February 3, 2016

Early start this morning –a little knock on the trailer door and coffee delivery at 6:30am – heading out for a backcountry day at Beehive Basin.

We had about a 1.5 hour drive to the trail head.

Lance had worked hard the night before at setting me up on some super light gear – right down to building a liner in a light-weight pack he had – apparently every pound helps!

Anna graciously offered up her gear – not many teenagers would do that willingly – thank you Anna!

The day was amazing – beautiful sunshine and blue sky – the climb to the ridge took about 1.5 hours –  I was fatigued,  but nothing like I was the first day – the lighter gear really helped me keep up and made it so much more enjoyable – I could barely feel the pack – my shuffle was much quicker.

The wind was whipping around at the top and when I was slipping across the ridge I was thinking my mother would be so freaked out if she could see where I am right now…

Lance stopped to ask how the slope looked to me and all I could see was steep and tight trees – god bless Lance and his patience with me - he wanted to make sure everything was just right for me – so away he went to another spot – that is when we hit the sweet spot!

Christine and I had so much fun hollering and giggling on the way down.

We gathered at the base and Lance helped me with Anna’s gear – skins and bindings as I was not familiar with her set-up – and away we went back up for another lap!

Lance decided to take another route back up as the ridge line was very windy – the track that was set was pretty steep and it gave me a chance to practice my kick turns – which came along quite nicely as long as you could find somewhere to set your pole – and it didn’t sink in the snow all the way up to your elbow.

I was proud of my climb this trip and felt the excitement when I reached the top and saw the bright colored flags whipping in the wind –

Thank you Lance for making the day so special for me.

We stopped for a nice hot drink on the way home – the chilli and cornbread dinner was delightful!

Bill and I both feel asleep during Star Wars! 

*thank you for being such good sports with the pop rocks girls!