and much warmer/easier going up than coming down!
this year's crew--ten students and kendra our school social worker, made the MOC deepfreeze overnight up smarts mtn.
it is always interesting to see what kids deem necessary for a winter trip to an unheated cabin on the top of a mountain. even the ones who have been there before, and/or pay any attention to the printed info i give out or advice they hear at a meeting, bring or forget things that surprise me. fortunately, nobody has repeated the axe body spray incident from a number years back--at least that horror story seems to work. and now that i think of it, there have been no alcohol, drug, or tobacco episodes in almost 10 years. but, every year peculiar items show up, some that make me smile, some that make me scratch my head.
this year was a big smile year! nick brought his drone and flew it up at lunch rocks, even filming us.
there were a few glitches on the scratch my head side of things, but the weather and our approach brought us back safe. we worked around the micro-spikes liz left at julia's when repacking. had we known, i actually had an extra pair in the truck. christian, thankfully you got by without the gloves you left in lincoln's car. and torey and jordan, what's the big deal about not having a bowl, spoon, or cup to eat and drink with--we are all friends, we can share.
one thing that has never been a problem has been the sleeping gear. only once have i lent out the extra bag i bring along, just in case. this year was warm--record breaking even--than usual, but atop a mtn it is regularly colder than down in the valley, and then there is the wind. a crew of four decided that they wanted to brave the tower despite torey's story of a fairly sleepless, windy, frigid night last year. in the cabin at least we didn't have to worry about frozen water this year, but it did dip into the teens °F at the coldest part of the early morning.
we got breakfast going around 7:00a and the tower sleepers came in soon after. everybody helped out with the morning tasks and soon enough we were packed, cleaned, and on the porch for the iconic cabin picture. dirk set up his GoPro and we all smiled--that's christian's best chernobyl smile.
the lower temps, hardened--and significantly slicked up--yesterday's soft ice making for an epic decent. while the agile, be-spiked among us made it down in good time, it took quite a bit longer for the slow and cautious. since last night, i was wondering what the river crossing would be like and hoped the lead group would scout out a decent crossing.
when kendra got to open water, she smiled big, "this is so awesome!"
downstream of this picture, with a good stretch for her smaller inseam, we made it across without falling in.
from the river out, it is a mile and a half slog, only this time with ice. fresh snow falling, step by slippery step, we made it to the truck. dirk and justin had left early with their parents, which made me happy considering the missed-pickup last year. another group had left with julia. the final group pulled out just ahead of kendra and me.
everybody seemed pretty satisfied with our 'going out and playing!'
this year's crew--ten students and kendra our school social worker, made the MOC deepfreeze overnight up smarts mtn.
it is always interesting to see what kids deem necessary for a winter trip to an unheated cabin on the top of a mountain. even the ones who have been there before, and/or pay any attention to the printed info i give out or advice they hear at a meeting, bring or forget things that surprise me. fortunately, nobody has repeated the axe body spray incident from a number years back--at least that horror story seems to work. and now that i think of it, there have been no alcohol, drug, or tobacco episodes in almost 10 years. but, every year peculiar items show up, some that make me smile, some that make me scratch my head.
this year was a big smile year! nick brought his drone and flew it up at lunch rocks, even filming us.
there were a few glitches on the scratch my head side of things, but the weather and our approach brought us back safe. we worked around the micro-spikes liz left at julia's when repacking. had we known, i actually had an extra pair in the truck. christian, thankfully you got by without the gloves you left in lincoln's car. and torey and jordan, what's the big deal about not having a bowl, spoon, or cup to eat and drink with--we are all friends, we can share.
one thing that has never been a problem has been the sleeping gear. only once have i lent out the extra bag i bring along, just in case. this year was warm--record breaking even--than usual, but atop a mtn it is regularly colder than down in the valley, and then there is the wind. a crew of four decided that they wanted to brave the tower despite torey's story of a fairly sleepless, windy, frigid night last year. in the cabin at least we didn't have to worry about frozen water this year, but it did dip into the teens °F at the coldest part of the early morning.
we got breakfast going around 7:00a and the tower sleepers came in soon after. everybody helped out with the morning tasks and soon enough we were packed, cleaned, and on the porch for the iconic cabin picture. dirk set up his GoPro and we all smiled--that's christian's best chernobyl smile.
the lower temps, hardened--and significantly slicked up--yesterday's soft ice making for an epic decent. while the agile, be-spiked among us made it down in good time, it took quite a bit longer for the slow and cautious. since last night, i was wondering what the river crossing would be like and hoped the lead group would scout out a decent crossing.
when kendra got to open water, she smiled big, "this is so awesome!"
downstream of this picture, with a good stretch for her smaller inseam, we made it across without falling in.
from the river out, it is a mile and a half slog, only this time with ice. fresh snow falling, step by slippery step, we made it to the truck. dirk and justin had left early with their parents, which made me happy considering the missed-pickup last year. another group had left with julia. the final group pulled out just ahead of kendra and me.
everybody seemed pretty satisfied with our 'going out and playing!'
