Your Feat » Cece Wildeman

Sneak Peek: CSU rock wall rocks Your Feat

Cece Wildeman — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:12:14 +0000

Straight up route six. Photo courtesy of Rodney Ley.

CSU is about to have something very special! Tomorrow (Sunday, March 21) The Outdoor Program at CSU will open the climbing wall at the rec center. The climbing facilities have a bouldering wall with heights from 12 feet to 14 feet and the rope wall boasts 14 ropes with 2 routes each with the highest route reaching to 38 feet!

It sounds amazing. But I can tell you first-hand that it is. Yesterday, the nice folks at the Outdoor Program let me and Matt hang out and play on the nearly-untouched wall for 2 hours or so. We used the top ropes, did a rapell and played around on the bouldering wall.

The routes were set by the ten student staff members for the wall. For all you ladies out there, I suggest you try the orange route on the North side of the wall. Don’t worry, it’s labeled “Chicks Dig It” so it’s easy to find. I dug it! Matt will be back at the wall on the expert route on the West side. As the first to attempt it, he wasn’t able to make it to the top but he said it gives him a project to work on! Now here’s some sneak peek pics for you guys!

: Here I am on the rapell from the ledge at 36 feet

: Here is Matt playing around on the “expert route.”

Decisions decisions: Yellowstone or Fort Collins

Cece Wildeman — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:45:39 +0000

Let me tell you about one more way my whole life is up in the air! Ok…maybe I am being dramatic. But in the midst of getting ready for a big upcoming trip to Kenya (check the blog to read about my adventures!) I have one more decision to make. Even though I really think the fates or the universe or whoever already made it for me, I’m still going to act like I am contemplating.

Logic vs. freedom is the debate here.

I found out this week that I got a job in Yellowstone for the summer which I had applied for in quite the frenzy one day when I was feeling illogical and restless. Buuuuutttt…now I have to think and think about if I should:

A) go to Yellowstone this summer and take a heavy class load next year. AKA Live free now to die later

B) Take summer classes and fit in other fun Colorado stuff and have a moderate load next year. AKA live freeish now to live freeish later!

Boo school!

Stay tuned for what I decide.

The trees are watching you…wilderness webcams

Cece Wildeman — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:07:23 +0000

Something sad happened today! Just now, in fact. So, I know the blog has been filled with Yellowstoney stuff lately but I have one more for you. Today at the store I picked up this month’s Backpacker and found a short article in it about the possibility of webcams all over the backcountry in Yellowstone…ewwww! Didn’t I just finish saying how the backcountry of this awesome park was wild, untouched and you couldn’t be bothered? I thought so…but I guess I was just plain wrong! If webcams in the backcountry happen, there will truly be no escape anymore. Sure, they say, you shouldn’t care if you’re not breaking the rules or being unsafe, but that’s a lie! I still care that eyes are watching me when I don’t want them to be. And that I can’t ever be trusted. And, oh yeah, that BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING ME! I don’t think it’s about rules. And I don’t think it’s about safety. It’s about a lack of trust and a sad lack of respect that people have for nature.

I say: Please leave me alone in the backcountry big brother! What do you guys think?

Why Yellowstone Rocks! That’s all.

Cece Wildeman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:11:34 +0000

In 2007 I was graduating high school and getting ready to come up to CSU. One night, I was annoyed with my high school friends and told my mom I couldn’t stand the thought of hanging out with them for three more months. Don’t worry, I got over it as soon as I wasn’t sitting in their dirty basements on the weekends anymore. Anyways, my mom told me that I should apply to work in Yellowstone, which she did when she was 18. And so I did!

A few weeks later, I got a fat envelope in the mail (fat envelopes= success!) and I was preparing for my summer in Yellowstone. Now, some people might not think of Yellowstone as being wild, untouched, unexplored, etc. But I have to tell you that it is!

We all know that about a bajillion tourists pass through every year, mostly to hang out their cars and take pictures of buffalo. But, what we all don’t know is that most of these buffalo-lovin tourists don’t go more than a mile from the road. If you dare go a mile off the road in Yellowstone, you’re all alone out there! Last summer, my roomate and I did a three day backpacking trip and didn’t see ANYONE until we were a mile from the road again.

So, you see, it is wild, untouched, and unexplored. Now, for some other things I LOVE about Yellowstone:

- The Yellowstone/Teton area has the best stars, hands down, I have ever seen.

- Yellowstone rivers are the best for swimming! I have searched and searched and haven’t found any that compare.

- Buffalo traffic jams are a legitimate reason to be late to work.

- It doesn’t get dark until almost 10 o’clock!

- You have bad cell service. You have bad internet service. NO ONE CAN BOTHER YOU!…unless you choose to be bothered and go to one of the places with good cell service!

-Shadow Mountain. If you can find it, feel accomplished!

I am sure there is more reasons why Yellowstone rocks, but those are my reasons! If you haven’t gone there, go! It’s only about an 8 hour drive from here and well worth it. And..backpacking permits are free and plentiful.

Share your favorite national park pictures, stories and reasons with Your Feat readers. Submit on our contact page!

For all you restless souls like me!

Cece Wildeman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:58:01 +0000

Originally, my plan for this summer was to stay in Fort Collins, take a summer class and hike around here. But then I realized that I am just not that good at….I don’t really know how to put it…staying where I am!? So began my search for cool summer jobs! I applied to work in Yellowstone again, where I worked in 2007, I applied in Rocky Mountain Ntl. Park and at some places in Estes Park and I played with the idea of applying at summer camps in Maine.

I wanted to give you all the info you need to apply for cool jobs this summer too!

For Yellowstone, visit www.yellowstonejobs.com

For Rocky Mountain food service or retail jobs visit www.xanterra.com

For other cool jobs visit www.coolworks.com or www.backdoorjobs.com

Good luck to all you restless souls! And apply now because these jobs tend to fill up fast.

The skinny on A-Basin parking

Cece Wildeman — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:30:21 +0000

Last week I posted a story I had heard on the news about A-Basin charging for their “beach” parking. This morning, I gave Kimberly Trembearch, the marketing manager at A-Basin, a call and she gave me the facts. It turns out that the story I saw last week on the news was reported without all the facts, Trembearch said. She said A-Basin has always charged for their beach parking but have made a few changes, which include:

-They now have 9 reservable beach spots, opposed to the 6 they had before.

- The price is now $150 on the weekends instead of $100.

Trembearch said these changes were made because A-Basin is seeing more demand for these spots. She said the reservable spots make it easier for families who want a good spot or want to hang out at the car during the day but can’t get the kiddos up and out the door in time to get a good spot without reserving. When asked if A-Basin is thinking about charging for all their parking any time soon, she said: “That’s just not how we operate. We’re called the legend for a reason. We just want to make sure more people can have that experience.”

Calling all unwanted gear!!!

Cece Wildeman — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:34:59 +0000

Today I heard about a very cool non-profit in Fort Collins and they need your help! The non-profit: Homeless Gear. The mission: collect unwanted outdoor gear and re-distribute it to the homeless. This includes tents, sleeping bags and pads, rain gear, coats, boots, etc. If you are thinking about getting new gear, have an overload of outdoor gear or don’t need gear for any other reason, help out the Fort Collins community by donating unwanted gear to Homeless Gear.

See www.homelessgear.com for more information.

First Tracks at Eldora…what?

Cece Wildeman — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:28:21 +0000

Yesterday was definitely the best day at Eldora that I have experienced in the past two seasons. When you think “Eldora” you probably think “small, short runs, icy…” and all sorts of other fun things that come with skiing at a resort at low elevation. Literally, you can see the plains of eastern Colorado from the Eldora chairlifts. Some days, all these things are true. Yesterday, you may have thought we were boarding in Summit County. All the mountains got dumped on this weekend, including Eldora. I have my favorite tree-runs and got first tracks in parts yesterday. There wasn’t any waist-deep powder or anything, but getting first tracks at Eldora surprised me more than getting first tracks at A-basin or Keystone in the past. You just don’t really expect it there! Since I haven’t gotten a big-mountain pass in two years for various reasons, this little reminder of what it’s all about was refreshing.

We all know the skiing and boarding was awesome just about everywhere this weekend. Send your ski stories and photos to yourfeat.webmaster@gmail.com to be shared with Your Feat readers.

Why do ski resorts want to rip us off?

Cece Wildeman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:43:21 +0000

This weekend, I experienced a couple dissappointments due to our state’s ski resorts! First, my sisters took me to Breck for a 21st birthday celebration. My older sister has a time share at one of the lodges at the bottom of one of the runs, so we thought maybe we would go skiing. None of our passes include Breck, so our thoughts of skiing were quickly squashed when we found out that a one-day adult ticket is now $93. That’s 11 and a half hours of work at my food service job. Ridiculous!

Second, I was watching the news Sunday night at my parent’s house when the newscaster announced that one of Colorado’s ski resorts will soon be charging for their prime parking spots. I thought it would for sure be Vail. A lot of out-of-towners go there, it’s ritzy, maybe they don’t care as much about keeping it affordable (maybe they do, I don’t know for sure!). When the newscaster announced that it was A-Basin, I got mad. As a lot of you probably know, there is not much parking around A-Basin. The resort will now be charging….sit down if you’re not…$100 for a spot on “the beach” Monday through Thursday and $150 for the same spots on the weekends. Ridiculous again! To me, it’s sad that the crazy increase in prices of skiing will probably soon prevent me from doing a sport I have loved since childhood.

Click here for the Associated Press story on the A-Basin parking. There was no info on the A-Basin Web site about the parking situation. Check back for more on this story.

Backpacking Buddy

Cece Wildeman — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:33:37 +0000

My friend Kaeli has just returned from Chile where she was studying abroad and falling in love with backpacking. I ran into her in the LSC the other day and she started to tell me all about it. Chile definitely blew her mind! She said I have to backpack there…so it sounds like that’s on my to-do list now. Even after all of this talk about beautiful Chile, Kaeli mostly wants to stay here and backpack Colorado this summer, which was my plan for the summer too! I’m sure you can picture that moment when you know you’ve found a hiking, climbing, paddling, camping buddy: the conversation starts out slow and then as you realize you have the same goals, your voices rise to excitement and plans are made. Since all but two of my friends and my boyfriend are graduating in May, I thought I was going to be feeling a little deserted this summer as they all moved away and became grown ups. Making backpacking plans with Kaeli was such a relief and now I am anxious to get back out on the trails. I have to be honest here, I haven’t done a ton of exploring in Colorado. I have camped and visited a lot of mountain towns, but I am definitely not familiar with many trails. Do you guys have any awesome backpacking trip recommendations?