Summer Term 2014: Another Action-Packed Week!

We have had another action-packed week! The highlight in our humanities class were the interviews of Leadville residents that we did in order to learn more about current-day Leadville. We interviewed store owners, fourth-generation Leadvillians, and the former mayor (to name but a few), all of whom had pretty diverse perspectives on Leadville and Leadville’s history, as well as some great stories to tell. In science, we shifted our focus from water quality to learning about the trees that surround Leadville, in particular the lodgepole pine. Last but not least, in P&P we had a couple of heated ethical debates about consumerism (we visited the Leadville dump where one group saw a bear!) and about water.

This week we also bonded over a myriad of awesome activities, from rock climbing and fishing to pottery, improv games, and outdoor sports–not to mention a square dance on Friday night and a bonfire on Sunday. Last week’s activity groups have switched from climbing to fishing, and vice versa. The fishing group this week caught several trout, and the climbing group dominated some jaw-dropping rock faces! For next week, over our second expedition, many of us have elected to bring along fishing rods to try and catch our dinner. We will also be able to use our climbing skills to tackle some even tougher cliffs and sleep in a portaledge (albeit only a few feet off the ground) during a layover day!

With the closing of our second full week on campus, it was time to prepare for our second and final expedition!  We began our prep day on Saturday, and were given the gift of brunch, which allowed a leisurely arrival to Who’s Hall at 10:00. Libbey told us who was in each tarp group, and squeals of excitement were let out. After our names were read off and brunch was eaten, we all set off to do gear check. Gear check is when you bring all of your personal gear to be checked by your expedition instructors and is a time to find out what you have lost/misplaced in between expeditions. Once we finally went to the gear room to rent and buy all that we had missed, we were off to ration food. After rationing food out for our tarp groups and finding out just how many pounds of cheese is “necessary” to go on expedition, we went to our original meeting points and made group goals that we hope to accomplish in the next seven days.

We are excited, nervous, and exhilarated to go on this final expedition.  We’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and have many stories to tell you upon our return!