After years of saying I would go to Shoshone and paddle on New Years Day, I woke up January 1, 2008 on the floor, completely hung in friend's parent's house, 200 miles from Glenwood Springs.  Yet this year I had a secret weapon.  This little lady was there and not willing to take "ughhh, blargh, ugh" for an answer (even though I offered it several times).  So for your chilled viewing pleasure - a shot of us at the putin with long shadows just before darkness at 30 degrees or so.

So during the weeks before, Matt Soloman, Hobie and company from Vail talked a bunch of shit about running Barrel Springs.  We all know what happened there - they got cold and didn't even take a look.  I know this because while scouting Maria mentioned that ours were the only foot prints in the 1' deep snow.  Plus there were ice undercuts everywhere, pretty much necessitating a scout.  I must say it was intense putting in knowing that the ice shelves on either bank were undercut and 2' tall.  There was definitely no escape from the river should anything happen in the below freezing temps.  The water was crazy too.  As soon as it would pool, it would freeze into slushy consistency, but then in the rapids the kinetic energy would re-melt it.  This pic of me is at the takeout and you can see that the sun has set and my pfd is a frozen sheet of ice.  We couldn't get them off and had to drive to a gas station in Glenwood in full gear to melt and change.  Thank God for the adjacent springs and Vicco's Charcoburger.  
Just for comparison sake, I figured I'd post a shot of us the next day powder skiing the Taint.