Between Ironman training (running marathons & 2 hour lap swimming), work, church & family (acclimating to life with Ash, Tom & pets), have experienced a mighty full 2014. What’s missing? Need to get outside & enjoy our Colorado winter!
Bought tickets (via Groupon) to Ice Castles – an elaborate castle carved from ice, open from late December to February in Breckinridge (CO), Utah & New Hampshire. Cool, huh?
Wait, wait, it gets better.
Timed my trip to Breck on the same weekend as the International Snow Sculpture Championships. Teams from the US, Europe & Mongolia worked for a week on their masterpiece(s) – judging scheduled for Saturday. Excellent luck!
Left Boulder County in 50 degrees & sunshine. Arrived in Breckinridge, overcast & 20 degrees. Same state yet divided by the mighty Rocky Mountains = very different weather.
Busy ski day on Breck but secured parking & walked a short mile to Riverwalk Center & the International Snow Sculpture Championships. What a find! FAVES: Italy’s simple entry ‘Looking Up’ & both bold sculptures crafted by Mongolia. DISLIKE: France’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ – seriously, kinda creepy.
Devoured a package of elk jerky & entered Ice Castles. SPECTACULAR! Inspired to climb – but probably not the right setting 🙂 Anything better? How ‘bout returning at 6pm & walking thru the Castle under lights. WOW, WOW, WOW!
Crazy cold return walk under the most stunning, illuminated sky (ok, 2nd best – hard to beat October’s outdoor soak in Steamboat).
Have enjoyed touring the US during my 50 state marathon challenge but Colorado – man, this is home.
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- International Snow Sculpture Championships — with Ashton Haga and Tom Wilpiszeski
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- Winner: Breckinridge
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- 2nd Place: Germany
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- 3rd Place: Wisconsin
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- Russia
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- France
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- Mongolia
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- Mongolia (small country, 2 entries)
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- Colorado
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- Italy under lights – simple but probably my favourite
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- Welcome to Ice Castles!
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- LOVED this place! AMAZING!
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- today’s WOW shot! (pic credit Tom)
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- mighty tight tunnel – claustrophobics beware!
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- tasty snack
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- Ice Castles under lights
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- toss up whether green or purple were my fave
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- Goodnite Breckinridge – super fun day!
Ironman training 6 days/week – run, swim, sleep, repeat.
So…passing the torch this week to Ash – MyCOLORADOLife’s first guest blog 🙂
Head towards Loveland, Colorado, down 10th Street, over two railroad tracks and make an
immediate left. And I mean immediate left – yes, down the dirt road where questions like, “Did
I drive to West Virginia by accident?” and, “Colorado isn’t known for their banjos, right?” start
running through your head. When you’ve reached the half-open garage with the cardboard sign
reading 918 ½ you’ve arrived at your destination.
I quickly learned; looks can be deceiving. Daggett Glass Studio is where we met Dan Daggett –
aka “Dan the Man” – glass blower of 30+ years. Dan started off in the stained glass business but
quickly learned glass blowing was much more his style – after 10 years apprenticing he could
finally call it his career! He started off making light bulbs and ended up moving more into artisan
glass blowing – jealous much!
After the initial meet n’ greet we were down to the nitty gritty – ornament or paperweight?
We’ll make one of each please! Step one: pick your color – ocean blue swirled into
the paperweight, dark reddish violet for the ornament (that was the exact color name)! Step
two: Dan places the blob of molten glass onto the pole – it’s only 2100 degrees he yells out!
It’s time for Dan the Man to bark out orders: Roll the glass along the table into the colored
powder – don’t press too hard! Time to re-fire it – don’t forget to turn that pole so the glass
doesn’t lose its shape! The ornament requires some real glass blowing and phew! it’s tough
to force that air in – blow harder! Don’t blow too hard or the glass will collapse! Finally our
creations were born and were ready to cool in the freezer until we could pick them up later.
We waved good bye and headed out to Oskar Blues for some cold Colorado beer. Only in
Colorado do they have dog friendly bars! Lovin’ our new Colorado home!
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- Glass Blowing 101
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- glass magic — an ornament for Ash; paperweight for Tom
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- Voila! Perfect!
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- turn, turn, turn
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- 2100 degrees – crazy hot!
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- Ash & ‘Dan the Man’
After a super fun day exploring ancient Pueblo ruins at Mesa Verde, woke early excited about my Day Two adventure – dog sledding! Another bucket list activity – check, done 🙂
Met up with 2 guides (‘Kentucky’ Chris & Sarah) from Durango Dog Ranch & 2 other day mushers from Sweden (Monica & Ida) at a local coffee house in Mancos – approx 35 minutes west of Durango on Highway 160.
Because of recent warm weather (past 2 days), drove deep into Mancos State Park in search of adequate snow for sledding. Kentucky Chris who lives nearby in a yurt (whole lotta back-story here) gave us our safety/do/don’t speech & we started unloading dogs. Sarah showed how to harness the friendlier dogs – lotta yapping, lotta fun.
What didn’t I know? Alaskan huskies are mutts. Each have a small percentage of Siberian husky in their bloodline (which makes them wanna pull) but then the remainder is greyhound or pointer generally – added for speed.
What else? Siberian huskies don’t really love people. Their temperament are more like cats. They really don’t need us. They’ll take food of course but not a fan of petting or human affection. Today’s huskies with a higher Siberian mix were very standoff-ish, sported sky-blue eyes – and made the best sled dogs.
What about whips? Yea, they thought I was crazy. I guess that ended sometime around Jack London. Now it’s all voice commands – HAW for left, GEE for right, YIP YIP for go & WHOA for stop.
Where do the humans go? One stands on the back, one rides on an ice chest in the sled (where supplies generally go).
Yip, Yip & away we went.
These dogs LOVE to run. Had to stop twice to avoid cattle guards (which can break the dogs’ legs) & with each stop, one of our lead dogs in particular kept jumping straight up & down – and barking wildly. LOVE LOVE to run, can’t wait to start up again.
Took a turn as Musher for a short distance but I’d be fibbing if I told you I did any more than went for a ride. The dogs knew to follow the groomed path ahead – I yelled HAW & GEE to keep us out of snow banks…that still counts, right? 🙂
Day ended with water, chow & hot dogs for the huskies – hot chocolate, hummus & crackers for us humans.
So was it worth the 7 hour drive? YES, YES, YES.
WATCH my clip ‘Durango Dog Ranch’!
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- today’s sled team line up
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- unloading & do/don’t speech (Kentucky Chris)
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- harnessing the Team (Sarah)
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- a quick Yip Yip & off we go
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- my turn as lead Musher
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- FAAAAANNNTASTIC day!
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- EOD pit stop — water & chow (dogs); hot chocolate & hummus (peeps)
