Damn fine recipe

Tuscan Bean Gnocchi

OK suckas, do this right and have all your prep work done - cut, cleaned, measured and ready before you even heat the skillet.

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 16-ounce package shelf-stable gnocchi
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped well
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
  
• 6 cups chopped red or swiss chard leaves (1.5 inch square pieces, approx)
  
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
• 1 15-ounce can cannelinni beans, well rinsed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
  

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

2. a) Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 2 minutes.

b) Stir in garlic and wine. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes.

c) Add chard (or spinach) and cook, stirring, until starting to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes.

d) Stir in tomatoes, beans and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan.

e) Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 3 minutes.

Tip - Look for shelf-stable gnocchi near other pasta in the Italian section of most supermarkets. It doesn't have to be ultra fresh ($$$) or frozen gnocchi...

I would love to camp here

Photo courtesy of Skagit Alpinism

Mustache Ride 2009

My good buddy Tom Grant and I decided to ride a remarkably beautiful stretch of singletrack in Fort Collins known as the Blue Sky Trail. Blue Sky is an out and back route that stretches all the way from the south end of Horsetooth Reservoir to Loveland, roughly 9 1/2 miles one-way. Since the profile of the trail didn't look like it had a ton of elevation change, I decided to run the single speed. What a good call - it was blissful roller-coaster style riding almost all the way to Loveland. We stopped about 1.5-2 miles short, as the trail started running along the hogback, a very rocky sandstone outcropping that isn't very fun to pedal on. Out and back, we probably rode 16 miles, with only a couple of incidents.

Unbeknown to each other, both Tom and I had been growing beards in the weeks preceding this ride. I mentioned to him the night before that I had a beard, and thought it might be fun to do a quick shave leaving the mustache to set a good tone for the ride. Tom agreed, and the pictures that follow are of our first (and hopefully not last) Mustache Ride.













Pre Ride Breakfast














TAG3, looking the part.














Oh, how sweet it was....




















I lost a brake pad along the way. 30 minutes later we found it on the trail. A spare keyring did the trick for holding it in place. Good thing I had a bunch of random stuff in my camelback.














View of Longs Peak and the famous Diamond face from along the trail.














My ride was 'smokin'.














Post Ride refreshment. I love how 24's fit perfectly in my bottle cage.














How did that blade of grass get in the way?














Out to cause trouble. The post ride beer along the banks of Horsetooth Reservoir. What a day!!

Aiguille du Midi

A shot of the famed Aiguille du Midi. This is located directly above Chamonix, easily one of the most beautiful and inspiring places I have ever been. Photographer unknown (from internet)

Climbing Eldorado Canyon

Did a quick lead up Wind Ridge as a warm up, then the 4/5 pitch all time classic Bastille Crack. Fun!

Mountain Biking Las Vegas

Every year I attend a conference in Las Vegas the third week in May. I've made a tradition of enjoying the tremendous mountain bike trails there, with my buddy Chris Cook joining the last two.
Last year, Chris and I ran into a local at the trailhead to the Blue Diamond area. Ray rides a very nice, older Trek, converted to a single speed. He can hammer like few others, and knows the trails well. He took us on a nice ride last year, and we made plans to join him again this year for a slightly more epic ride.

With all respect to Boulder City's Bootleg Canyon area, the Red Rock area west of town offers even better singletrack - trails that just fly. It reminds me of the roller coaster area east of Phoenix known as Hawes, only there are more miles and places to explore.

In previous years, I was driving up from Phoenix, so I could bring my own bike. Chris and I rented bikes this year from McGhie's, and what a terrible experience that was. The nameless shop manager/tech was rude, didn't want to hear about the bike's problems (oh, and there were plenty), and had no interest in knowing if we enjoyed our time. Thanks a bunch for the $70 a day, and screw off was her basic sentiment.

Anyway, day 1 Chris and I rode the northern section of the area, taking in 18 glorious miles in about 3 hours. We got trapped in a very sandy area at the end that took some time and energy from us, but it was killer.
Day 2, Ray joined us at the trailhead and took us on an epic 25 mile journey through some of the fastest roller coaster terrain that's hard to beat. Our 4 hours total time was interrupted near the start with me releasing part of the giant breakfast burrito I unfortunately ingested. At a really sweet spot, I decided to do a u-turn so I could re-ride a big jump. Only I tipped over basically standing still in my u-turn, and gouged my innner thigh (dangerously close to the boys) with a stick. Hole in the shorts...pulled the stick out and it was covered with blood. Nice...way to crash.














Rockin Ray - our friend and guide.















Some climb along the way...started with Devil...don't recall the full name, but it was no biggie.















Chris rolling the sweets.















At the top.




















Pulling the stick out of my shorts...ouch!!

Back to Colorado!!!

After almost 4 years in the desert, we're back. Great biking, great people, too much heat for this mountain boy.

We came back basically March 1st, and we've had 5 pretty big snowstorms so far. Claire loves the snow (or I'm just telling myself that).

We skied thigh deep powder last weekend.....so life is good.

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

Mitch Fedak... 'nuff said.


Nothing like riding in the dark.......

Bacon

I know this is bad... but really funny.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v94/terribleone/bacon.jpg

The Three Apostles

Back in the summer of 2004, my dad and sister flew out for a few days of fun in the Rockies. Rather than take them to an overused 14'er, we chose to spend 4 days and 3 nights playing in the Three Apostles area. These are three roughly 13,900' peaks connected by a ridge. Ice Mountain and West Apostle are nearly technical (solid class 4), and Apostle North is an easy walkup.

It was a grand time, fueled by a bottle of Basil Haydens Kentucky Bourbon, gourmet food and coffee, and great campfire stories. Sara and I had a blast on Ice Mountain, even getting into a fix on the descent and having to do a rappel. We could have backtracked and found another way down, but it's really fun to put climbing skills to work and apply them efficiently. On trips like this I carry a 100' section of 7 or 8mm static cord (don't recall, but it looks like 7) and a few basic essentials (cord, rap rings, harness). It's proved useful on trips to the Gore Range and twice I've had to use it to pully back up a fallen tree in my backyard! I think I need to learn more about proper watering and root development.

Here are a few shots from that adventure.


Dad and me up high somewhere....



Heading up towards the summit of Ice Mtn with my sister. Dad had an altitude issue that day (more likely a hangover)


See? We made it to the top!


Sara and Pops on our way down from West Apostle.


Our typical evening view from camp. These peaks lit up with alpenglow are a beautiful sight.

Mt Waddington - Spring 2000

Sorry for the terrible quality. These are a first, cheap try at converting slides to digital. I'll exchange once I get the originals back from Petr from Whitefish.

At 13,182', Mt Waddington is the largest peak in the nearly 1,000 mile long Coast Range extending from Alaska to British Columbia. From our camp, the vertical relief of this massif must have been over 9,000'. The super-steep drop to the Scimitar Glacier below seemed like a solid mile, and you felt like you had to look straight up to see the summits of Waddington and the surrounding jagged peaks.

Tom Grant, the one guy who had to use a snowboard, and I joined a small group of Seattle skiers and guides Martin Volken (Pro Ski Guides) and Mike Hattrup (Pro Ski, K2). Along for photos and fun was the late Carl Skoog. Courtesy of Mike King's Whitesaddle Air, we were dropped on a shoulder between Hickson and Combatant, looking over the upper Scimitar Glacier facing Fury Gap.

We managed to ski several great lines off Hickson and Combatant, and made a summit push on our second to last day but did not make it. Quite frankly, it was scary. The route up looked okay, but a big section of it would rain ice and snow every afternoon when it heated up, making the descent hairball. It would have taken a serious alpine start to make it up and back safely, and we didn't get started early enough.

Camp looking out towards the lower Waddington flanks, and to the gap between Wad's and Combatant



Looking down towards the little finger of land we occupied for 6 days.



Camp from a different angle, looking over towards Fury Gap.



Dar she blows.... the big kahuna Mt Waddington


Zoomed in with a polarized lens.


Tom (R) and me (L). I wish I knew where that old Indy Fab hat went.
It would get so bright in the afternoon... from the sun directly, and from all of the reflection off the snow, that you had to wear shades even inside the tent!


A picture of Tommy, with a flank of Combatant looming above. We'd just ditched the skis and would soon be heading up that nasty wall.


It was stunningly beautiful up here..... The summit is the left, far back rounded point of the right side peak. That's Combatant on the left.


My uncle Steve Goryl was a veteran NOLS guide and big mountain man. He managed to get us hooked up with this really sweet Moutain Hardware tent for the trip. We had to write a gear report afterwards in exchange for the free use. Hey, no problem. It was sweeeeet!!!!


One of Carl Skoog's photos from the trip. This is Mike Hattrup ripping a line off of, if memory serves correctly, Combatant.


Another photo courtesy of Carl Skoog. This is a little high point popping out of the col seperating Waddington from Combatant. That's the Tiedeman Glacier in the background.



Somehow this shot was included in my slide scan. It's not Waddington. This picture was taken from the Trient Hut near Chamonix, a day into my telemark assisted Haute Route trip. I think this was the last time I used tele gear for something other than resort skiing.

Coyotes versus Stars

I LOVE the sport of hockey. I went to a college with a big time hockey program (University of Denver, tied all time in total NCAA Championships including repeats in 2004 and 2005), and was around for the Avalanche's big run of 10 straight conference titles and 2 Stanley Cups. I enjoyed it so much, that along with the push from my friend Ken Shaw and cousin Sid Sandy Saul I picked up the sport and played a few seasons of beer league. I've since stopped, as there is nowhere to play within 45 minutes of my house here in AZ, but I still attend the occasional game. I'll play again when I get back to Denver, for sure.

Anyway I was given tickets to a luxury suite for the Yotes versus the Stars. I hate the Stars. I really hate the Stars, more so than any teams except the Red Wings and possibly the Canadians (I grew up in Boston). They knocked the Avs out of the Western Conference Finals.....twice. F*ck the Stars. So I was actually rooting for the home team this time.

It's a good thing I was rooting for the home team. We were guests in the suite of one of the team's principal investors. Oh, and we were next to the owners box (president & coo Doug Moss), and were given a signed Gretzky jersey and were brought down to the locker room after the game to meet the Great One. Unfortunately, the Coyotes played like mud, and the F'n Stars won the game, and Gretz was in no mood to meet a bunch of tipsy, goofy fans. I did meet Brett Hull, which is pretty cool except that he was on the Stars when they beat the Avs and he scored the controversial 'toe on the line' goal that won the Cup finals over Buffalo.

Mr. Moss gave us his business cards and promised a repeat attempt. So, of course, I'm going to see the game with a few friends in Doug's personal suite, on new years eve, against the Colorado Avalanche. After, we get access to the locker room and to meet the players and coach. I'm stoked. I'll have to wear a Coyotes Jersey, or at the very least not wear my Colorado gear. But that's a small price to pay for this opportunity.

Here are a few shots from the Stars game.