7/14/2014
Mon – Handies Peak (2:01, 4500′)
Parked at the Grouse Gulch aid station spot and headed up and down the mountain via American Pass. I never really realized it, but the vast majority of people who climb this mountain are doing it from American Basin or even Burrows Park. It’s a long hump from Burrows, but there isn’t the frustrating 500′ loss in elevation that occurs when dropping into American Basin from the Grouse Gulch approach. The summit held a large, enthusiastic high school cross country team from Missouri. Cool to see them getting out and enjoying Colorado, but I wasn’t very inspired to hang out up there for long myself. I guess I’m turning into a bit of an old man…

Phew! It’s been a busy few weeks, but I finally got a two-week update here:

6/30/2014
Mon – Venice, IT (0:34)
After the 1h15min boat ride from the airport to the city center, I found a hotel room for the night and changed to head out for my first run since the race. It was an out-n-back along the waterfront on cobbles—with lots of small up/downs on the bridges spanning the frequent canals—and I was pleased to find that the only thing sore was my bone-bruised right knee. But, damn, it was really sore. Afterwards, I promptly got lost and spent three hours wandering the corridors and canals of Venice. If I’d just gone left from my hotel door instead of right…Venice is an incredibly beautiful city, though…

6/23/2014
Mon – Rifugio Ra Vales – Cortina, IT (2:31, 5400′)
On the west side of Cortina there is an imposing cluster of craggy summits, the three Tofana’s: Tofana di Rozes (I), Tofana di Mezzo (II), and Tofana di Dentro (III), from south to north. They are all over 3200m in elevation (di Mezzo being the tallest at 3244m), putting their summits a full 2000m above town. Improbably, they are also host to a lift-serviced ski resort, and di Mezzo’s summit is—true to European style—accessible via a gondola from town. On an intermediate ridge between town and the summit, however, the gondola passes through a rifugio at just over 2400m, Ra Vales. This seems like a natural destination…