September 18th As we passed our cache from the day before, I dreaded how much longer we would have to hike before arriving at camp. The going was extra slow since we had to break trail and kick step our way up the mountain. Luckily, the rocky stuff I used my sneakers on helped me have a less painful experience.

Today I was hiking again with Gaurav and Charlie was leading the troop and doing to brunt of the work in the untouched snow. We actually got to our site much earlier than I had expected. Setting foot in camp, I was surrounded by white at least 3 feet deep and decided to start stamping out an area for our tent to go. As the rest of my tent walked into camp, I was munching one of my precious victory candy bars sitting next to a perfectly flat area for our tent. Snickers are so satisfying with snow everywhere for miles.

September 19th Today we have a "layover" day and have a short hike to retrieve our stock that's still burried a ways off. That didn't take too long so the rest of the day we had a class on self arresting which is how to stop on snow without an ice axe and also had a lesson on proper form for walking down a steep slope - dig your heels in!

Another thing that I wasn't expecting from the glacier is how intensely hot it is during the day! I was tromping around in just my lowest layer of long underwear for most of it and was blazingly hot! The sun comes from above and below here.

September 20th Reflecting on my first night sleeping on snow, it wasn't really that cold; but the morning brings yet another shuttle day... We again didn't make it to the camp site and this time had to store the goods even farther from our destination.

Today was also the first day we hiked in a roped team. All tied together is pretty stressful when the person in front gets over the hills and starts cruising when everyone behind is still roped up being pulled forward. It's sort of like having an energetic dog on a leash, but much more annoying since communication is more challenging with 20 meters between everyone.

With every step forward, I also have the thought of a snow storm in the back of my mind. Something that would definitely ruin our hard work making the trail, but also could possibly ruin the trip. Every day that's clear means the clouds are just building up more and more moisture to dump on us later...