Lily Currie
Finding Positivity Through Moments of Gratitude
Second expedition (the skiing expedition) was a grueling ten-day adventure filled with backcountry telemark skiing, building quigloos (a huge pile of packed snow that you dig out from the top and side and then live inside them), and pulling sleds through the Mosquito mountain range. Each day presented new challenges, from navigating steep slopes to never quite feeling warm in all my eight layers and -20 degree sleeping bag. However, despite the physical demands, I found joy in a simple yet powerful practice… gratitude. Every night, as we huddled around our winter kitchen or inside our quigloos, we shared moments of gratitude. They could be small things: how much we enjoyed the sunset. Or larger; thanking my quigloo mates for making dinner on a particularly rough day. This ritual allowed me to shift my focus from the hardships to the beauty and friendship that surrounded me.
These moments of gratitude helped me remain in a positive mindset, even on the toughest days. It allowed me to appreciate the untouched powder, the stunning views, and the strength that grew within me. As I skied down the mountains on the last day, I realized that these small moments of gratitude had been what allowed me to truly enjoy the expedition. They reminded me that even in the most challenging moments, there is always something to be thankful for. This experience taught me that gratitude can change any moment, turning challenges into opportunities for growth and connection. As I look back, I cherish those moments and the large impact they had on my expedition.
Valerie Soloway
Summiting and Appreciating Natural Beauty
Winter expedition was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. This isn’t to say that the trip wasn’t hard. The bone-chilling cold that I experienced on certain days along with problems we faced with our stove not lighting made it difficult sometimes to stay positive. With that being said though, it was hard to complain with the unforgettable views that surrounded our camp. It’s safe to say I had some of the most scenic poops of my life. There were moments where I would be skiing to the next campsite and all I could focus on were the enormous mountains right in front of us. Coming from a big city, with mountains nowhere in sight, it’s easy to forget what nature has to offer. Spending 10 days in the mountains of Leadville really opened my eyes to views I didn’t even know existed.
On the second to last day of the trip, my expedition group decided to summit Mount Homestake, a thirteen foot peak. Before High Mountain Institute, I had never worn a pair of telemark skis. Now, I was going up one of the biggest mountains in Colorado, on these exact skis. It was an early morning and the whole group was a little tired and grumpy. Once we started skinning, everyone forgot about their discomfort because they were distracted by the view. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. Once we summited the mountain, we sat on some rocks and I felt this overwhelming wave of joy wash over me. I had just spent 9 days in the snow, something I never thought I could do. Now, I was on top of this amazing mountain surrounded by incredible people and unforgettable views. It’s hard to put into words how rewarding it felt. It was a great way to end such an eventful trip, and I’ll never forget this moment.
Julia Corkey
A Day of Ups and Downs
Nestled in the trees with the Mosquito mountains looming over us, I hauled my backpack onto my shoulders and groaned. How could a backpack full of puffy layers be so heavy? A quiet sense of doom lay heavy over our expedition group. It was daunting to know that we still had a long way to go before we reached camp. Additionally, we would soon be skiing up a sizable and steep hill. I had yet to pull a sled that day, but most of my companions had, and it was only fair they had a break, so I begrudgingly volunteered to take one.
After a solid five minutes of finagling the various clips and buckles, I affixed the straps of the sled to my waist and began to pull. And soon, shrouded in snowy gusts, appeared the hill. The whole hill wasn’t visible due to the expansive nature of it. With encouraging shouts coming from all around, the loudest from Emma, my science teacher, screaming “You’re a beast, Julia,” I shoved one wide black diamond ski in front of the other and pushed onwards. That was the day I stopped hating the sled. Something about the grueling backwards pull and the satisfying whoosh that the sled makes as it glides on the snow was strangely addictive. I found myself fighting my group mates for a sled every day after this experience. After water breaks, snack breaks, crying breaks, and hug breaks, we arrived at our Quigloo mounds that we had made the day before. Snow started falling and the wind picked up. Digging was the last thing anyone wanted to do. Nonetheless, we grabbed our shovels and dug. Halfway through, we took a break and, for no particular reason, we were all in tears. We cried because it was cold, because it was hard, and because we all missed home.
The I-team knew we needed a boost, so they got a speaker to blast Are You Ready For It? by Taylor Swift and handed out sour patch kids. The crying turned into joyous tears as everyone rallied together, continued to dig, and began to appreciate our own resilience and the natural beauty that surrounded us. It was insane that we had accomplished pulling heavy sleds and packs up this steep traverse. Now, we had the privilege to be looking at these beautiful, jagged mountains, with our closest friends, listening to Taylor Swift, and eating frozen candy. At that moment, we realized how lucky we were to be there.
Nina Vinhateiro
Photoshoots and Mini-Golf
For me, waking up at 7am is a significant challenge. That challenge was amplified by the 30 degree mornings that greeted me each day during HMI’s second expedition. However, this one morning I sprung up full of energy. We were promised a photoshoot by our expedition leader. All of the cold nights and difficulty of telemark skiing was forgotten, as our group had been looking forward to this promise. We all woke up bright eyed and ready to start the day. We quickly cooked, ate, cleaned, packed up and then started our long trek up the mountain. Our group reached our final destination, settling upon a mass of snow that jutted out over the edge of this hill. It was very cool and aesthetic. I began to get psyched up as one of our instructors pulled a large fancy camera out of his bag. Slowly something shifted as our instructor with the camera started to move around and pose the other members of our instructor team. Suddenly, I came to the realization: this photoshoot wasn’t for us, it was for them! How could they do this to us!
With that being said, I still was excited for our evening activity. Our group decided we would play mini golf in the snow, however impractical that might seem. Each quigloo group got to work creating the most spectacular course that they could imagine. With snow as our building material, we really could shape anything we wanted! As everyone started to build, I had the idea to use our whisper light stoves (the stoves we use to cook our food) to light up the course and add a sense of perceived danger. When it was time for people to play our course, I made everyone wait. I had already made sure the stoves were full of gas, so while everyone watched in awe, I set the two stoves on fire, illuminating a clear path for the golf balls to follow. The flames were high and bright, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed attempting to complete our golf course. Who knew you could have so much fun with such a great group of people; all while on the top of a mountain, with fire from two whisper lights burning bright, lighting up the night sky.
Katherine Stainton
The Pursuit of Powder
Second expedition was one of the most unique and special experiences I’ve ever had. With that being said, it was also one of the most challenging and difficult experiences I’ve participated in. From pulling an enormous sled up a 90 degree slope, to spending hours carefully carving out a quigloo, it tested my abilities and mental fortitude. Despite the long and bone-chilling cold days there was one thing that made it all worth it…powder skiing!
The pursuit of powder leads skiers from all over the world to participate in backcountry skiing. Backcountry skiing forces you to skin (strips on the bottom of your skis that allow you to walk up mountains without sliding backwards) up sections of a mountain where the hours of commitment going up, lead to around 2 minutes of pure bliss when you are skiing down. During our winter expedition, I was able to participate in this adventure of backcountry skiing. There is truly no feeling that compares to getting fresh turns in 3 feet of fresh, untouched powder. In addition, when I looked up, I was surrounded by the most grandiose mountain range in all of Colorado. Being from San Diego, this is not a regular occurrence for me. This resulted in me being in pure awe of the mountains that surrounded us during our treks to and from camp. There is something magical and peaceful about being able to ski far away from lifts and lines of people. It is only you, the trees, and the mountains. One particularly special day was being able to ski down Mount Zion. The sun was shining down, warming me up after three days of heavy cloud cover and snow. As I dropped into the face of the mountain, the powder was so soft and fluffy that the snow went up to my knees! It was a magical experience and a memory I will treasure from my time at High Mountain Institute.
Bianca Breiland
Finding Joy in the Little Things
Watching the snow filled trees blow sprinkles of frost off their crowns. The backcountry brownies sprinkled with M&Ms and bits of Hershey bars. Floating atop the powder, gliding down the mountain for two minutes straight. The juicy taste in my mouth after biting into a hot dog brought from visiting friends. These moments of joy are exemplified when winter camping for 10 days. After spending 5 hours digging out your quigloo, you look up, and see a light breeze push around the white covered trees. This brings you a sense of relaxation and comfort you don’t feel very often. The gooey sensation of chocolate in your mouth brings tears to your eyes after the taste of protein bars has been lingering all day. Racing down the hill on the fluffy powder made the 45 minute hike up completely worth it. The hotdogs were not nearly as rewarding as seeing familiar faces of visitors after spending a whole day digging out camp.
Winter camping was extremely difficult both physically and mentally. However, it was only because of this difficulty that I was able to appreciate even the smallest of gestures. I have never felt the sort of love and appreciation for the little joys in life than I did when on second expedition. I have brought this practice of appreciating the small joys back on campus, applying it to my day-to-day life at HMI. If second expedition taught me one thing, it is that the harder you work, the more rewarding joy can be. Things will be challenging but you will grow and learn to find gratitude in the smallest things. This is such an important trait to cultivate. Recognizing joy during times of stress, sadness, or pain can help you keep a positive outlook and in-turn have a more optimistic attitude.