not really a deepfreeze...

but definitely an overnight! MOC continues to add participants--nine students went up the mountain this year, three more than last. of course it may have helped that we switched venues to the cabin with heat. still, we had to haul our wood. to help with that, dave wilson and i went half way up cardigan on saturday (saturday and sunday were both definitely deeply freezing at twenty below and i was glad we were hiking on monday and tuesday). we cut and split two big chunks from a maple blowdown i had taken out of the ski trail two years ago. the managable pieces were all the more so being a mile closer, and uphill, to the cabin.

elizabeth, ben, max, tori, olivia, andrew, maia, and her mom all gathered monday at noon, the sun just starting to loose the sky to heavy clouds rolling in from the west, bringing a storm with it. i divided the common food and extra water among everybody and they humped their packs, said bye to parents, and took off, sleds trailing behind. those of us who didn't start with them, donned spikes at the junction of the south and west ridges. our foreign student, a city boy from russia, looked quite happy wearing lethal weapons on his feet.

our next stop was the wood pile by the side of the trail--only i had to call them back as they walked right by, even after a heads up warning. we put 4-5 pieces into empty feed bags and loaded up the sleds and continued. to avoid the 'waterfall' section, we detoured up the skitrail. it was just as steep but without the ice. we took another breather at the 'amc east' cairn and sign where i introduced the snow-ball toilet paper trick to them--telling, not showing. when i told them of spending a winter without tp, they all looked doubtful, until one brave soul said she "would have to try that."

from there, after just a bit more up, we started down to the high cabin, holding our sleds back rather than dragging them. a couple of brave souls sat atop their pile and cowboy-ed it down until they crashed. less than a half-mile later we got to the cabin and opened it up, dumped our bags and the wood, and headed for the summit. up on top, belly sliding conditions were excellent!

on the way to the top i had showed the sledders a hidden stash my ski buddies and i call "the shute" and they had hitched their rides to a tree at the top of it. we headed there to pick those up and i pointed them down the snowy line, snaking through the stunted trees. julia and i went around and met the gang at the bottom of the shute--all with big smiles on their faces! we had a bunch more whoops and hollers as we rode down to the cabin.

the fire was lit, dinner cooked up, and card games started around the table. before long, graeme and conner stomped in from the dark. it was quite comfy inside as everybody tucked into their sleeping bags. when i went out one last time, it was snowing hard and a couple of inches had already built up. the next time i visited the outdoors about 2, the snow was changing to ice pellets. laying in bed in the dim of 6 o'clock i could hear the ice had shifted to rain. sure enough when i got outside, it was wet with a good crust on last night's snow.

a hearty breakfast was waiting for the 5 that went for the summit again and the others who stayed to sleep a bit more. the climbers never actually made it as the wind was really starting to whip and the rain was half frozen as it pelted them. or maybe it was the fact that they couldn't see too far in the cloud the summit was in. cleaned up and packed, we started down in the steady rain, sledding where we could and sloshing through some deep slush in the low spots.

by the time we got to the winter parking lot and waiting parents--only twenty minutes 'late'--we were pretty much soaked wherever we were not waterproofed. again though, we shared some big smiles!

 it was a fine outing for the club...

over an inch of rain fell the rest of the day--which inspired a bit of fun on wednesday. nobody stopped with any offers.