An Austrian Where She Belongs
The weekend in Lake Placid, NY, with Dymanic Outdoors was the perfect opportunity to forget about triathlon training for a little bit.
Chapter 1: Ice Climbing
Igor, Fearless Leader, Stephan, and everyone else hiked up the wall of ice and bare rocks like graceful chamois.
Experienced ice climbers making it look too easy...
On my the fourth attempt, I cursed and kicked my crampons at the ice, which seemed to work.
The person circled in red is me. Soon after, the girl on my left generated an ice shower, forcing me down... and my legs and arms started shaking so I figured better to quit by my own will than falling.
Chapter 2: Dinner at the House
Igor had rented a swanky house in Lake Placid with a kitchen large enough to cook lavish meals for the group of 20 hungry hikers. Our guides kindly cooked pasta meatballs from scratch while we enjoyed libations. Eventually someone brought out a bottle of Jagermeister. Big mistake....
Still Merry... Igor had not announced the 5:30am wake up time yet
Chapter 3: Mount Marcy's 7 Hour Hike
Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York at 5,343 feet, requires a 14.8 mile hike through the forest, in the snow, with snowshoes. All firsts for me.
I started last in the "slow group", but being me, I was first to summit, bouncing and yapping my way up. It took 4 hours to hike up to the summit and 3 hours back, ending with the LONGEST mile ever. Even my trained muscles were hurting by hour 3.5, so you imagine the pain of the journey back.
With Natalia, the fastest hiker of the group. She helped a few laggards get to the summit otherwise we would have made it up together.
We're still below tree line, protected from the wind chill. My heart melts at the sight of the pine trees weighted down by the fresh snow.
Resting "below tree line" before rising to the stormy summit
Trying not to get blown away by the wind on my way up
With Eric, the guide who motivated me to keep going and going and going. And yes, I'm wearing a Pucci scarf.
Epilogue
I rewarded myself with a cheeseburger and fries from Roy Rogers on the road back to New York. I know, gross.
So now I'm planning my next summit, probably a spring/ summer hike. Mom: you never know, I might meet a nice mountain guy, complete with the plaid shirt and icicled beard on these trips.
Chapter 1: Ice Climbing
Igor, Fearless Leader, Stephan, and everyone else hiked up the wall of ice and bare rocks like graceful chamois.
Experienced ice climbers making it look too easy...
On my the fourth attempt, I cursed and kicked my crampons at the ice, which seemed to work.
The person circled in red is me. Soon after, the girl on my left generated an ice shower, forcing me down... and my legs and arms started shaking so I figured better to quit by my own will than falling.
Chapter 2: Dinner at the House
Igor had rented a swanky house in Lake Placid with a kitchen large enough to cook lavish meals for the group of 20 hungry hikers. Our guides kindly cooked pasta meatballs from scratch while we enjoyed libations. Eventually someone brought out a bottle of Jagermeister. Big mistake....
Still Merry... Igor had not announced the 5:30am wake up time yet
Chapter 3: Mount Marcy's 7 Hour Hike
Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York at 5,343 feet, requires a 14.8 mile hike through the forest, in the snow, with snowshoes. All firsts for me.
I started last in the "slow group", but being me, I was first to summit, bouncing and yapping my way up. It took 4 hours to hike up to the summit and 3 hours back, ending with the LONGEST mile ever. Even my trained muscles were hurting by hour 3.5, so you imagine the pain of the journey back.
With Natalia, the fastest hiker of the group. She helped a few laggards get to the summit otherwise we would have made it up together.
We're still below tree line, protected from the wind chill. My heart melts at the sight of the pine trees weighted down by the fresh snow.
Resting "below tree line" before rising to the stormy summit
Trying not to get blown away by the wind on my way up
With Eric, the guide who motivated me to keep going and going and going. And yes, I'm wearing a Pucci scarf.
Epilogue
I rewarded myself with a cheeseburger and fries from Roy Rogers on the road back to New York. I know, gross.
So now I'm planning my next summit, probably a spring/ summer hike. Mom: you never know, I might meet a nice mountain guy, complete with the plaid shirt and icicled beard on these trips.
posted by S at 2:41 PM
1 Comments:
Photos look so nice! You are one brave frog!;-) I would not dare climb that ice mountain!
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