Hey all! Sorry for the slow update to the blog - I've been doing a pretty crazy schedule over the past week. BUT, I have a few pictures to share!
Here is me (standing on the ground in blue) about to hop on the snowcat that is heading up the mountain with our gear. This was about a week ago.
That's me in front dragging a couple boxes up the hill with a sled. This work will definitely get you in good shape!
Here's Mike skiing down the trail in cross-country skis. I have the trip down to about 1 h 45 min going up, 45 min going down. It's about 3 miles and goes from an elevation of about 9500 feet to 11,000 feet. The ski down is great when there is fresh powder and kind of frightening when its packed snow (many trees to avoid!)
Mike, Mark, and Gene at the research site. The guy in the middle has wowed us all with his mountain-manness. He is a staff member at the field station and bikes uphill every day to work, in snow. Then, he skis 3 miles up the mountain just to "say hi". Meanwhile, the members of our group have developed many strategies to making it up the mountain, including counting steps (Casey counted up to 5200!), counting songs on your mp3 player (that's one of my strategies), or finding landmarks to time out your trek.
The group at dinner. From L to R: Gene (Georgia Tech), Erika (UW-Madison), Martin (UW-Madison), Jack (UNH), me, and Casey (UNH). We have impressed a local Italian place with how much we can eat - the waitress remarked "No one EVER finishes their meal here!" 3+ hours of hiking up/down a mountain will help you consume a calzone pretty darn quick.
Mike on a hike with Gene up the ridge...because apparently the 2 hour hike up to the station wasn't enough to tire them out!
Finally, me hiking up the trail with my skis in my backpack. I had a "skin malfunction" this day...skins are sort of like velcro that you stick to the bottom of your skis to walk up steep slopes. When one of mine fell off, I decided to try to hike up the rest of the way...and soon found myself crawling/belly-sliding to get through the very very deep snow. I've found the solution to my "skin" problem...duct tape! I'm now trekking up each day with the skis on the whole way. Whew!Well, that's it for now! A good story to pass on to you all that I've been giggling about for a few days - one of the three grad students here (Casey) snowshoes up the trail and then sleds down on your old-style family sled. Once in awhile we convince him to take a load down on his sled for us. The other day he was sledding down and carrying a big cooler full of sample bottles between his legs...and as the trail flattened out he had to push himself along with his hands...and then he encountered some folks on a nice backcountry snowshoe hike. He was too embarrassed to stop and explain so he just keep pushing himself down the path. Now, what would you think of a random guy sledding down the mountain with a huge cooler? Hee hee hee....
