Out of the Mountains, into the hotspring, on to the river!

July 08, 2010

Sorry for the delayed report as this news came yesterday! LELT 2010 began their mountaineering section with some unColorado-like weather. In fact, Ariel was quoted as saying, “I thought Colorado was supposed sunny?”

The group hiked up into the Collegiate Peaks in search of snow near Mt.Augusta. While the snow was not as abundant as in previous years, they were able to set up Snow School. Here Chad & Jodi taught them the art of mountaineering: picking and kicking, glissading, self-arrests, and lightning position. Lightning position you ask? A backcountry “best practice” that unfortunately our students had to use quite a bit on those first 3 days in the backcountry. On their summit attempt day, the expeditions awoke at 3 AM, got on their headlamps and headed out for the summit of Mt. Augusta. What they found was a nasty thunder storm. The mission had to be delayed, and the group eventually made the wise choice to turn back around and head down the mountain towards Oh Be Joyful Campground. These are the kind of difficult decisions that need to be made in the backcountry and these young leaders showed they were more conscious of the safety of the group than bagging a 14,000 ft peak. Impressive decision-making!

The group retired their mountaineering equipment and headed out on the leader-led backpacking section. They headed up into the Oh Be Joyful (appropriately named) pass and set up camp at Blue Lake. This crystal clear snowmelt lake is an LELT tradition. As is the polar bear/cold water club. Guli was the first one to brave the cold and logged a hard to beat 1 min and 15 seconds. A few of the other fellows made it to about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Finally, the ladies showed the fellows how the coldwater club should be done. Lisa, Maddie and Savannah entered Blue Lake and stayed immersed for over 5 minutes.

Our leaders have said that the group is beginning to bond quite nicely and they are happy with the progress of their young leaders. There have been lots of voluntary backcountry push-ups, led by Daniel and Chad. Chelsea has earned herself the nickname of “Baby Feet” in reference to her blister-prone feet. She is on the mend and looking forward to hanging up the hiking boots for 4 days on the Arkansas River.

When they came down from the mountains, the leaders surprised the kids with a trip to some epic hot springs, and a reported meal out on the town! Spirits are high and confidence is building.