winter survival weekend

I spent this past weekend up on Mt. Adams doing a winter survival skills course. Anyone who had read my previous entry — the wussy report — will know what a big deal it was for me to do this.

I’m not going to write too much about the weekend just now, because I’m still pretty worn out, but I wanted to post a few photos, along with explanations.



Knowing that I’m prone to hypothermia, Jane — our instructor — insisted that I try wearing her supergaiters when we went out snowshoeing. I’d never been snowshoeing before, so it was a grand adventure all the way around. Surprisingly, I did not fall flat on my face, as I'd expected. Wearing 4-5 layers – depending upon which part of my body you’re talking about – I was one toasty little snowshoe bunny.

Ellie — the ten-year-old husky-yellow lab dog — kept me company while I waited for the other ladies to emerge, so we could strap on our snowshoes and get moving out into the woods, where we practiced various survival skills, including building snow shelters.

My team included Lauren (in the black jacket), Cidney (in blue, kneeling), Deb (in red, also Cidney’s Mom), Carolyn (holding the shovel, also my roommate for the weekend), Besty (in the multi-colored cap), and myself (in purple). Unfortunately, our photographer caught both me and Deb with our eyes closed, and you can’t see how deep we dug our trench, nor the pine bough bed we’d laid down inside. You’ll just have to take my word for it that an awfully snuggly snow shelter lay hidden beneath the protective green tarp.




There’s been quite a bit of snowfall up on Mt. Adams this winter. Most people I’ve spoken with since my return haven’t believed me when I said the snow was up past our windowsill inside the bedroom. Well, here it is:



That’s it for the photos for now, though I took quite a few more. All in all, I had a blast and learned a lot. And I’ve already gotten an invitation from another weekend participant to buddy up for more snowshoeing. Woo!