We have been back on campus for a few days now, having returned from our second expedition skiing in the mountains of Leadville. We are relishing the luxury of wood-burning stoves, beds, and hot showers! The winter trips were, of course, really darn hard—temperatures were cold and building quigloos was laborious. That said, the experience was satisfying in a way that few other opportunities could be. Let us enlighten you on one of the most amazing experiences we’ve ever had.
A highlight for Expedition Group A included a ski tour up and down Homestake Peak. We had great weather for the day—lots of sunshine and a nice breeze. After a long climb, we reached the top where, all bundled up, we shared a special moment as a team. Each of us shouted the name of someone we wanted to dedicate the climb to. It was pretty moving—standing at the top of a 13,000 foot mountain thinking about all the people that really care about us at home and helped us to reach that point. Of course, what goes up must come down, and after enjoying the summit for a bit, we made tons of telemark turns on the way down! Other highlights of our expedition included building a ski jump at camp, crowd-surfing one of our instructors, and cooking breakfast for dinner!
Like the other expedition groups, Group B built some serious quigloos. If you don’t know what that is, we’ll tell you!
Expedition Group C had a special team of instructors and apprentices—all math people! Instructor alter-egos took over on hiking days, we celebrated birthdays (that weren’t really real birthdays) with cake, we built sculptures of dragons out of snow, girls wore fake mustaches, we played soccer in the snow, and we all wore “Mathlete”-style 3D glasses with the lenses removed for the duration of the expedition. Seeing as our second-to-last day of expedition was “Pi Day,” it was quite pertinent that we eat pie. Blueberry pie, of course! Skiing out of the backcountry on our last day in a big group, in funny costumes, pulling sleds, and carrying big backpacks under the ski lifts at Ski Cooper was bittersweet for certain.
Group E had the chance to grow extremely close as a group and learned more than we ever thought possible in such a short time. From building sturdy, roomy snow shelters to avoiding avalanche terrain and staying safe, to keeping a positive mental attitude even when it was in the negative temperatures and pancakes weren’t cooking properly (!), we feel like we came down from the mountains better and more self-sufficient people.
While we came back exhausted and are luxuriating in the creature comforts of campus now, we’re definitely proud of what we’ve accomplished. After all, who else gets to spend 11 days living in and exploring Leadville’s mountains on skis?