Thursday Adventure: Ten Years Ago in Telluride

Mountaineering and canyoneering and climbing are all very nice, but the best part of adventures in the mountains is sharing them with someone you love.  Tomorrow marks ten years of marriage to the best climbing partner I could ever ask for: my husband Robert.

Robert and I on the Eggersteig route in the Austrian Alps

We first met in graduate school, when his PhD advisor came over from Australia to do a year-long sabbatical working with my own advisor at the University of Colorado, and had Robert come over to the US to spend a few months working here.  As a climber & mountain biker, Robert was quite eager to explore Colorado mountains; when he asked, everyone pointed him my way ("You want to climb?  Go ask Courtney, she's all about the mountains.").  I met him on my birthday - best birthday present ever!  We climbed a bunch of peaks that summer, and discovered we not only shared a love of the mountains, but of science fiction/fantasy movies and novels, gothic/industrial and classical choral music, and all manner of other interests.  We fell in love...but then he had to go back to Australia to finish his PhD.

Robert and I in Orderville Canyon, in Zion National Park

  We weren't sure what the future would bring, but we didn't want to just give up on the connection we'd made - so for a year and a half, we did the long-distance relationship thing, emailing every day, calling twice a week (how I wish we'd had Skype back then!).  Far from waning with time, our relationship got stronger.  I left grad school after getting my M.S. to work in industry; when he finished his PhD, my former advisor offered him a post-doc position in Boulder, and at last we were able to be together again.

Robert and I backpacking near Snowmass Peak, in the Elk Range of  central Colorado

A few more years of hiking and climbing together, and he proposed to me: again on my birthday, on the summit of a local rock formation with a stunning view of Boulder.  We decided to have a small "destination" wedding in Telluride, one of our favorite places to hike and ski in Colorado.  We invited people to come down a few days early and hike with us; we had a wonderful time hanging out with our friends, and showing Robert's Australian relatives the beauty of Colorado.

Hiking together in Telluride the day before our wedding

The wedding itself was tons of fun - we had the ceremony in a beautiful little church in town, then walked with all our guests to the ski gondola and rode that over the mountain to a reception in the upper ski village.      

Dancing on Telluride's main street on our wedding day

With our wedding guests at the reception

Exiting the church

Ten years of wonderful adventures together, and I'm looking forward to many more!