AMVP (Outward Bound) - One Year Later - Part 3

We were able to actually go into the glacier, into a cave that had formed from the melt-off. On one of our attempts at a peak, we had to climb the mountain immediately beside it. Several hours into the hike it started to snow. An hour after that it was pure white-out. We couldn't see more then a few metres in front of us. We stopped and had lunch, hoping that the weather would clear, but in the end we were forced to go back down. Another attempt thwarted.

The weather hadn't been helping us much at all during the trip so far, and it wasn't getting any better. We'd previously been turned away by oncoming fog and promptly got lost on the top of a ridge with no visibility. In addition, the compasses couldn't be relied upon due to the fact that we were standing on an iron deposit. We were forced to camp that night on top of the ridge in sub-zero temperatures. The bonus turned out to be the starlight morning I was treated to the following day, when I awoke out of the tent at four o'clock in the morning to get breakfast started. It was like nothing I'd seen before, and as the sun rose I could see that the clouds had settled into the valleys over night and were now below our campsite. I could see jagged peaks thrusting through the fog below, set off by the slowly rising sun.

Back at the glacier, snow was preventing us from doing much in the way of expedition work, so our instructors changed plans again, adapting to the situation, and we had our three-day solos in the vicinity of our basecamp instead of travelling further into the mountain range in unsafe conditions.

We were delivered to our solo sites in blindfold at dusk. This was so that we didn't have any sense where the other campsites were located. Even though we were each individually "on solo," we were actually within five minutes of each other. Being the furthest from camp, I was about fifteen minutes walk back. We each all had our whistles with us, in case of emergency; we were confined to a fairly small area of land to walk on; we were not allowed to bring a watch or fire; and swimming was strictly forbidden.

My home for three days was a tarp fashioned as a tent. Of course, I had to set it up myself, which took about an hour to get just right. By that time the snow had started again ... I was in for another cold night but in the end it was worth it. The morning dawned cold and foggy. It seemed like the weather would never break but shortly after breakfast there came ... wait for it ... blue skies!

That day I rejoiced in my mountain hideaway. I took my sleeping bag, all my clothes, my boots and extra shoes, my bedroll, my backback, absolutely everything I owned at the time and I laid them all out in the sun, tending to them like my own little flock of sheep. I was a Shepherd.

It was still cold, of course, in the middle of September at 3000 metres, but it was an incredible day. To keep warm, I began walking but the area was covered with natural mountain heather. The amount of movement needed to stay warm would have destroyed the entire area had I let myself roam all over. Instead, I confined my walking to a figure-eight pattern, one of my favourite symbols. To me it represents the interconnectedness of everything we do and it also represents infinity, a concept the human brain cannot accurately articulate. By the end of the three days, I had spent about twenty hours each in walking my figure-eight, meditating in quiet contemplation and sleeping. The extra time was spent eating, writing and shitting in the woods.

The weather for days two and three were more like what I'd finally become used to; cold and damp with some rain thrown in for good measure. Luckily, I'd built a pretty good shelter and I stayed dry for the most part.

The solo was probably the best part of my trip and was something I'd always dreamed of doing. Staying essentially alone for three days with nothing to do but walk, sit and write. After the solo we met up again at basecamp and were able to share some of our experiences with the rest of the team. We celebrated with a thanksgiving dinner, mountain style. The next day would be Snow School.

To be continued...