2013 Archive Stories

It’s hard to believe now, but 30 years ago women didn’t run Olympic marathons.The International Olympic Committee considered races longer than 1,500 meters to be “too strenuous for women,” according to the book “Olympic Marathon” by Charlie Lovett. The women in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles prove

Vandals defaced and disassembled a memorial bench at the top of the Manitou Incline overnight Sunday, apparently carrying heavy tools 2,000 feet up the side of a mountain to damage a tribute to a slain combat veteran. The 1,100-pound bench

DENVER — The kind of avalanche that killed five people in Colorado over the weekend is among the most difficult to predict and trigger, and it's dangerous because of the amount of snow normally involved. Saturday's slide in near Loveland Pass is called a deep persistent slab avalanche, and it was the kind of avalanche that b

CARBONDALE - An organization dedicated to protecting the region's "backyard" is stepping up to provide volunteer trail patrols at the popular Hanging Lake area in Glenwood Canyon this summer. In fact, that's what the Carbondale-based nonprofit, the Forest Conservancy, has been doing for the past decade; helping bridge the gap where the U

Grays Peak is named for Asa Gray, a famous botanist from the early 1800s. According to Harvard University’s Herbaria, “Asa Gray could be described as the person who established systematic botany at Harvard and, to some extent, in the United States.” If you’re like me, you have no idea what that means, but

I always have said that the world would be a better place if everybody dropped what they were doing and went fishing — even if we all just fished for an hour before heading back to our daily grind. Spending time on the water keeps us grounded and humble during a time when it’s easy to forget how small we truly are. Fishing is

Gary Scott has been to the top enough. He reached the summit of Alaska’s Denali (Mount McKinley) in a breathless, one-day assault of a peak that takes mere mortals a week or more. He guided two climbs up Mount Everest, going as far as 27,500 feet without oxygen, and has 200 first ascents on five continents to his name. During 15 ye

The first time Bob Falcone nearly was bitten, he was scrambling around the hill just east of Garden of the Gods, trying to get the perfect photo of the rocks. The hill is known, appropriately enough, as Rattlesnake Ridge. “It had four chances to bite me in the hand and it missed,” the avid hiker recalled.He&rsqu

VAIL — Vail Mountain and Breckenridge Ski Resort are reopening for more skiing and riding Friday through Sunday on part of their terrain. Both ski resorts held closing day festivities last Sunday, but Vail says it's had 2 more feet of snow

The forests along more than 10 miles of Rampart Range Road and the Waldo Canyon hiking trail will remain closed because of safety concerns, a U.S. Forest Service official said last week. Frank Landis, the manager of recreation and travel for the Pikes Peak Ranger District, said conditions in the Waldo Canyon fire burn area are unpredicta

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - An 18 percent budget cut for the White River National Forest this year will impact the seasonal work force at area campgrounds and along trails this summer, including the popular Hanging Lake area in Glenwood Canyon, Forest Service spokesman Bill Kight said Wednesday. "We are looking at 18 positions that we had last ye

EAGLE COUNTY - When the lifts stop running at Vail and Beaver Creek, it will signal the end to the 2012-13 ski season but also the beginning of an on-mountain construction season featuring several big projects. Vail and Beaver Creek are entering the first of many summers of construction as the resorts prepare both for the 2015 World Alpi

SOCHI, Russia — In April, at the end of another seemingly endless winter, most Russians are eager to get rid of the piles of snow that have clogged their cities and streets and yards for months. Yet down south in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, fleets of heavy

The American flag that flew over Scott Hente’s home is a red, white and blue reminder of the Waldo Canyon fire that damaged his house and destroyed hundreds of others in his Mountain Shadows neighborhood last summer. Hente intended to keep the faded but undamaged flag in his family — a personal memento from a historic catastr

FRUITA • Four trails built in the past year, another coming this summer and more in the planning stages — this mountain biking paradise built by mountain bikers isn’t settling in the desert dust. MoJoe’s is the latest trail to be constructed. The route, finished this spring in the Bookcliffs/18 Road area just north

One revolution, then another. It’s like any other ride on my LeMond Zurich. Except for it’s not. Not even close. I’m above 11,000 feet on the shoulders of Mount Evans, atop pavement that hasn’t been smooth in several summers. I’m basking in the sun’s rays on a cloudless Colorado morning. I&rsqu

Mount Evans is one of the fourteeners that constitute the Front Range mountains towering over the foothills west of Denver. Originally named Mount Rosalie by Albert Bierstadt after his wife, it was later changed to Evans in honor of the second territorial governor of Colorado. The name Rosalie was then passed on to a neighboring peak.

April showers bring mutant powers. One or two more doses of heavy wet snow to slog through on a bike and then it’s back to normal. It is time for grown men to shave their legs for the “safety” of it on a bike. Or do what I do and follow the lead of local pro Cameron Chambers — let the leg hair grow, grit through a

GUNNISON — Rangers looking for an overdue backpacker at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park have found a body about 1,000 feet below the canyon's South Rim. The victim's name wasn't immediately releas

When she first came to Colorado, an accomplished athlete and flat-land runner, Nancy Hobbs was daunted by the high peaks of the Rockies. “I was like, ‘I don’t think I could ever do that,’ looking at Pikes Peak,” she recalled. But like the thin air that forces a body to work overtime, mountain running

DENVER — Authorities say a 62-year-old man was killed after falling 60 feet in a rock climbing accident in Colorado. Karlyn Tilley, a spokeswoman for the Golden Fire Department, tells The Denver Post (http://bit.ly/10EYRgW ) the man was climbing with his two adult children while using tech

Runners of all ages and skill levels were left gasping for air and stretching extremely sore legs after the XTERRA Colorado Trail Run Series’ challenging Cheyenne Mountain Trail Run at Cheyenne Mountain State Park on Saturday. The Cheyenne Mountain Trail Run, the first of four XTERRA races in Colorado this year, featured 5K, 12K an

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. — At first, the rescuers couldn't believe their ears: After four days of grueling searching, they suddenly heard a faint female voice calling for help. Over the next 90 agonizing minutes, the cries for help — and first fai

Unless Kitchi decided to go on a cross-country jaunt, the North American river otter recently photographed in Boulder isn't the same critter long missing from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.Another unlikely possibility is that he caught a ride north.Otters have sharp teeth and aren't the kind of animal people pick up, said Mic

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. — A young woman missing in a Southern California forest since setting out on a Sunday hike was rescued from a rocky ledge on a steep slope Thursday, authorities said. Kyndall Jack, 18, was hoisted out of Cleveland National Fores