Surfing the Elks

A week ago Sunday, Rocco and I went to the Mace Hut in Castle Creek in the Elk Range near Aspen. Amos Mace was our gracious host and he and Donnie from Glenwood met us at Ashcroft and pulled me into the hut on my split snowboard behind a snowmobile. Rocco had to run up the hill along with Amos' white husky dog.
The hut, 4 miles up at 10,800 ft is made of stone and was built by a team of Swiss builders in 1969. At the hut were three surfer dooods from Maui, James and Mike, raised in the Carbondale area, and Lydel a native of Hawaii. These guys did not ride skis.
After weeks of warm weather the temperature dropped that afternoon and it began to snow. I looked at the guys and said with a twisted grin, "its back". For two days the snow fell, about a foot, and settled nicely on the wet warm stuff below creating a solid and safe snowpack. We did three tours each day riding the wave of the fresh white stuff on the backyard slope on Greg Mace Peak. It felt great to be in the backcountry again surrounded by snow covered trees and high peaks, that deafening silence.


Rocco and I during our solo ride out from the hut late Tuesday.

Thanks for a great time boys. See you soon.