[Igloo Ed]

I had went up last Sunday to scout out a place with enough snow to build an igloo and found favorable spot at 10,450 elevation that had a nice view and just enough snow. It was down in a little hollow that was protected from the prevailing winds and consequently collected more snow than what was the average laying around in the woods.
I had walked in with just my boots last Sunday and stayed on the park trail, for most of the hike, where I was walking on a snow packed trail. The going was easy with the packed snow as it was cold and not icy like it was earlier in the season and I made good time to where I turned off the park trail and headed into the woods looking for an igloo site.
Yesterday, seven of us met at Bear Lake with intentions of using snowshoes on the 6 or more inches of fresh snow that we expected be there. Well, it wasn't so, the storm was coming in later than predicted and we had glorious blue skies with a few scattered clouds. We left the snowshoes in our vehicles and headed out with just boots making good time because the trail was again hard packed snow with very little ice. It looked like we had receive an inch of snow since the weekend before and this made it easy to follow my off trail tracks from the weekend before.
We arrived early at the campsite and started building an igloo after a short break to eat some snacks and check out the view:


The view when first arriving at camp of a faint dusting of snow on the summits of Hallett and Flattop was very warming to my soul:


It was such a beautiful day when we fist pulled into camp that it was hard to think about building an igloo but seeing the snow on the boulders in the area reminds me of cake with frosting on it and it got me to thinking of the pie I could have when I got home:


Well, with motivation like that, we set to building the igloo and I neglected to take anymore pictures as we began to build the igloo. By the time we were under way, when things were going good, and I had the time to take some pictures I saw that the skies had clouded over and the light was so poor that I didn't take any more pictures while building.
We finished the igloo and five of the bunch headed out just as it began snowing. Two of us stayed hoping to get a photo of a glowing igloo once it got dark. Well, I had my camera set wrong and the pictures didn't turn out at all.
The last two of us headed down in the dark with it snowing very hard. The tracks from the others were just visible with all the fresh snow on them but we made our way down the mountain at got back to the trailhead at 7:10.

[Becky J.]

Sounds like a great day. Wow, a lot different than today.
It would have been great to see the glowing igloo.
Maybe another time.

Becky J.

[SandyP]

Oh man! Your pictures are fabulous. So, where exactly is your new room with a view? Who were the others you got to hike and play with today? Sorry your glowing igloo photos didn't turn out. Would have been nice to have Aleks, the glowing igloo queen along, huh?

Will you take a special Thanksgiving meal for your igloo on Thanksgiving? Ok. . . enough questions. I'll shut-up now.

[Igloo Ed]

SandyP, on 15 November 2009 - 03:38 PM, said:

Oh man! Your pictures are fabulous. So, where exactly is your new room with a view? Who were the others you got to hike and play with today? Sorry your glowing igloo photos didn't turn out. Would have been nice to have Aleks, the glowing igloo queen along, huh?

Will you take a special Thanksgiving meal for your igloo on Thanksgiving? Ok. . . enough questions. I'll shut-up now.

Thanks Sandy, great to have you around again. Aleks would have no doubt got a good shot of the igloo but it would have helped if I'd had the aperture wide open instead of choked down all the way. Duh! But then too, I took the shot from the door side of the igloo because there were no other GOOD views of the igloo with it sitting in some trees. Consequently, the light shining out the door was plenty exposed enough which would have resulted in it being completely washed out if the igloo would have been exposed correctly. I'll need to either take the picture from some place other than looking strait at the door or put something in the door to block the light.
JP and Bullwinkle were the only two forum members along, the others are friends of mine from Estes.
I haven't decided on the menu for the holiday but I'm sure I'll bring something special for at least one meal. Hmmm, why did pie come to mind right now?

[Jenny]

Eating pie in an igloo sounds like a mighty fine experience, Ed.

[Mark Zemmin]

That 2nd picture is beautiful. A classic RMNP Winter shot.

Sounds like a good hike.

Mark

[Ski bud Frank]

Hi Ed, thank you for a great day Saturday. John and I had a great time hanging out together with the guys. Who knew a seven year old could roll in the snow for eight hours above 10,000ft? Hopfully, the foundation recovered from John's excitement. When the snow gets deeper, I will have to spend some time skiing as well but I sure enjoyed the company yesterday. Thank goodness for hand warmers! I loved that trail and location.

[Igloo Ed]

Ski bud Frank, on 15 November 2009 - 06:20 PM, said:

Hi Ed, thank you for a great day Saturday. John and I had a great time hanging out together with the guys. Who knew a seven year old could roll in the snow for eight hours above 10,000ft? Hopfully, the foundation recovered from John's excitement. When the snow gets deeper, I will have to spend some time skiing as well but I sure enjoyed the company yesterday. Thank goodness for hand warmers! I loved that trail and location.

Your quite welcome, Frank. It's always fun to have you along too and especially John. I love his energy level and wish I'd more time to talk to him but he was having a blast. I bet he'd love to come visit over the holiday.
It won't be long and it'll be ski season. Sooo close now.

[iceberg]

Those are some great pictures - can't wait for the stomp!

[druwdowns]

Outstanding igloo sight.

~Druw~
(The igloo needs a picture window out the back.)

[bullwinkle]

I do believe a good time was had by all. John-John, the 7 year old son of Frank, kept us all amazed at his never-ending energy.

[renate1]

Beautfiul pictures! Love the 2nd one.

[Larry]

Love your photos showing this special time of year.

OK---enough of the nice stuff---now get back up there and photograph that igloo! (glow please)


Larry

[SandyP]

Jenny, on 15 November 2009 - 06:35 PM, said:

Eating pie in an igloo sounds like a mighty fine experience, Ed.

Unless it was an Eskimo Pie. . . . brrrrrrrrrrr.

[DeeCeeM]

I love those pictures, Ed!