The day was not totally wasted, however. Once we had all gotten back to the cabin, we had a detailed debrief and discussion about the morning. Well, not really. Our “discussion” consisted of an impromptu snowball fight which was started by a group of us, including none other than my math teacher. It’s very interesting—UWC is really a place where the boundary between teacher and person is truly blurred. I have a gained a much more comprehensive understanding and respect for my math teacher during this trip—especially for his ability to throw a mean snowball. We all had a lot of fun during the snowball fight, getting very wet and snowy in the process. We split into two teams and wound up digging massive snow forts in David’s front yard. The whole fight was a lot of fun, but eventually we stopped in order to do some more skiing! We had decided to ski up behind the house rather than try to tow anyone anywhere. Nonetheless, David and Dan each offered to tow someone halfway up the slope, much like we did on Monday. Despite my misgivings (given my prior history with towing), I decided to volunteer to be towed. It was another disaster. Dan was towing me this time. We didn’t have enough speed going up the main slope, so his snowmobile got stuck (again). David came back to help and ended up getting his snowmobile stuck again as well. If the previous episodes had resulted in copious swearing, it was nothing on this time. They were both extremely frustrated. After some more furious digging, they managed to dig out both snowmobiles. David came down to get me. This time going up, he wanted me to ride “Canadian”. This technique involves us each standing on either side of the snowmobile, leaning from one side to the other to steer the thing. We managed to make it up to the top without any major mishaps. I left David and the snowmobile, strapped on my skins, and started to hike up. This hike was nothing like Tuesday’s hike, so it was no time at all before I was at the top.
The ride down was very soft, gentle, and, well, powdery. Barely any of the mountain had been skied, so I found beautiful, open slopes—barely touched—to ski down. When I got to the bottom, I found Dan and the remainder of the group waiting for us. We had a brief chat about our next move before deciding to head back up to the lake and try our luck at jumping. This move ended up being the day saver. Mauri and Charles had decided earlier to stay at the cabin to get some work done, so it was just the two adults, Danny, Patrick, Jakob, Henrik, and me. I was pretty tired by this point—digging out the snowmobile was really hard work—so I volunteered to come along to film some of their exploits. Once we reached the lake, we all de-skied in order to build a jump. The idea was that we would build a small jump on the surface of this very flat lake and then the snowmobile would tow someone off behind it, much like in water skiing. We set to our task—getting the jump built. Before long, the whole thing had begun to take shape. It looked pretty professional by the time we were done—something you might find in the terrain park at a major resort. Then it was time to do some jumping. I filmed as, one by one, everyone took their turn being towed off the jump. We got some really good footage of people doing nice jumps.
Before the day was over, however, it was time to do some really serious jumping—off a natural cliff. At the edge of the lake was a very large cliff that was maybe 20 feet tall. After some initial evaluations, we decided to try jumping it. I watched with slight amusement as Patrick, Henrik, Jakob, and Danny flung themselves off the jump. It wasn’t really that bad, but I did admire their courage. I don’t think I have the courage to fling myself off a cliff.
After the final jumps, we decided to call it a day. We got everyone back to the cabin and relaxed. Unfortunately for Jakob and me, it was our turn to cook dinner. We made burritos, which weren’t half bad in my mind. After getting some work and this post done, it is time to turn in for the night. I must say, although I have enjoyed my time up here, I am ready to be back in civilization—with all the comfortable trappings that it brings. We only have one day left—tomorrow, which promises to be an exciting and action-packed day. Overall, this day was pretty rough at the start, but got far better as the day went on. I learned quite a bit about conflict resolution and am starting to realize my limits as far as skiing goes. That’s a good thing to know and I hope to use it when I next go skiing.
*Pictures to come*
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