled me up and down the stream for well near 10 minutes before beginning to slow. The first time I got her close enough to touch the fish took off for another minute of sheer running; the second time I started to get my hand under her when she sprinted again and broke the line. I will definitely need to return for a rematch.

New Zealand Café

So what about the town and food? On our way into town we stopped for a bite of lunch – we ended up at a quaint, garden covered café.  The food matched the gardens in quality – fantastic!  In Rotorua each day we would eat a late lunch and pick up some bread and brie (with Trish’s garden vegetables) for evening snacking.  Given my love for lamb chops, I was amazed that it was the end of the trip before I finally had a rack of lamb.  With the outdoor activities, food was an afterthought though everyone we spoke to in town raved about the culinary options.  The town itself was very attractive – it was definitely a touristy/outdoorsy town but with the friendly New Zealand atmosphere.  Hot springs were on the edge of town and afforded a pleasantly casual stroll.  The lake bordering Rotorua was gorgeous but apparently the black swans are killers…  We heard that there were tons of outdoorsy activities to do but limited by our time and endurance,  we stuck with mountain biking and fly fishing.

Unfortunately our trip had to end and after two weeks in country we began our journey home.  On our way back to Auckland we stopped in the minuscule town of Tirua; they have the quintessential tourist trap in form of a massive corrugated metal sheep. We initially pulled over for the i-SITE visitors center but wondered into the Big Sheep Wool Gallery. One of my goals for the trip had been to acquire a new fly fishing hat, while I had successfully found a suit and a cycling jersey it appeared no hat was to be had. But then I was saved by the metal sheep! I found a great and airy Selke hat, just what I was looking for; Katie acquired a warm lumberjacks hat.  With our heads covered, we boarded another Air New Zealand flight for home (and failed attempts by three different flight attendants to get my entertainment system to work).

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Katie on Santa Barbara Beach

This past weekend Katie and I met up with my parents in California for my cousin’s wedding.  I had not seen Ian in over a decade and never met his wife – I had no idea what to expect.  Katie however, long holding a dream of being a California girl, was not concerned; she adores any thought of beaches and oceans.  We rented a moderately sized townhouse four blocks from State Street and approximately a mile from the ocean.  Being two couples, the townhouse was a spectacular deal when compared to renting a pair of hotel rooms.  Further, having a full kitchen and living room is really comfortable as opposed to being cramped in a small room.  The weather forecast had predicted temperatures with highs in the 70s for our entire trip; this grew to be a running joke.

On Friday morning we drove to the wine country with the intention of cycling; unfortunately we arrived in Santa Ynez at 11 am when the temperature had already reached 98 degrees F.  We aborted the cycling plans for the day and enjoyed lunch before venturing out to a lavender farm and the Alma Rosa Winery.  The organic Pinot Noir wines were stellar, though my palette is far from sophisticated.  On our way back to Santa Barbara we stopped at a small roadside stand and purchased the juiciest strawberries ever!  Concluding our overheated day we ate Southwestern for dinner at Left at Albuquergue where we unintentionally ran into the rehearsal dinner for the wedding party.

Dana and Dan in Wine Country

Katie and Dan at Alma Rosa

The next morning we woke early and headed back to Santa Ynez for a second attempt to rent road bikes.  Pulling into Santa Barbara Wine County Cycling Tours at 9 am the temperature was 70 degrees F and we were roaring to go.  My father rented a carbon Specialized Roubaix Compact while Katie and I took aluminum Specialized Allez Sport Triples.  The store had a decent selection of pedals so we were all able to use our regular road biking shoes.  Unfortunately the store did not seem to have a good maintenance program for the bikes.  Both of the rear derailleurs on the Allez bikes were horribly out of alignment; while mine was easily fixed with the barrel adjuster I could not get Katie’s to stop jumping.  After watching her ride I could easily see that a link in the chain was not bending as it went through the derailleur – I can only imagine how miserable the later parts of the ride were for her.  Compared to my steel Lemond bike, the aluminum frames conveyed every little bump in the road.  My other complaint was the route recommendation.  We asked for a 30-35 mile loop suggestion; I turned us around at 20 miles with the turn for the loop obviously still miles off.  We returned to the shop at 11:45 am as the temperatures rapidly approached triple digits.

That afternoon the wedding was held in a beautiful setting at the outdoor atrium of the Fess Parker.  My family learned something important at the wedding when we saw people enjoying the 98 degree F ceremony in shorts – events that you would normally wear formal clothes can be drastically dressed down in California.  The wedding and reception were completely first class and it was wonderful to catch up with family infrequently seen.

Santa Barbara Sea Lions

Katie Kayaking in Santa Barbara

On Sunday morning Katie and I wanted to go surfing; unfortunately my complete inability to read surf forecasts led us to believe the surf would be awful.  How wrong I was.  We rented sit-on-top kayaks from Paddle Sports of Santa Barbara and paddled out of the harbor.  We initially headed out to a buoy that was known to carry a number of lazy sea lions; it did not disappoint.  The sea lions reminded us of Sherbert as they contorted their bodies to rest their heads.    Up the coast we ran into small waves that were ideal for surfers of our caliper.  We returned to port before driving back into the hills to a biker bar for lunch with the extended family.  Continuing the trend of heat, it was 101 degrees F with no air conditioning.  We all went back to the townhouse to crash in the air conditioning before closing out the trip with wonderful seafood at the FisHouse.  The next morning we flew home out of LAX and saw the ever growing fires billowing smoke into the sky.

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View from Auckland Harbor

After our five days of surfing adventures ended Katie and I returned to Auckland and checked The Quadrant Hotel.  Our room was not exactly a hotel, rather it was a great one bedroom condo complete with a washer/dryer (and awesome convenience during the middle of our trip).   Our only complaint was the Japanese karaoke bar downstairs – we should have asked for a room higher up in the hotel.

We spent a lot of time wandering the town on foot, eating when we got hungry (primarily seafood, fruit, bread, brie and wine) (ok, lots of wine) and shopping when we saw any interesting stores (the $1 USD to $2 NZD exchange rate really helped).  Katie picked up a dress and some accessories while I purchased an awesome pinstripe suit at Debut and a New Zealand cycling jersey from BikeCentral.  Katie and I also hired a pair of city cruiser bikes from BikeCentral to tour the shoreline bike path; apparently the road we took was a major Saturday morning group road ride route.  Seeing as it had been about a week since we had been on bikes the ride was extremely refreshing and a nice reminder for our legs with the coming mountain biking adventure.

Katie and Dan in the Harbor

We ventured out to the Auckland Aquarium via the public bus system.  Having no idea where we were headed we were pleased when one of the many random friendly locals gave us instructions on which buses to take (I have to credit the local population as everyone was extremely cheery, polite, and helpful; New Zealand really makes you feel welcome).  The aquarium was housed in a converted water treatment facility – a novel way to rejuvenate an unused structure!  While small and definitely designed towards families with young children, Katie and I enjoyed watching the penguins and other sea creatures flop and swim around.  We also took a ferry ride out on the harbor – the views were amazing.  Following the ferry, Katie and I stopped at an interesting bar – Macs Northern Steamship Brewbar – they hung lamps from the ceiling.

Northern Steamship Brews

When thoroughly exhausted and back at the hotel we discovered the joys of New Zealand television.  We actually did not watch that much but the NZ made music videos were memorably awesome.  And I really enjoyed watching rugby – a fantastic sport that seemed to be on 24-7.

Our three day stop in Auckland was a wondrously relaxing pause between our surfing and mountain biking/fly fishing adventures.

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Frying Pan River Brown Trout

My father has a number of clients in Colorado and flies out a few times a year; most trips he tags on the weekend to visit.  My company allows employees to do something awesome during the summer – take every other Friday off.  Subsequently this makes for a great long weekend.

We headed out, taking the scenic route through Leadville and over Independence Pass; my father was amazed at the number of road cyclists we came across.  The first night we camped out on in White River National Forest between the Lincoln Gulch and Portal campgrounds. While the site was not the easiest to get to (I would strongly recommend a vehicle with good ground clearance), it was scenic and quite.

After setting up camp we headed into Aspen to acquire a fishing license for my father and find some access points to the Roaring Fork River. After about 10 minutes in the Pomeroy Sports store we finally tore one of the employees away from a John Wayne movie on the TV. I was not very impressed with the service; the employees appeared more interested in pulling people in off the street in an attempt to sell them fishing gear. However we did succeed in buying a license and finding access points. The first place we fished, a bit north of the airport, was some fast moving water. With private jets roaring overhead every few minutes. Unsuccessful we headed upstream to a park on the edge of town; again the water was fat but I was able to land a small rainbow, about 10 inches, on a 16 Adams. While I have to imagine that the entire Roaring Fork was not rough, fast water complete with the slightly abhorrent attitudes of the locals, the areas we fished did not impress me.

View from the Roaring Fork River

On Saturday I headed north to Basalt and the Frying Pan River; my father fell ill and checked into a hotel to sleep for the day. My first stop was in town at the final few feet of the Frying Pan before it emptied into the Roaring Fork; I saw a lot of rising fish but had to settle for a single rainbow on a pheasant tail nymph. After a quick stop at the Taylor Creek Fly Shop, a full service fly shop with a great selection of gear and a fantastically knowledgeable staff, I headed upstream. About halfway up to the dam I stopped at some smooth water that contained a number of rising fish and got in the water. I caught 10 fish, ranging from 8 to 18 inches, that afternoon. None of the fish came easy; I must have used over two dozen flies trying to figure out what the trout were eating. Even though I caught fish, I think I still failed at matching the hatch. The flies I had success with were adams, brown caddis, Chernobyl ant, green drake, pale morning dun (PMD), and mysis shrimp.

Somewhat amusing during this time was the guide and client who decided to fish just upstream; the guide kept telling his client that she should not cast like I was and that they were not catching fish because I was standing in the best spot in the river. On the first charge, well, my casting technique is certainly sufficient for me. I could still drop a fly in a three foot diameter circle at over 20 yards with my Orvis Superfine 3-weight. As for the second charge, I do not know the river but I strongly suspect the big 10+ pound fish were mostly living just below the dam. In any case I was amused, though I pitied the woman for having such a poor quality guide.

Landing a Rainbow Trout on the Frying Pan River

On Sunday morning my father, recovered from a 24 hour flu, and I headed back to the Frying Pan. After unintentionally catching a pretty little brown, my father discovered the fish would take a green drake skating slowly upstream. Had he not come across this technique by accident, I am sure we would have never tried this. It was quite effective and we caught a number of fish before having to drive home via the disaster that was I-70 on Sunday afternoon. While not the most productive fishing we have ever done, I would and will happily return to explore more of the Frying Pan!

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Waiting Surfboards

Pretending to be recovered from our trip halfway across the world, Katie and I woke up after our first night in New Zealand ready to go surfing! We signed up for a five day surf trip with New Zealand Surf’N’Snow Tours based out of Ahipara. We met up in the morning at the Waitemata (Auckland) harbor with our guide and the rest of the group. The group consisted of a couple from Utah, also on their honeymoon, and a selection of girls from Minnesota, Canada, England, and Sweden. Our guide Rangi was quite pleased with the male/female ratio, perhaps more so as the two guys were both on honeymoons…

Drunken Canadian Girls

After quite a drive up into the Northland we arrived at the surf house. The house reminded us of an off-campus college house with ancient couches and a pool/ping pong table; the primary difference was that the sliding door opened directly to the beach. We lost out by two days on booking the room with a double bed; single beds in a private room would have to suffice. In any case a private room was better than sharing the bunks in the back with the drunken Canadians. Shortly after unloaded everyone headed down to the beach for some instruction and a surf. Katie was excited to wear her new neoprene booties and was a bit slow… The guides offered about thirty minutes of guidance in the sand and assured us that we would not end up “beached as bro”, whatever that happens to mean. And then off into the water!

Riding the Massive Whitewater

This was the only real bit of on land instruction that we received; perhaps as the waves remained tiny the entire week it was not deemed necessary to further work on the beach. That is not to say we were left on our own; the guides would offer bits of advice as we failed on more and more waves. The first afternoon I focused on standing up in the whitewater; Katie was a bit more advanced from her surfing experiences in New Jersey. On the second day I learned to get up before the wave broke; unfortunately it was not until the third day that I learned this did not mean the instant before the wave broke. It certainly was a lot more fun not just getting slammed down! Now that I could constantly get up, it was a lot more fun; of course staying up for more than a few seconds was a bit of a challenge.

Shipwreck Bay

Finally on the last morning surf the waves started to get bigger, up to a bit more than 1.5 meters. I rode a few and then got on a pretty good one. I was cruising down the wave when I suddenly heard the roar of the barrel directly behind me. Instead of leaning my weight forward to speed up like I was taught, I looked back just in time to see the wave smash me down on my board. With a few bruised ribs I paddled back to shore to close out my surfing adventure for the trip. Katie likewise had a rough last day with her board smashing down on her head a few times.

Of course there was more to do in the Northland than just surf. Or perhaps because no one was strong enough to surf all day that we did a variety of other activities. We went up to Shipwreck Bay (apparently there is great surfing though the water was perfectly flat when we visited) and did some sand boarding down the dunes. Falling off the board resulted in sand going everywhere (I think I was still finding sand when we got down to Rotorua) as you can see by my picture. We found some mussels in the tidal pools and had a huge mussel bake later that night.

Sunset from Ahipara Beach

The couple from Utah were big into Yoga and led a few classes on the beach that Katie really enjoyed. And being a honeymoon, Katie and I took a lot of walks down the beach at sunset. Supposedly there was a penguin by us on one of the walks; we are still uncertain if the guide was just messing with us. After our five days had expired, we headed back to Auckland for the next part of our adventure!

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