I finally found a computer thats not stone age!

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Since last I wrote Ive been on two 4-5 day long treks and done a lot of random other things such as canyoning in freezing rivers with dead rats, crossed rivers with ropes and adrenaline, and climbed higher than my mind thinks is chill.

First trek we did about two weeks ago was cool but not great. We hiked up to an awesome mountain lodge where we stayed for two days rock climbing on the amazing routes that were everywhere. Were not allowed deoderant or showers, so cramming 17 smelly dudes in one room gets pretty toxic. I dig it though, makes you appreciate cleanliness that much more. After amazing views and climbing, we hiked all day to a cave entrance. Before that there was a sudden lightening storm and we were all advised to spread out in a field and wait it out. Thinking it'd be a light rainstorm I took off my shirt so I could get a little less smelly, but when it started hailing ping pong ball size ice I had to protect my cranium.
After we got soaked, we entered the cave, which was about 30 degrees farenhiet, and hikedcrawledclimbed about a mile or so in until we came out into a cavern with a really loud waterfall. We cooked some instant soup and tried to sleep. Sleeping in a wet cave in quite hard, and I was pretty stoked when we got to pack up our soaking sleeping bags and head out into fresh air.

This last week we took our next trek, which was awesome, mostly because there were no caves. We hiked all day up to a small mountain pass and slidskied down a few snowy hills to the next mountain hut. After an amazing sunset, lightening storm, and really funky dreams, we climbed to the top of the High Dachstein, one of the highest peaks in Austria. Crazy amazing views. Next day we roped together, in case one of us fell into a hidden crevass, and hiked over a glacier to the other side of the mountain range. After not seeing trees or grass for three days, it was great to get down into some foliage and rest at the next hut. There was a glacier pondlake that we swam in, and after days of sweat and sunscreen and who knows what else, it felt more than amazing. We hiked out the next day back over the mountains and climed a sketchy rockface in a solid whiteout. Had to cross a rope bridge made with 4 ropes, which was intense. After slidingskiing down more snow and loose rocks, we made it to some bus's which took us back to Schladming.

Being back is cool, but it feels less like home in the city and more like we should still be out in the mountains. I guess thats a good sign.

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Photos

el teamo
my team, three americans, two canadians, one romanian, one netherlander, and three germans and myself