Aspen Mountain

I went on a really great early hike this morning! I was limited since I had to work in the office at 11am, and luckily I found a few friends who didn't mind getting up early! I woke up at 6, left Marolt at 6:30 and we were hiking by 6:55. Ironically, we took the route that starts with the Ute Trail, so it was a hard climb from the beginning! I was carrying about 5 bottles of water since Russ's backpack broke, so I felt slower than normal. We got up the Ute in about 40 minutes, took a breather and then continued up the trail.

Top of the Ute


We saw a lot of skiing signs, trail and lifts. It's clearly a mountain made for skiing!

We were climbing altitude fast, and soon we could see a large part of the surrounding mountains, including Independence Pass.


It always looked like we were *almost* there since you couldn't see the top of the Gondola until you got to the top. Oh, the Gondola is a fancy ski lift that people have to pay to ride up the mountain.
BUT if you hike up the mountain, you don't have to pay to go down! This quickly became our plan as we got more tired ascending the mountain...and as the time crept closer to 9:30.

We got a full hour to soak in the sights at the top of the mountain, which became a full 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains. It was GLORIOUS!



Since tourists and other wealthy people ride to the top all the time, there was a really nice restaurant and cash bar up there, complete with nice restrooms and water fountains--a rare thing to have at the top of a mountain:) We rode the Gondola down (which is really strange-to put in 2 hours of solid hiking and then get back into town in only 15 minutes!), walked to our car, got a breakfast burrito from Johnny Macguire's, and got back to Marolt by 10:50. I took a REAL quick shower and got to the office just in time for my shift. And here I am now, in the office!

The Gondola Ride:


This week I am playing Brahms 4 with the Chamber Symphony. I'm really looking forward to it because it's a really good group! Also I have performed Brahms 1-3, and this will complete my cycle.

I'm running a Komen 5k Race for the Cure on Saturday morning in Aspen! If you'd like to sponsor me (literally a few bucks would be great!), go to my fundraising page!

http://events.komenaspen.org/site/TR/Race/General?px=1006208&pg=personal&fr_id=1030

I have a modest goal of $30. Chip in if you can! It's for a great cause!

Update: Since I have such generous friends and family, I have raised my goal twice: first to $50 and now to $100. Thank you for all of your support!