Not having ever cross country skied, I was a little nervous. Also knowing that I was going to have to do it for the first time carrying my gear, as well as doing it in the dark.
We got to the starting point around 7:45pm and it was already dark. We got our shoes, skis and polls and got a 5 minute "crash" course on how to cross country ski and more importantly, how to get up when (not if) we fall. No one wanted to take the lead, so I decided that I'd do it. With the Young Men's president behind me, I started on the first 1/2 mile downhill. We were told the first 1/2 mile was downhill but I expected it to be a minor downhill. As I started going faster and faster I realized that I should have paid a little more attention to the ski instruction on how to get up after I fall down. I started laughing and lost it and fell down in the snow. I repeated this over and over throughout the night. We had a 2.5 mile ski into the "lodge" we were staying at. Lodge is used very loosely. It was a garage like building with a heater (which was nice) but was by no means a Lodge.
I made it to the lodge with my assigned partner at about 11pm. Over the next 15-30 minutes the rest of our group came in. We had one boy that refused to cross country ski. He "thought it would be easier", so he hiked carrying his skis and poles in the snow for 2.5 miles. Needless to say, he was the last one in from our group. We had 8 in all, 3 leaders and 5 boys. There were 2 other Varsity teams there as well.
The typical sleeping quaters looked like this:
I was a little concerned about lice and other things I could contract by sleeping on these old mattresses up the mountains, but by the time I got my sleeping bag out, I was so tired, it didn't matter where I slept. I was even able to sleep through the other 2 leaders horrible snoring (which I have never been able to do on previous outings.)
The great part of this whole overnighter was that all we had to do was show up. The staff cooked for us and provided all the equipment needed.
We had some free time to go play in some open fields today and then we were taken on a guided tour through the trees and up to this look outpoint.
This is the group that went from our ward. (minus the walker)
