In March of this year, several Alpine Shop staff were selected for a trip out west. Let's call it "product testing". Two of the activities included snowshoeing and backcountry skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park in the old Hidden Valley ski area. Holding the flag is pro athlete, Fabrizio Zangrilli, and Alpine Shop Columbia store manager, Brennan VanMatre . We snowshoed up from the main parking area 9,500 ft to around 11,000 ft ele., swapped snowshoes for skiis from our packs, and skiied back down. Getting down took no time at all compared to the hike up, of course.
The picture to the right displays our ice climbing experience on Hidden Falls. I would have to say the ice climbing was one of the coolest things I have done in my life. It definitely helped to have someone who knew what they are doing and guided my efforts.
This blog thread will kick off our posts called "Where's the Flag". The Alpine Shop flag will travel around the world with different people and the blogs will tell it's story. Stay tuned for more photos as the flag has a few more to tell already.
