Out of the Blue and into the Back(country) that is!

The 2011 LELT expedition is off to a terrific start. The group hiked out of the backcountry yesterday morning and the leaders reported just an absolutely fantastic start to their adventure. For starters, no one had to use their new wilderness medicine skills during this section. Mother Nature has also been very kind as the group has managed to complete the days activities before avoiding gnarly afternoon thunderstorms on several occasions.

So the group headed out on the Oh Be Joyful trail with backpacks, ice axes, helmets, and the rest of their mountaineering gear. The high snow pack made this section extra adventurous. LE guide Ken, orchestrated a terrific river crossing, with running belays, and 2 large trees on the first day of the trip. They hiked just 3 miles that first day, and were lucky to find some great campsites with no snow. Not sleeping on the snow when you can, is usually a good thing. On the 2nd day they headed up towards Blue Lake, ascending 30 to 40 degree snow fields along the way they established base camp for the next couple of days. The leaders led them in a solid Leave-No-Trace clinic and the group has fully embraced this form of travel. On Day 3, Ken and Amanda led the group through a serious and rigorous snow school. The learned the art of glissading, the self arrest, how to work in a rope team and more. The conditions were perfect with plenty of snow, the group kicked and picked their way through the snow fields, with several of the students taking lead. On Day 4,they had such good conditions they were able to summit the 13,757 ft Garfield Peak. It was a tough hike up but the group made it down in half the time by practicing their glissading with 3 monster glissades. They were so pumped about conquering their first high peak they celebrated with a monstrous snowball fight. (Again no one was injured). Day 5 came with a challenging hike up and over Daisy Pass. There were some very narrow trails, with some jawdropping views and big drop offs. LE leader Amanda said it was "pretty extreme" and the LODs (Leaders of the Day) Ryan and Ethan put in extra special efforts making sure the entire group made it to camp. In one section, they placed 2 pickets, and had thumbpoint is down the side of the mountain for clos to 120 meters. During this exercise Guillermo's thermarest sprang loose and lauched over a cliff. Fortunately, Ken was able to retrieve before day's end.

 After, the way the kiddos had performed Ken and Amanda felt great about making a summit bid for mighty Mount Augusta. They awoke at 2:30 AM and under the cover night began breaking trail around 4:30 AM. Working as a team they reached the summit by 8 AM. The view from the top was amazing, and the group celebrated from the top. High winds forced the group to depart from the summit around 8:45 AM. The next day with their tired and weary legs the group pushed on down the Oh Be Joyful trail and hiked out of the backcountry. While we believe their main motivation was to call their parents, we also believe soaking in the swanky Princeton Hot Springs and eating Pizza in the cool little town of Buena Vista, may have influenced their speedy descent out of the backcountry.

The leaders have reported a very tightly knit group, with absolutely no cliques. Considering they still have many adventures ahead of them we expect the friendships to intensify and the feeling of community to take hold. The next couple of days on the river, will be a great way to recoup from the physically challenging week in the back country. They head out on the might Arkansas tomorrow.

Please note that we will be retrieving photos from the program on the 11/12th and will be sure to share.