This was just a cool shot as
we were hiking back
down.
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The big white spot in the valley is Heart Lake next to the
Adirondak Loj. The little lump behind it is Mt. Jo where we first
practiced Friday night. Though you can't see them in the picture,
the Olympic ski jumps were visible farther off
in the valley.
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Jeff taking a similar shot as we were headed
down.
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One
of the fun things about descending is butt sliding. Unfortunately
for me it wasn't until my last attempt that I got the proper form
and was able to slide smooth and fast without the aid of my axe as a
paddle.
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Back at camp it was time for more food. Not
really. We got back to camp so early, we had nothing else to
do but make and eat food. When it's cold out, you can't exactly
sit and read or reflect. As I said before, you have
to constantly do something to keep the fires burning. We
could have played around with snow caves, but eating
warm Jello and making fun of each other seemed more appealing.
The Jello was nice. It was like Crack. You'd get a nice sugar
calorie high, then come crashing down for more 30 minutes later. It
will definitely be a new staple for me in the winter
gear.
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I
guess Art felt guilty for just letting us sit around without some
kind of lesson, so he decided to show us the advantages of pants
with full zippers down the sides. Technically they're supposed
to allow you to put and take off lower layers without having to
remove your boots. As Art showed us, just because you can,
doesn't mean it's easy. It took him at least 20 minutes to get his
down pants in under his shell pants. So why not take off your boots?
You're laces usually get wet and freeze. Tieing frozen laces simply
hurts. It will leave gouges in your fingers for the rest of the
trip. It's best to do it in the morning when you get up and not
again till you get up the next
day.
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My
winter school
diploma.
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Like
packing, I tend to dislike the unpacking part of the trip. It's been
nearly four days now and my stuff is still hanging in the garage to
dry. The next obstacle will be actually putting it away and not just
dumping it all on the floor of my gear
room.
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