White on Green

This morning, Boulder was covered in six inches of the lightest, fluffiest powder that can possibly be emitted from a snow storm as cold as the one that blew through last night. Me being the type to be easily tempted to play in such conditions, I reveled at the possibility of hiking Green Mountain under potentially feet of fresh snow that had only been in contact with the Earth's surface for the last ten hours. Such fancy scheming was taking place on my couch at approximately ten this morning after lazily sleeping in from partying late last night. After sucking back a couple cups of coffee, eating a banana, and digging my running clothes out from my closet, I was ready to make this day an amazing one.

Literally less than twenty minutes later I came barreling up Baseline heading for Gregory Canyon Trailhead. The road was still covered in plowed snow and to my content, I had not seen more than three cars turning into the Chautauqua parking lot. As I cruised further, making a left into the Gregory Canyon parking area, I noticed the gates to the lot were closed. This was a wonderful sign as it meant this will likely weed out most of humanity that may, on a "good day", go for a hike on the trails I had in my sights on. I flipped a lou and parked on 6th Street just off of Baseline at the foot of the Flatirons. 

I grabbed my microspikes from my car and headed to the nearest trailhead.

There they are; the Flatirons marinating in the cool, soft stuff.

I made my way up the little connecting trail that parallels the Flatirons which eventually connects to the Amphitheater trailhead at the Gregory Canyon parking area. My destination today: the summit of Green Mountain. Rather than the usual route, which would be Gregory trail to Ranger trail, I'm taking Amphitheater to Saddle Rock to E.M. Greenman. This route is still fresh in my head as I hiked it on Wednesday morning in the dark, so I'm very anxious to enjoy the same trails in great contrast to the conditions I experienced earlier in the week. I reached Amphitheater in six minutes and began upward on the very steep climb up the trail.

The steepness of Amphitheater is not justified in this photo

Nor is it in this, but at least one can discern the rocky nature.

The snow on Amphitheater was deep. Very deep. I estimate there were portions of two to two and a half feet in spots. Most of the initial ascent was a purely cardiac effort of post-holing and stair-stepping up the large snow-capped boulders. I was not the first to hike this trail this morning. On most other trips, I would be fairly disgruntled by not having had the opportunity to christen the snow of bipedal traffic myself, but today I was particularly relieved to have some tracks to follow that had already packed some of the deep, obfuscating layer. This trail is nestled alongside a naturally formed amphitheater, thus its namesake. The fountain formation rocks project high overhead, providing a comforting sense of protection from above. Despite the impediments of the current conditions, I made fairly quick work of this trail, reaching the Saddle Rock junction in eight minutes.

The outter rocks of the Amphitheater. Truly amazing.

The steep terrain does not relent on Saddle Rock, though it has much less precarious footing than Amphitheater. This trail climbs out of the corridor of high rock outcroppings and into the dense lodgepole forrest that constitutes the vast landscape of Green Mountain and pretty much the entire Front Range. The trail itself switchbacks up the Northeast side of Green providing few not-so-angular pitches. The snow was still very deep with only one set of tracks from someone who was about fifty yards ahead of me. I had no intentions of passing this guy just yet as I was comfortable moving at a fairly quick speed, but not killing myself. Twenty minutes into the hike, my Achilles was holding up nicely, with only some slight tightness in the lower calf. This was a good sign and I continued on, not putting too much tension on the tendon by keeping my foot somewhat locked in a kick-off sort of position. This reduced the stretching of the tendon quite a bit and allowed for very comfortable and fast hiking.

Saddle Rock switchbacks up into these trees

After thirty minutes or so of climbing, the trees opened up to a small clearing on an Eastward face just behind the Flatirons. I scrambled up some steep sections where the snow was still very loose and the deepest yet. I closed in on the fellow ahead of me and past him just before the Greenman/Ranger fork. We chatted on the saddle before he let me continue on ahead of him. He and I looked down into town and shared a grin at the cheekiness of the experience. It felt deceitful to think that all the other people in town didn't notice today was a perfect day for a hike. I guess there are so many conveniently accessible pleasures that to do something so uncomfortable as hiking up a snowy mountain seems completely lousy and annoying. If that is the case, I hope Apple continues to make really cool gadgets to distract the masses from the amazing land that is just outside their front door.

Boulder to the left and the backside of Flatiron #1  to the right

I continued up Greenman, not seeing another person for the rest of the ascent. Greenman is such an ideal trail. This being only the second time traveling the entirety of it, I am totally in love with the route. The bottom sections are mostly undulating smooth singletrack through the forest and the upper reaches are steeper North-facing switchbacks with fantastic views of Rocky Mountain National Park, Indian Peaks, and Boulder. The final approach does not have the same high-step rock sections of Ranger, which is also totally appreciated.

The flatter sections of Greenman taunted me to run, but I resisted the urge and compromised with a few bridled jogs.

Green Mountain summit. Only another twenty minutes from this point to the top.

Lower section of Greenman. The most pristine track in all the land. How is this all mine right now?

Scampering through the trees on Greenman

Upper Greenman's steep sections were greatly exacerbated by the fresh dump of snow, making most of it very challenging to make consistent steps forward. I ambled upward toward the summit and eventually made it in one hour and sixteen minutes. That's not terrible considering it took me a flat hour to ascend on Wednesday morning with no snow and starting at the base of Gregory. All of the mountain running during the year has really helped improve my VO2 max, I believe. Hopefully, I can build on this fitness base a bit during the winter months.

Upper Greenman

Upon reaching the summit, I made the final scramble up the summit boulder and took a pic, enjoyed the view and cooled down. The cloud layer was still pretty thick, so not much could be seen to the West. Oh well. I shared the summit with an older man. I'm usually bummed to see someone on the top, but this old mountaineer was really great. Sipping some soup from a thermos and decked out in old school Lowe Alpine gear, he stood with me on the summit rock and we chatted about the amazing weather and the lack of wind up top. He was expecting this winter to provide enough snowfall to allow the waterfalls in Bear Creek Canyon to flow so he could take showers during his hikes in the summer. He amazed me. Not because he was probably pushing his late sixties and still summits Green on a completely snow-ladden day, but because he seemed like the kind of person that truly respects and appreciates the mountains and enjoys them to the fullest extend. I had never imagined to take showers during a run up Bear Creek Canyon. I didn't even know there was such a waterfall to permit it.

I headed back down the mountain just as the clouds began to break apart over the city. Descending was a total blast. With as much snow as there was, I simply floated down in a slow jog. Plowing through the snow with my feet and realizing how awesome the morning had been so far, I thought about how people believe in God. I for one am not that type of person, but in conditions such as these, it's easy to understand how some could believe there is such a higher power that grants such beautifully serene landscapes.

A snowy summit