Now I just need to add some text...

...and more...

...this last Sunday I hiked up Belleview again with some folks, and this time summited.  The snow had melted amazingly fast in the interim.

Talus slope

Mount Avery and other peaks in the distance

One of the Maroon Bells is the freaky triangular peak in the back right; I wanna climb it...

Clouds and mountains as seen from the summit of Belleview, at 12,473ft.

The group

About to traverse under the dangerous cornice, in order to glissade down the bowl

The cornice

Going under the cornice; what looks like stars is the snow melting off the cornice and dripping down like a curtain of rain

Recent mountain happenings...

We hiked up Bellvue last Sunday.  Things have been too busy since then to write about it or any other recent happenings.  Lots of science work now that the Enquist lab 'macrobus' (actually not a bus but a Suburban, and the 'macro' stand for macroecology) has arrived, along with Ben and Lindsey, two of Dr. Enquist's graduate students.

The Bellvue hike was pretty fantastic.  The road up to the easier approach route was closed, so we had to take the steep way.  It was WAY steeper than the photos do justice.

Beginning of route

View from higher up

Snow melt streams on Mt. Baldy, opposite Bellvue

Tarns at the base of Bellvue

View of East River Valley, location of Gothic

Once we hit the snowfields, we had to use our simple crampons and kick-step our way up.  Coming down, I fell once, having to use my ice-ax.

Beginning of snowfields

Close-up of snowfield

About to move from scree to snowfields

Thank goodness for ice-axes

Trudging through the kick-steps

The beauty of ice