ANNUAL SPRING TRIP AND SALT WATER FLY FISHING - COZUMEL FLATS, YUCATAN, MEXICO (MARCH 2015)

We took our second annual family trip to Cozumel a few weeks ago. Cozumel trips provide such excellent opportunities for the kids to be immersed in Mexican culture and the Spanish language. This year we rented a different condo with a wrap-around porch only steps from the ocean. Having immediate access to the beach from the porch was a whole different experience. So good, in fact, we've already booked the same condo for next year. Close proximity to the sand and water all week made us feel really connected to the ocean. I hooked up with a Cozumel local that I'd met the previous trip (an expat from Ventura, CA) who lent me a standup paddle board for the week. I didn't get much time to use it solo, but I at least took the kids out for a few early morning tours when the ocean was still relatively flat and glassy.

After a solid first day of playing with the kids on the beach, swimming in the pool and snorkeling, I met up with the salt water fly fishing guide, Enrique, before daybreak on Day 2. We got the usual pre-dawn start from the marina and went north and east over the shallow reef on the north side of the island with an orange equatorial sun rising to the east over the bow. We started in the northeastern corner of the salt flats and spotted several pockets of bonefish after the first hour. My accuracy with an #8 rod has improved since last season and I was landing some really great casts, but regardless, the bonefish just weren't hitting that morning. Even when you're doing everything right, sometimes bonefish aren't on the feed. Landing one is quite an experience though. They're infamous for the way they fight and will generally run 40-50 yards of line out of your reel when you strip set, sometimes twice if you're lucky.

Shallow water at mouth of the northern Cozumel flats.

Enrique, fly fishing guide.

 

We continued to walk the salt flats and Enrique and I talked about family and his experiences as a salt water fly guide, which was a really great way of jumping back into speaking Spanish. After a short break at the boat for a mid-morning cerveza, we hopped back into the boat to check out a different section of the flats further to the southwest. I fished off the bow of the boat while we were in transit and landed a small barracuda on my second cast. We jumped out near an enclosed section of flats and Enrique immediately spotted several bonefish that were "flashing", which indicated that they were on the feed. I had one take the fly on my first cast, but set the line a bit late and lost him. After waiting a few minutes and with the wind to my back (perfect for casting), we spotted another pair of bones and I landed the biggest bonefish I've caught to date. It took 10 minutes to bring him to hand and he ran the line out twice!

 

Several bonefish later, I was pretty content, so we shifted our focus onto fishing for Snook (a.k.a "Robalo" in Spanish) and possibly something to throw on the grill with butter, garlic and seasonings later that night for dinner. Unfortunately, though we could spot the Snook along the edges of the mangrove, nothing was biting despite some serious effort.

Large bonefish

Later toward the end of the week, after chasing the kids around the condo for several consecutive days, I decided it was time for a visit to the east side. The best thing about the east side is that it's almost entirely protected for sea turtle breading, so there's endless natural beach settings with few permanent structures along the 20+ mile coastline. We went to the same spot we visited last year, but the tide was high and there were heavy waves breaking over the rocks and spilling into the long tidal pool that the kids had played in the previous year. With a looming rain storm just offshore, we decided to move further north up the coast, where we found a secluded stretch of beach all to ourselves all afternoon. It's a special thing to see an empty coastline like this, given the overdeveloped and tourist-laden Riviera Maya only 60 kilometers to the west of the island.

Luca and I after crossing over a natural bridge.

We ate well all week, too, in addition to a steady supply of my powerful margaritas made with fresh lime juice. Though we shopped locally and cooked most of our meals, we had two meals prepared by the two sisters (Conchita and Reina) of the primary housekeeper (Veronica). They made lobster tail with seasoned filet of snook one night and lime soup, tostadas and marinated pork the other night. I certainly came home a few pounds heavier.

The kids made good use of the coconut palms that grow on the beach in front of the condo, which the condo staff opened using a machete. Though I'd had coconut milk plenty of times in my life, this was the definitely freshest. Unbelievably rich flavor with sweet and tender coconut meat.

Looking forward to next year already.

MARK LEWIS'S BACHELOR PARTY (aka GUY'S SKI WEEKEND) - KEYSTONE/A-BASIN (MARCH 2015)

My good buddy, Mark Lewis, celebrated his bachelor party over the weekend up in Keystone. Really, it was a great excuse for a guy's weekend of skiing. Mark's family has an amazing place in Keystone Country Club, equipped with a pool table and outdoor jacuzzi. Perfect pad for the event.

The "first" round of Kings.

On Friday, we had originally intended to ski Vail, but given the unseasonably warm temps and random isolated snowstorm that hit Arapahoe Basin the night before (6" on the mountain, wind-loaded up to 10" in several places), it was a no-brainer to head to A-Basin. The skiing was unexpectedly great. Go figure. Fresh, untracked lines all morning and soft snow on the steeps on Pallavicini (aka. Pally).

On Saturday, we had a beach spot already reserved, so we headed back up the road to A-Basin (~15 min from the Keystone house). Storms in March can be tricky. The day-old snow was a bit skied out, but still soft and silky, even without the addition of late morning March sun that we usually need to soften the snow. My buddy, Dan, from the Bay area and Mark's brother, Brad, and myself, eventually split off from the group for a little hike-to terrain on the East Wall. There was boot deep powder that had wind loaded from the previous day's storm, which skied really well. Unfortunately, Brad took an aggressive line on the north side of the couloir along the spine and made friends with some shallow rocks... twice... double ejected and took a nice header. Luckily nothing broken (skis or body).

Boot deep on Willie's Wide (East Wall).

Dan Portman (left) and Brad Lewis (right) at the top of Willie's Wide.

View from the top of Willie's Wide.

The rest of the Saturday afternoon was spent skiing 4-5 run sessions, punctuated by breaks for keg beers, Baja fog (Corona with a shot of tequila on the top), food from the grill and Frisbee in front of the Pally chair.

On Sunday morning, our reserved day of cat skiing at Keystone was cancelled by the mountain staff do to "unsafe conditions". We went right back to the Basin for day 3. I took two runs and called it day, went back to the truck with a tall boy of PBR and kicked it with the dogs for the rest of the late morning. I was eventually joined by more of the guys around 11am, then nearly everyone by 2pm. Peter put on some 1980s Dynastar racing skiis (about 70 under foot) and demonstrated the proper way to ski the bumps course on lower Pally to cheers from the parking lot.

Killer weekend. Thanks, Mark.

Beaching it at A-Basin. Heath Thompson on the grill.

 

Yep, count 'em... two kegs.

Wilder and I in an enthusiastic discussion about skiing the backcountry in Rocky Mountain National Park.

WINTER FUN WITH VISITING FAMILY - BRECKENRIDGE, CO (MARCH 2015)

We had a great visit from my wife's cousin, Guy, and his girlfriend, Bailey, during the first week of March. Awesome couple and great with our kids. The mountains had just finished a 10-day storm cycle and were loaded with new snow. Given that they weren't used to Colorado winters, the timing of their visit couldn't have been better, as we were just starting a 5-day window of blue sky days and unseasonably warm temps.

We initially toured a bit around Boulder, hiked in the snow at Chautauqua Park, climbed at The Spot for a few hours, then headed home to meet the babysitter and a quick trip into downtown Denver for cocktails followed by dinner reservations at Cholon.

We spent the last half of the weekend and the following Monday skiing at Breckenridge. Bailey spent the first day making excellent progress on skis. Guy and I spent the second day shredding Peak 8 and the hike-to terrain above Imperial Chair. I had a bone to pick with the terrain under Chair 6, as I had a ski accident their last year that ended my season early (me and the mountain are all good now).

  

The line we skied from the cornice above Lake Chutes (Zoot Chute).

 

SNOWPACK UPDATE FOR NORTHEASTERN COLORADO (MARCH 2015)

Despite some early spring conditions in our state, the snowpack is looking above normal for this time of year, especially for Colorado's Front Range where I live. We're currently at 110% of normal, which is awesome. If you compare the first map (snow water equivalent) to the second map (water year, Oct 1 to date), you'll notice that while the Pacific Northwest has received their normal amount of precipitation this winter, nearly all of it fell as rain in the mountains due to very warm storm fronts all winter. Bummer for them.

Unfortunately, the snow forecast for Colorado has erased most hopes for a plethora of March powder days. Plus, the recent lack of storms and unseasonably warm temps have begun an early season corn cycle in the mountains west of Denver. While fun to ski, I get psyched for corn only once our official "winter" is over and March does not constitute an end to winter in Colorado.

I guess things could be worse. You could live in California...

MID-WINTER FLY FISHING ON THE SOUTH PLATTE - DECKERS, CO (FEB 2015)

I co-worker that formerly lived here in Colorado, visited the previous weekend and invited me out for a day of mid-winter fly fishing. It took a little convincing, as I usually put away the fly fishing gear sometime in early October and focus my efforts on skiing all winter. However, with reassurance and promises that I "would be really surprised" with how productive the fishing would be, I committed for a full day and 2 hour drive south to fish the South Platte near Deckers.

The drive was pleasant and on a state road I'd never driven before, which is always a plus. Most of the drive was forested with Ponderosa Pine in canyon terrain. When we arrived on the South Platte, the sun was shining and the temperature hovering just below freezing. Perfect. We fished the first hole for 30 minutes without much luck, but I quickly learned what subtleties accompany fishing in the winter... iced up guides and frozen reels.

We quickly moved onto to my buddy's "honey pot", but still didn't have any luck and also had to compete for space on the water with a handful of other fisherman. We then got back in the car and drove a few miles back down river to a great looking hole about 1 mile up from Deckers. I immediately starting hooking up with healthy rainbows in the 13-16" range, all on subsurface midges. Over the next 2 hours, I landed about 6 fish and was blown away with that kind of action in mid-winter.

Needless to say, my buddy returned home and my fly fishing gear went back into storage for the remainder of what I hope will be a killer spring skiing season. Bring on the snow.

CHARGING AT STEAMBOAT (FEB 2015)

My buddy, Dan Cichy, organizes an annual ski trip with friends from all over the US. This year, the group headed to Steamboat and it couldn't have landed on a better weekend. The group arrived Saturday when the resort reported 11", followed by another 8" on Sunday and it was still coming down Sunday night.

On Monday morning, my alarm went off at 3:15am. My mind groggy, but stoked for powder turns. Given that I just returned from a week-long trip to the San Juans, I was poised for a single-day, roundtrip, commando run from Boulder. Coffee brewed, music playlist in the queue, I hit the road and travelled up I-70 through light snow. The sun came up somewhere near Kremmling. As I drove up and over Rabbit Ears Pass and descended into Steamboat, clouds hung low in the valley, a site we rarely see in the Colorado Front Range.

 

 

The skiing was good and the group's stoke excellent. Though the runs were mostly skied out from the weekend travelers, the trees just kept on giving all day. Knee deep in places. With those conditions, wasn't a difficult decision to go full throttle through the Shadows aspens or anywhere else for that matter. This trip, I was amazed at the amount of deadfall in the trees that the resort seemingly doesn't mitigate in the summer, which gave me several mini heart attacks as I hit pillowed features, only to be surprised with 10 and 15 foot unexpected drops on the other end. The deep conditions made it all good though.



Gourgeous rime ice on mature alpine spruce.

 

With tired legs, we hit apres-ski at the front side bar, then took the party back to the condo for the usual scotch and cigars. Nice work, gentlemen.



FINALLY A POWDER DAY - ASPEN HIGHLANDS (FEB 2015)

Following an amazing week of near-spring conditions and corn snow in the southern San Juan mountains, Rick, Walter and I headed east to Aspen for a shot at a much-needed powder day. Luckily, the mountain delivered with 6 inches of fresh that fell all day. With tired legs from a solid week of skiing, we hammered out our 6th and final day of the trip. We found fresh lines all morning and soft snow the rest of the afternoon.

My only complaint that afternoon was the tear drop-shaped moguls on this mountain. I can only surmise that the elongated shape of their moguls comes from the speed at which the local skiers hit these things. I saw individual moguls that were 15 feet long, top to bottom. That's just ridiculous. Despite my best efforts, I could never seem to find the right fall line.

View looking south at Pyramid Peak (14,026 ft), part of the Maroon Bells massif.