Winter Shenanigans

I've been having a lot of fun recently.  Karen and I went skiing a couple of times up at Keystone thanks to Jas, who also joined us on the hill.  Pretty nice of the kid to babysit the old folks while we inched our way down the slopes!  It's been a while, and I'd almost forgotton how much I love skiing!  Sorry, no pictures:'(

I've also kicked my running up a gear, averaging 45 miles a week during March and shooting for 50 miles per week for April.  The reason?  PbVille ( The Leadville 100) is coming up in August and this is one race you can't fake your way through.  100 miles with a couple of big climbs, and the whole thing starts at 10,000 feet elevation.  I DNF'ed ( Distance Not Finished) my first three attemps, finished the next two, and am bound and determined to do well there this year.  I'm thinking that running 50 miles per week on top of hiking and snowshoeing should do the trick.

Here are a few pictures of some recent fun in the snow.  Ali was up for an Easter snowshoe, and then today Karen and I took advantage of a beautiful day to head up to Timberline Falls.


Alison admiring a snow-covered rocky slope.

Ali-Cat and Karen

Ali and an Easter Snowman.  Notice the gifts dropped off by the Easter Bunny.

Me helping Ali up after our snow-angel making session.

Karen and I snowshoed up across The Loch and continued on up to the base of Timberline Falls (10,480 ft. That's elevation, people, not the length of the waterfall), a round trip of just under eight miles.  No falls to be seen, though, just a big ol' snowfield below Lake of Glass.

Black Lake Snowshoe

Beautiful, sunny, relatively warm day today, so Karen and I grabbed our snowshoes and headed up into the park.  We started 'shoeing up from Glacier Gorge Junction, thinking about maybe going up to Mills Lake.  It was so nice, however, that we just kept on going till we hit Black Lake (elevation 10,620 ft.), about 4.5 miles up via the winter trail.  Wonderful!

Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island (Near Punta Arenas) Part 4

After docking in Punta Arenas on December 26, we caught a short bus ride to another pier where we boarded a car ferry for our excursion to Magdalena Island, located in the Straights of Magellan.  This island is a penquin preserve for Magellanic Penquins.  The penquin colony consists of approximately 60,000 breeding pairs!

Below is a picture of our tour group disembarking the bus and walking aboard the car ferry.

This part of the world must be hard on boats.

Arriving on the island.

After disembarking our group, the ship backed off; I assume for safety purposes and to allow room for other ships to come in.

Magellanic Penquins everywhere.

The island is uninhabited by humans now, but a very scenic lighthouse stands on the high ground.

I tried to get photos of penquins attacking Karen, but darn it, she would always jump back before the penquins could actually get at her!

This little guy had some seaweed or kelp stuck on his head.

Many of the penquins would point their beaks up at the sky and continuously let loose with loud, raucous calls.

Occasionally, you would see a couple of them kind of sparring/clacking their beaks together.  It looked like playful rather than aggressive behavior.

Though very sleek and fast in the water, they sure looked funny waddling about on shore!

Here's a picture of one of the babies.  Very distinguishable by their large size and soft, downy, light brown coat.  The adults lose weight while trying to keep the ravenous young well supplied with food.

Two chicks and an adult.

There were also many breeding pairs of Kelp Gulls on the island.

Kelp Gull in flight.  Don't ask how many shots I had to take to get one in sharp focus!

Pair of Kelp Gulls with egg and chick.

Close-up of egg and chick.

Shore line covered with penquins.

Our ship coming back to get us as our group head back down.

Getting back on board for the return trip.

Cruising the Chilean Fjords (Part 3)

Days at sea were good for walking the Promenade deck.  Jogging was prohibited; not unreasonable considering the crowds, narrow space, and slippery deck.

Beautiful forested slopes of the fjords.

Fascinating lighting with contrasting ocean, blue sky and low, scudding cloud cover.

Karen, Pinky, and Art.

Center atrium stairway decorated for Christmas.

Having arrived on board late, we received our own personal little lifeboat drill.

Stormy seas.  At one point we had huge swells that created havoc on board, especially in the dining areas.  At dinner, our water and wine glasses began sliding across our dining table as dishes crashed around us.

Art and Pinky on Art's eighty-eighth birthday!

Drink steward wearing a Christmas hat.

Drinks for all!

Art and Pinky spent many evenings dancing to the Neptunes in the Ocean Bar.

I think both Karen and I had been doing some drinking here.

Towel turkey, peacock?

Rainbow highlighting the mountainous terrain.

Snow-capped mountains draped with cascades and waterfalls.

Mixed rain, clouds, and sunshine made for some nice light for taking pictures.  Hey Wes, I'd swear that was you at left in the blue coat!

Amalia Glacier in the Sarmiento Canal.

Me in my 5-year Javelina Jundred fleece jacket with our new Canon Rebel EOS Xsi camera that used to take many of these pictures.  This photo by Karen on her pocket Canon Elph.

Karen with her JVC video camera.

Karen and I cruising the Chilean Fjords..oh yeah!

Due to the "GI", as the captain referred to the norovirus gastroenteritis outbreak on board, we had to stand in line and wait for gloved dining room staff to serve us in the Lido dining area.  Normally, you would just help yourself.  The British captain would repeatedly announce over the loudspeaker "If you feel the need to be friendly, please just touch elbows instead of shaking hands".  I got a kick out of that phrase, "If you need to be friendly"... kind of a British aloofness and formality!  Handshaking was discouraged as it contributes greatly to the spreading of the virus.

Another beautiful rainbow.

Fleeing the storm.

Shipwreak...dangerous waters.

Fantastic, un-edited sunrise photo taken by Karen.

Arriving in Punta Arenas, Chile on December 26th, 2009.