[Temporary Note:
Dr. Paez, I've put your information as a zip'd file
here.]
Welcome to my work-in-progress website.
Odds are you already know me 'cause you wouldn't be here otherwise; but, just in case you have me confused with all the other John Red-Horses out there (and there are others), I'm the one who lives in the Manzanito mountains southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Of course, the main reason for this page is to communicate some of what's happening with me and my immediate family---my daughter, Kalle, and my girlfriend, Kristen---to our friends and family.
So, as you might expect, it's mostly about conspicuous leisure. Our hobbies are generally mountain-related activites, such as skiing in the winter and spring, and mountain biking, hiking and fishing in the skiing offseason.
I hope that you enjoy your visit...
The following is made up mostly of photo documentation of some of the things that are going on with all of us.
I've been keeping much of what we've been up to in my Picasa
albums. You can check that out here.
Otherwise, it's on to my archives:
It was a pretty busy Spring/Summer as I prepared for, and went on, another trip to climb Denali.
Late April/Early May found Claudius, Spike Lynch of Taos, and Paul Drakos and Kurt Vollbrecht of Santa Fe and me taking the weekend to ski near both Cabresto Peak, near Questa, NM, on Saturday, and Wheeler Peak, NM on Sunday. Both days were great, although we didn't actually get to summit either mountain. Photos? Sure: here.
I followed that weekend up by skiing on May 8th with Bob Lee in the Nambe Chutes adjacent to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. It was one of my most enjoyable days ever in the Nambes. Photos are here.
Kristen, Claudius, and I skied Santa Fe Baldy on May 14th. It's a long hike back to that peak, and foggy conditions and general lack of experience in the area made it an even longer day. Nonetheless, it was an awesome experience that we get to savor every time we drive north of Santa Fe. Some photos from the day are here.
Finally, I wrapped up all the spring skiing with a big climbing trip
to
Denali, Alaska with friends Klaus Biggers and Russ Costa from Utah, and
Zach
Marquis of Crested Butte, Colorado. It was an awesome (and successful)
trip
in so many ways it's impossible to explain. I've got a trip report in
the
works,
but, in the meantime, you can view the (as yet unedited/unculled)
photos from
that
trip here.
Kristen, Claudius and I visited our friend Joe Hazel in Flagstaff, AZ for a couple of days. On Saturday the 11th, we climbed and skied (Joe was occupied with other matters) Mt Humphreys from the Snowbowl ski area parking lot. On Sunday, Joe joined Claudius and me, and, after scoring us a free one-ride pass onto the lift, led us into the Inner Basin on the east side of the ridge that connects Agassiz and Humphreys. All of this is photo-documented here.
The next weekend I joined Paul and Kurt on Saturday for some awesome
powder
skiing in the Big Tesuque area near Santa Fe Ski Basin. I only took a
few
photos;
what I took are here.
The next day, Sunday, March 19th, Claudius and I pulled of a treat that
is
only available in relatively big snow years, as this one was: Mt
Taylor, and
10k-plus ft peak that dominates the panorama west of Albuquerque. It
was
another marginal weather day, but a really cool ski day in a beautiful
setting. See for yourself here.
We continued our Fall semi-tradition: Hiking in Grand Canyon. This year, we were joined by our good friends Claudius Freiherr von Schwerin, Gary Smothermon, and Ted Lowe.
This year's hike was of the point-to-point variety starting from the eastern South Rim. I dropped a bike at the Red Canyon/New Hance Trail trailhead; we drove to the Tanner Trail trailhead and hiked to the river from there; we spent our first night on a sand bar west of the Tanner Rapids. The next day Gary and Ted went back out via the Tanner, while Kristen, Claudius, and I hiked the Escalante Route to a sandbar near the Hance Rapids. On the third day, it was back out of the Canyon via Red Canyon where I picked up my bike, and rode over to get up the car.
All of this is photo-documented here. It was an awesome trip...
Claudius and I went to Telluride for our September ski, and skied the nearby Navajo Glacier. This semi-permanent snowfield is between Wilson Peak, Mt Wilson and El Diente, three classical Colorado 14'ers.
Claudius played photo-storyteller, for the most part; check it out here.
We had other Fall business to attend to as well; namely, a family wedding that took place on Maui, Hawai'i. We have a good friend, who we met some years ago in Tijeras named John Ford who lives on the Big Island of Hawai'i, so it was a perfect opportunity to visit him there for the first time. Of course, we'll be regular visitors from now on...
Anyway, the photos from that trip can be seen here.
I got back from Alaska just in time to join Kristen and Jim Brainerd to climb North Mt Massive, near Leadville, CO over July 4th weekend. Unfortunately, we didn't photo document our adventures (mostly 'cause Claudius wasn't there to nag us about the camera). So, we returned the following weekend to Colorado, specifically, to the Aspen area with our friends Paul Drakos and his wife Vibekka, and Claudius, to ski the flank of Castle Peak and the neighboring Conundrum Couloir. You can check out the photos that Paul and Kristen took that day here.
This August, Kalle, this Summer's family globetrotter, visited her sister, Kristy and Kristy's husband, Clay, in San Francisco. Here are handful of photos from her trip.
While Kalle was in California, Claudius and I were met near Rollins
Pass by
Andy Moore, our good friend and ski buddy from Boulder. There we skied
the
Skyscraper couloir.
Here are the
photos; I apologize for not taking the time to cull these down a
bit...
It's been a busy spring...
Since early May, there was a Wheeler Peak day (photos here are by Paul Drakos of Santa Fe, NM); a trip to Squamish and Whistler, BC for a customized glacier travel class, which was created for us by an ACMG Mountain Guide, Brian Gould of Squamish, BC (Brian's an awesome guide, and I highly recommend him to those of you heading up to the Great!White!North!); finally, an overnighter trip to Middle Truchas Peak.
All of this led to the coup de grace:
Well, I'm planning on a bit more of an extensive write-up on our
experiences in Alaska, but for now, you can find my annotated photo
write-up here.
This session represented the end the first twelve consecutive months
skiing streak for Claudius and me. This time, we were once again joined
by
Andy Moore, from Boulder, for a ski day at the Isabelle Glacier, in the
Indian
Peaks are of central Colorado. You can find the slide show of my photos
from
our trip here.
Kristen and I were joined by Rob and Chrissy Pease and Jeff Dorwart
for a
long weekend trip to the south rim of Grand Canyon. Our trip had all
the
markings of an epic: (1) a sampling of the Flagstaff brewpubs on Friday
night;
(2) a bike tour of the south rim on Saturday; (3) a pre-dawn start time
for
our weekend hike; and, (4) an overnight trip into Grand Canyon via the
Red
Canyon/New Hance-Tonto-Grandview trails.
Still interested? Click
here for
the photos of the experience.
We spent an afternoon hanging out at one the local NF picnic ground
parking
lots where Kalle got a chance to get her feet wet with her skateboard.
You can find a slide show of photos from the day here,
and a cute quicktime movie here.
Kalle, her friend, Sara Wilks, Kristen and I spent a weekend camping
in the
Jemez Mountains near the San Antonio River. You can find the slide show
of my
photos from our trip here.
Claudius and I hooked up with Nic Thum from Germany via Corvallis,
Oregon
and our tourguide, Andy Moore, from Boulder for an early Fall ski day
at St
Mary's Glacier, northwest of Idaho Springs, Colorado. You can find the
slide
show of my photos from our trip here,
and
those taken by Andy here.
Kalle and I visited some of our Los Angeles-based family members: my
aunt
Margarita, her boyfriend Jim, and my uncle, Tony. Great fun, albeit at
a pace
that rendered Kalle and me comatose. Along the way, we fit in a Dodgers
ballgame (thanks, guys!), a side-trip to Hollywood and the Santa Monica
Pier
via Sunset Blvd, and a day at the Point Dume beach. The trip is
photo-documented here.
Claudius and I teamed up with a huge crew of folks who met via
telemarktips.com to ski the Ptarmigan Glacier near Flattop Mountain in
Rocky
Mountain National Park just outside of Estes Park, Colorado. You can
find the
photo slide show for our day here.
In a desperate attempt to include myself in some of the skiing fun that many of the folks I know seem to be enjoying this year, I set out from Albuquerque with a couple of my bc skiing partners, Claudius Freiherr von Schwerin and Jim Brainard, to spend the weekend biking and skiing near Leadville, CO on the weekend of the 4th.
We ended up hooking up with the inimitable TOMSKI from Telemarktips.com (thanks, Tom!) on Saturday, the 5th, for about 2000ft of vertical split between the east and west side of Dyer Mountain. It was kick-ass...
You can check out the photos of the ski-day here.
I was joined by several friends from California, Oregon, Colorado
and New Mexico for this mini-expedition to ski some NoCal volcanos.
The trip is documented in a trip
report. You can find the slide show for our Mt Shasta here,
and the corresponding photo trip report for Lassen Peak here.
Jack Hughes, a Massachusetts boy now living in Pagosa Springs, CO, hooked up with Claudius and me for a weekend skiing in the San Juans. It was an unusually warm weekend, which made it imperative to get good alpine starts. Both of the days we skied, it was up around 4am. Thankfully, things were suffiently stable to get out both days.
Getting out on May 17th meant a day at Ophir Pass, just a bit northwest of Silverton. Click here to view the file list for the photos from the day. You can find the slide show here.
The next day, Sunday May 18th, we drove to the American Basin
trailhead via
Cinnamon Pass on the recently-cleared 4wd road between Silverton and
Lake
City, CO and skied Handies Peak, a relatively low 14'er. Thankfully, it
snowed lightly the entire time we were in the mountains that day; this
snowfall was accompanied by a stiff wind. Both of these factors,
combined
with our early start, contributed to our ability to accomplish our
goal. Click
here to view the
file list for the photos from the day. Of course, the slide show is here.
Michael Fratrick and I spent a morning riding in the soon-to-be off-limits Otero Canyon area. We rode the road from my house to the lower Otero Canyon trailhead on Hwy 337 just a bit south of the Village of Tijeras, then ducked into the woods for a *killer* one-way ride back to the house via the Mars Court trailhead (in the Tranquillo Pines neighborhood). The ride include single track all the way from the lower trailhead to the abandoned Manzano Fire Tower, a trip up the tower itself, then a mostly two-track ride to the road. Click here to view the file list for the photos from the day.
If your browser is Java-enabled, try the slide show.
You can probably understand, now, how disappointing it is that we're
on the
verge of losing this beautiful area to a Kirtland Air Force Base fence
installation.
Claudius Freiherr von Schwerin organized this sweet trip to the Mountain Belle Hut adjacent to Red Mountain Pass, which lies between Silverton and Ouray in southwest Colorado. Kristen and I were joined by Claudius and Jim Brainard, along with a couple of Claudius's friends, Matt and Will (whose last names I never learned) for the three day foray. Click here to view the file list for the photos from the entire trip.
If your browser is Java-enabled, try the slide
show.
A fairly healthy group of us ventured up into the Santa Fe backcountry to ski some of the more interesting terrain outside of the Santa Fe Ski Basin. The cast included: Spike (No, what's your real name?) Lynch, now residing in Taos, Rob Pease, Bob Lee, Claudius Freiherr von Schwerin, and Jim Brainard from Albuquerque, and, last but most certainly not least, Bob Lee from Santa Fe. Click here to view the file list for the photos from the entire trip.
If your browser is Java-enabled, try the slide show.
Too little time for a write-up just yet. Briefly, I spent two weeks in BC skiing with some old and newly-made friends---most of them from Boulder, Colorado.
The first week, we worked our way up to Golden, BC via Nelson and Revelstoke. We skied the first two days in the backcountry adjacent to Whitewater Ski Area just outside Nelson. Then, we did a transfer day to Revelstoke via Halcyon Hot Springs, and, stationed in Revvy, skied two days at Rogers Pass.
The next phase of the trip took us to the Fairy Meadows Hut (owned and adminstered by the Alpine Club of Canada), which we accessed via a helicopter. Click here to view the file list for the photos from the entire trip.
If your browser is Java-enabled, try the slide show.
Oh, and if you're interested in the full set of photos (including
both
large and small formats), click here
to
download the gzip'd tar file of the directory tree.
Another directory listing. Sorry. Click here to view the file list.
Oh, and again, for those of your who are Java-enabled, try the slide
show.
You know that this is just going to be a brief peek at the photos
via a
directory listing. Click
here to view the file list.
Kristen and I went for our second long weekend trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in as many years. Click here for the trip report; the photo directories of the experience are here (many of them are annotated).
Now for a collection of shots of my daughter. All of them are from last year (2000/2001):
Kal's been taking piano lessons for three years. She enjoys it, even
though she's not what I'd term a dedicated student.
I've gotten her interested in camping. Here's a shot taken during a car camping excursion late last summer outside of Taos, NM.
Our at-home Saturday routine includes a trip to the Stone Age climbing gym in Albuquerque. Here's a shot of her bouldering, and one of her on a top-roped climb.
This past winter (2001) was a fairly wet one. Here's Kalle posing with and riding her sled in our driveway. In these, she's skiing a groomer and her first set of bumps at Taos Ski Valley. Finally, it's time for a lunch break where she gets to mug for the camera in The Phoenix at TSV.
Here are a couple of holiday shots: (1) Kalle opening her Christmas presents; and, (2) participating in puzzle-building on her ninth birthday, which is the day after Christmas.
Finally, here are some photos from her June 4, 2001 piano recital.
In this
one, she takes a bow
before proceeding with the business of the day; Here
she is finishing up her performance.
As I mentioned, skiing is the thing I spend most of my spare resources doing. Since I live in New Mexico, Taos Ski Valley is the place where I do most of my in-area skiing. Here's a shot of some of the crew that I hang with.
I also do some backcountry skiing with friends (click on photos for
comments)...
| Backcountry Skiing Photos 2000/2001 |
|---|
 Christmas
week
in Utah with
host Klaus
Biggars |
| A
mid-February
day trip outside the Santa
Fe Ski Basin |
| A
long weekend
in late February in Nelson,
BC |
| May
19th
skiing Lake
Fork Peak in the Williams Lake cirque outside Taos Ski Valley with Jim
Bailey and
Spike Lynch. (Oh, click here
to view the
directory.) |
In March, 2001, I spent 10 days skiing in Chamonix, France with
fellow
Albuquerque resident, Jim Bailey, and Roger Ghanem. Click here
for a
relatively short story on all of that transpired.
This trip is one I took in March 2000 to Chamonix, France. Click here
for the
story.
The first Saturday of October, several friends and I (left to right in the photo are: Kristen Connally, Me, Mark Fratrick, Rob Pease, Chrissy Pease, and Eric Basha) got together to celebrate the crisp Fall weather by hiking Wheeler Peak, which at 13,161ft, is New Mexico's tallest mountain. Being the inveterate shutter-bug that I seem to have become, I took a bunch of photos documenting the day. Click here to check them out.
Two weeks later, Kristen and I were joined by Christine and Morgan, some friends from Northern Virginia, for a long weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. Click here for the trip report and photos of the experience.
Finally, on November 9th, a group of us (Rob Pease, Michael
Fratrick,
Anthony Harris and I) did a dayhike up Pino Canyon in the Sandia
Mountains. Click
here for the trip
photos from that day.
My house is about a 15 minute road ride from some killer mountain
biking.
The last weekend of September a group of friends, Rob Pease, Michael
Fratrick,
Jeff Dorwart, and Brent Leslie, rendezvoused with me at my place for a
five-hour extravaganza in the Cedro Peak and Otero Canyon areas in
Albuquerque's East Mountain area. Click here
for a photo
mini-diary of that day.
A fellow has to stay multi-faceted. Click
here for a briefing on my Fall 2001 fishing trip to the Texas
coast.
There was a time when I devoted more time and energy to doing
write-ups of
some of the adventures that I inevitably find myself participating in. Click here for the
directory
containing some of them. (Note that I've shamelessly stolen some of
them from
other authors.)
Have you found yourself in Albuquerque and in need of a massage? Don't worry, most of us who live here are in almost constant need of one if for no other reason than having to deal with all the crazy drivers. Anyway, a friend, Debbie Risberg, has just obtained her massage therapy license (Temp #1336 for those of you out there who track those things), and I'm sure that she'd appreciate your business. You can reach Debbie via the telephone at 363-4622, or 292-9310, and at her email address. Enjoy!
Finding a contractor in Albuquerque who's self-motivated, takes pride in his work, and is good at what he does is like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, when I had to have some work done on my place, I ran across a gentleman named Ron Holser who's all the above. If you're planning on having some work done yourself, give Ron a call at 250-3125. I'm sure that you won't be disappointed.
You know what I'm talking about: You need some killer bean, but
you're
stuck in the desert Southwest, where, if you judge by the espresso
machine
density, good coffee is darn near impossible to come by. Don't let the
fact
that Seattle is a thousand miles away get you down; you can find just
what
you're looking for at Moon's Coffee and Tea on Juan Tabo, just north of
Constitution (in the same shopping center as Ski Systems). They roast
daily,
have a large coffee and tea selection---both in varietals and, for
coffee,
roasts---and a bunch of coffee and tea accessories. Their telephone
number is
271-2633, or you can visit their website.
