On Sunday, March 7, 2004, James and I drove up to Indian Peaks Wilderness to climb Mt. Audobon.  It was to be a ~11 mile day with a 4 mile ski in and out with about 1.5 miles spent climbing the mountain each way. The ski in took us 3 hours, getting to the summit another 4, and descending and skiing back to the car took 4 more.  All in all an 11 hour day.  Boy was I hurting.  Having a job has taken all fitness from me.  Mt. Autobon is 13,223 feet high. We didn't do the normal route, we did something like the south east ridge or maybe the south ridge.  It was pretty cool.  There was a large snow pillow at one point on the ridge we had to skirt around due to avalanche danger.  The winds had been blowing hard for 1.5 days, and avalanche danger was rated 'considerable' the day before.  Additionally we were climbing the leeward side of the mountain where the slabs were accumulating. 

	James attacking the trail.  See how the snow is stuck to the sides of the trees?  That's from all the wind in the preceding days.
	Me crossing a bridge that is so full of snow, we skied across above the railing.  I almost fell over the railing coming back in the dusk.
	In the vicinity of Brainard lake, James is breaking trail. See the numerous large snow drifts?  See the spindrift?  Very high winds.  It took James 1 hour to go from where I'm standing to where he is now.
	Large snow drifts bury signs.  If the signs are buried then you don't have to obey them.  This sign says 'do not' but we did anyway.
	Very windy lake. (Mitchell Lake)  You can't see the wind blowing the snow here, but it is, and it's blowing hard.
	Dropping glove bad.  Dropping glove means fetching glove.
	Dropping glove also means watching glove be fetched.  Do you see anything wrong with this caption?
	James.  Outside the top left is the avalanche slope.  If it weren't for the avalanche slope, we would have ascended behind James where the slope is easier.
	The slope above.  Here it's rocky with no avalanche danger.
	Not there yet. Only 3.5 more hours to the summit, whew!
	Still not there yet. Maybe 3.25 hours to the summit now.
	James
	James on the ridge. 2.5 hours to the summit.
	James.
	Yep.
	Fun couloir to cross. Lots of steep snow and no gaitors. Cool.
	If I said this was Pee Wee Herman scrambling on Mt. Audobon in his boxers, James would never wear those white boots again, so I won't say it.
	The upper mountain. 20 minutes to the summit. I'm out of water now.
	Mt. Audobon Summit.  Long's Peak (left) and Mt. Meeker (right) in the back.
	Summit again.
	James at the summit. Mt. Toll is above James' head. Navajo peak is the sharp triangular one to the left of James' head. The peak on the left, with the broad summit stretching from left to right and three ridges from our ridge is Arapahoe Peak.
	Me at overlook.
	Sunset approaches. We're just off Mt. Audobon, now we have to ski out 4 miles. I have termed finishing in the dark an alpine finish and prefer it over an alpine start.  Normal people are awake from dusk to 10 pm so it's easier to finish in the dark if there's no technical climbing left. Normal people aren't awake at 4 am and starting in the wee hours of the morning is unnatural.  Alpine starts are horrible.
	Getting our skis on just as it gets dark.
	A sporting Alpine Finish to a hard day's work.