Sunday, May 3, 2009

WTS Snow Day

We spent 11 hours on St. Mary's Glacier, needless to say this was a long, long day. We met in Idaho Springs at 7:15 and then traveled on to the trailhead. At 10,000 it was cold and VERY windy. We bundled up and headed up the glacier practicing self-arrests without ice axes and cutting in steps up the snow. Due to the 40mph winds and the slushy snow conditions our instructor decided we should go to another spot for the rest of the day's activities.

After lunch and descending to a wooded area, we headed up towards a steep section of the mountain. Here we practiced self arresting with ice axes many, many times. Then after learning about rope handling techniques we practiced roped travel and passing pro on snow.

After glissading we mapped our bearing directly to the parking lot and postholed cross-country to the cars.

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