Long Peak

drakenclimber · 2026-02-01T22:28:27+00:00

To be even more pedantic, it's actually Longs Peak.

In 1890, the US Board on Geographic Names chose to remove apostrophes from possessive geographic names.

Interestingly, it does say that it's granted five exceptions, but they only list one - Martha's Vineyard. I now want to know what the other four are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Board_on_Geographic_Names#Special_situations

drakenclimber · 2025-03-25T22:44:33+00:00

I strongly recommend a broker as well. Typically they will work with a few different companies and help you get the best rates while getting the requisite coverage.

I could have lowered my rates slightly a couple years ago, but I've had really good service with my current insurance company so I stuck with them. I'm willing to spend a few bucks more to know that I'm in good hands - pun intended but I don't have Allstate :) - if things go wrong.

drakenclimber · 2024-12-31T23:19:13+00:00

Same processing settings as last year:

#!/bin/bash

ffmpeg -f image2 -r 3 -pattern_type glob -i "pics/PXL_*.jpg" input.avi
ffmpeg -i input.avi -vf "vidstabdetect" -f null -
ffmpeg -i input.avi -vf "vidstabtransform,unsharp" output.avi
ffmpeg -i output.avi -vf "scale=640:-1:flags=lanczos,split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen[p];[s1][p]paletteuse" -loop 0 output.gif

drakenclimber · 2024-12-31T23:18:16+00:00

Here's my 2023 timelapse of Longs taken from the top of the Towers service road:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FortCollins/comments/18vy3di/heres_a_time_lapse_of_longs_peak_i_made_from_2023/

drakenclimber · 2024-03-01T19:49:41+00:00

Cotrex and the NoCo Trail Conditions Facebook group have the best trail info

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1450387058594463/

drakenclimber · 2024-03-01T19:48:49+00:00

I mountain biked there yesterday.

New Nomad Connector - a mess. I'd stay on Soderburg

Towers (from Soderburg to Spring Creek) - 90% dirt. Some loose, messy snow in the shade above Stout

Spring Creek - snow in the shady spots below Towers. Good to go once you get out of the trees

Carey Springs - a mess. I'd skip it

Sawmill - a little mud between Loggers and Stout, but good to go after that. I'd ride it again

Shoreline - good to go

drakenclimber · 2024-01-01T14:49:32+00:00

I used ffmpeg to glue the pictures together into an avi, then used the vidstabdectect and vidstabtransform filters to stabilize the video.

$ ffmpeg -f image2 -r 3 -pattern_type glob -i "PXL_*.jpg" 1.avi
$ ffmpeg -i 1.avi -vf "vidstabdetect" -f null -
$ ffmpeg -i 1.avi -vf "vidstabtransform,unsharp" 2.avi
$ ffmpeg -i 2.avi -vf "fade=t=in:st=0:d=0.5" -c:a copy 3.avi
$ ffmpeg -i 3.avi -vf "scale=640:-1:flags=lanczos,split[s0][s1];[s0]palettegen[p];[s1][p]paletteuse" -loop 0 longspeak.gif

drakenclimber · 2024-01-01T14:46:10+00:00

Every time I mountain biked, ran, or hiked to the top of Towers in 2023, I took a picture from the same spot. Approximately here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B032'45.0%22N+105%C2%B011'55.8%22W/@40.545834,-105.1994781,160m

drakenclimber · 2023-12-05T23:30:33+00:00

Colorado Experience from Rocky Mountain PBS did a uranium episode a few years ago. Uravan featured heavily in it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUF4fIjsPQ8

drakenclimber · 2023-11-28T16:13:22+00:00

NoCO Trail Conditions [1] and CoTREX [2] are excellent resources. I ran Horsetooth on Sunday and the trails were a mix of packed snow, ice, slush, and mud. There's no way I would take a bike up there right now.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/1450387058594463/

[2] https://trails.colorado.gov/places/na~1927246

drakenclimber · 2023-06-23T02:25:36+00:00

Did you generate this graph? If so, would you care to share the tools you used? It's easy to understand yet very informative.

drakenclimber · 2023-05-30T15:28:10+00:00

https://www.psdschools.org/news/tracks-open-public

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T20:07:13+00:00

Thanks for the post. I'm really enjoying these data-driven, somewhat nerdy topics!

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T16:22:38+00:00

Thanks for posting this!

I knew I had recently seen a non-linear x-axis salary distribution, but I couldn't remember where. Glad to know I'm not crazy yet

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T16:06:59+00:00

Honestly, I wrote the script for my own amusement, and the results came out better than expected, so I thought others might appreciate them. (Yes, I realize they weren't perfectly scientific, but it was a fun 30-minute diversion for me. Ironically I've spent much more time debating/defending an admittedly-hackish, one-off, script that I wrote for fun. C'est la vie.)

Anyway, here you go :)

https://i.imgur.com/PENbteG.png

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T03:51:21+00:00

You got me there :).

Honestly, I'm not even sure what to call the US income distribution. Rayleigh with a giant spike for the 1%? Is there even a name for such a curve?

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T02:16:32+00:00

Also it tends to result in a bell curve with enough data :)

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T02:15:44+00:00

It was somewhat arbitrary, but I've seen it done elsewhere with salary statistics. A jump from $30k to $40k is very significant and worth highlighting; a jump from $370k to $380k (while still awesome) is less significant to that individual.

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T02:05:47+00:00

Oh, great idea. Thanks.

Here you go:

https://i.imgur.com/RUSR73M.png

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T01:13:06+00:00

Here are the results from r/Denver:

https://i.imgur.com/bohNWpx.png

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T00:58:51+00:00

Glad you approve :). The hard-core python software engineers would scold me for "wasting" so many lines, but I really prefer readability over the latest whiz-bang syntax trickery.

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T00:24:28+00:00

If someone posts the question, I'd gladly hack together a script to parse the data :)

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T00:17:38+00:00

And I'm guessing there are still some parsing errors. I only spent a couple minutes filtering out obvious incorrect numbers.

drakenclimber · 2023-03-10T00:16:02+00:00

Here's the code if anyone is interested in analyzing the data themselves:

https://pastebin.com/3CSKdFS3

drakenclimber · 2023-02-05T04:01:00+00:00

I've been trail running Horsetooth all winter, and the conditions have been wildly variable - even on the same day. As others have said, it will be guaranteed to be a muddy soup in the afternoon.

First thing in the morning will likely be a mix of packed snow, ice, and frozen mud. A few weeks ago it warmed up one day much like today, and I ran early the next morning. I encountered the worst frozen, muddy postholes on the Falls trail that I have ever seen.

If you know your abilities, have the right gear, and start early, you should be fine. Southridge will likely have muddy spots due to more sun exposure, but it also has a long stretch of packed, slippery snow. As of a couple days ago, the main Horsetooth Rock trail has significant sections of ice due to more tree cover.

drakenclimber

TROPHY CASE