We checked in with Jodie yesterday and she had nothing but good news to report. Plenty of great weather, lots of great climbing and a bunch of young leaders challenging themselves. Our climbing specialist, Mike, joined the expeditions for 4 days of scaling large rock faces, attacking long “verts”, and tackling complex boulder problems. When asked to describe the group he referred to them as a bunch of “rock hounds”, a top compliment to receive in the climbing world. With Mike setting the climbs and Chad and Jodi, accomplished climbers themselves, the kiddos are getting great instruction and plenty of time to climb. They are all belaying each other, a sign of the trust they have developed for one another. They have been climbing 5.6 -5.11 routes. Savannah as leader of the day chose to lead by example charging up some of the more difficult climbs. Maddie nearly completed a 5.10. Chelsea and Lisa have been challenging themselves each day and their blister are close to healed. Chelsea is always the first one to offer her belay-skills. Guli and Eli have apparently vowed to return to the Alps and launch epic rock-climbing careers. Daniel & Justin try several new climbs each day and were looking forward to the bouldering day. Ivan and Ranier have been climbing as well but have also taken advantage of a little down time and have been finally getting a little reading in. The most recent dinners have been veggie burritos, pesto pasta and “Brinner” a backcountry version on dinner/breakfast combined together, usually wrapped up in a burrito and devoured in minutes. Breakfast has begun to been followed by the “student presentations”. Ranier was the first to go and presented on the wonderful world of “Fractals”. Ivan was scheduled to present next. The group has also begun planning for the student-led backpacking trip. They have established the following goals:1) Summit more than one 14,000 ft peak 2)keep the mileage to about 8 miles a day 3) Work together as a team and run like a well oiled machine. They will be calling in their backpacking route to me tomorrow evening and I will be sure to post it as soon as I have it. We are expecting great accomplishments from this ambitious group.
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