Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Ascent on Aspen Vista




   Last week I set out to ride up Aspen Vista road and take Ravens Ridge down to the Winsor and take the Winsor back down to the Ski area. The ascent was just fine but when I got up to the towers the only trail I really saw was a cat track trail that went off from the triple chair. So after having a snack at the towers some close lightning made me decide to descend. I ended up taking the ski trail down and then riding a Nordic ski trail that was really fun. After consulting a thread on the local boards I tried to do it again last week but got turned away because of lightning again. It seems that there are storms like that during the summer up top. Hoping to hit that ride this week sometime. I took a few pics from the ride.
Driving up Hyde Park

Looking at the climb ahead

Starting up the climb. Big Tesuque trail enticed me but I stayed the course


the reason for the name


Getting up there the scenery changes


Nice views up there

When you get up to the radio towers you can see Santa Fe Lake off the backside. Makes me want to hike down and check it out.





So the only trail I saw was a double track trail running down towards the new lift.

After the lift I took this trail down to the parking lot.

I came across this cabin and tunnel thingy. I have no clue what it is for. It was raining at that point so I took refuge in it. Also this cool Rock cave thing.




Then since I didn't find the Ravens Ridge trail to Winsor I decided to at least ride this cool small loop called the Nordic Ski Trail. It was really fun.


And Remember to always Shut the Gate!


A Fun ride needless to say. I guess they all are. After I got home I popped open a Noice Wet Mountain IPA from Il Vicino. I was feeling fine after a couple of those.



    Speaking of Beer, Atomic TV has this video of all these really old Natty Boh ads. Natty Boh was Baltimore's version of PBR or Schaefer. Check it out. Some funny stuff.
    What is in your audio player? In dedication to the Tour I have Black Keys-Thickfreakness rockin in da ipod. Did anybody notice the Black Keys on the Tour commercials every night? K adios Amigos

3 comments:

Tubeular Visions said...

Looks like a killer ssolo adventure!

cdaddy said...

I lived in Seattle for 3 years. Ranier Beer had some of the funniest ads I'd ever seen. Beer was was one small step above horse piss tho.

Matt said...

Il Vicino Wet Mountain IPS....mmmmmm, good.

Raven's Ridge is pretty, but I bit my toungue when that guy posted info on it on mtbr.com. It is a totally unsustainable trail - hikers started it and went straight up and left this eroded mess that now bikers are really making worse. Rich and Glen were right...hike it and enjoy it - but it's not really built for biking right now.

The rock house you found is also used a hippie smoke/love shack when there is snow on the mountain. Pretty cool, beads, carpets, incense sort of thing. There is also a hidden cabin back up in there too that serves as the same thing.