March

So the blog has been neglected lately. I guess I was too busy. Here is a post that I meant to actually submit awhile ago...eventually I will update it with pictures.

march was a ridiculous month. wow. Here are some of the things I ended up doing:

• 1st multi-pitch ice climbing experience, in the pouring rain and 3" of waterfall water thanks to Synnott Mountain Guides (it really was awesome, especially if you have surfing in ice water experience...very similar...it really was fun!!)
  
• first time running part of mt washington in the snow with a friend, during sunset, followed by really good pizza
• first time running mt washington solo in the snow...flying down snowy mountains on foot is something i didn't realize was as awesome as it is...well, depending on snow conditions
  
• 1st time spending a whole night walking back from a bar (where i did not drink like usual) because our ride couldn't find us on St. Patrick's Day
  
• some really really sweet ice waves that i won't forget in a new spot with Derek
• Night highball bouldering in the freezing cold trying to avoid using ice as holds, which ended up with me sleeping in my climbing clothes on someone else's bedroom floor in a pile of very comfortable blankets (its amazing how sometimes the most unlikely spots are where you get the best night's sleep) thanks to the offer from a couple of friends
  
• Escaping the cold eating dinner at a bar in the middle of nowhere, listening to stories of ice climbing free solo adventures, pitch dark outside the way it never gets in Los Angeles
  
• Evening/night hiking in the mountains...with the crampons in my pack where they were a lot less useful than they would have been on my feet
  
• Walked about 10 miles to go buy a set of used ice axes because my car is in LA
• Did a couple of crazy multiple hour drives at the last minute in rental cars to visit home
• Cross country skiied with dad and mom on groomed trails for the first time (i didn't even know they made groomed trails for that, but it was awesome especially because we skiied next to a river we camped next to a ton of times in the summer when i was younger)
• Somehow at the end of it I am a Wilderness EMT with national certification (over 180 hours of class and a way stressful two part exam that lasted from 9am to 7:30pm)

Yay winter! Eventually I just couldn't stand the idea of missing yet another winter...so I got in my one month abridged version.

The theme for the month:

"You put up with the grind of work or school as long as you can or is required. But then, one day, the phone rings one too many times, or the line at the gas pumps seems unending. The air smells bad. The food foul. 'Enough of this' you cry. You grab your ice tools and are gone." - Duane Raleigh