In 2011, I spent a significant portion of the year working in the San Luis Valley around Alamosa in Southern Colorado and quite a few of my images reflect my time spent in that area of the state. However, I continued to explore the wild spaces around “home” in the central mountains of Colorado. It seems every time I go hiking in the wilderness that is right outside my backyard, I see more spots off the beaten track that I want to explore. Just the mountains of Central Colorado could keep a hiker busy for a lifetime, not to mention all the other backpacking opportunities that abound in the American West! I typically shoot landscapes, but I included a few images of backcountry skiing and snowboarding. The majority of my skiing in 2011 year was around the Wolf Creek Pass area on the Eastern side of the San Juan Mountains but I did make it over to Silverton where the mountains are so big and rugged I imagined I had been somehow magically transported to Alaska!