October 5th We're off on our own! The first leg of our journey was rainy, but pleasant and peaceful. We arrived at our first checkpoint in Rilkor and actually met up with Nate's group who was still waiting for a hot, fresh lunch. I guess Tibetan food is pretty involved so we were there for about 2 hours while the food was mixing with the spices and we were drinking cups of chai. Unfortunately, a different NOLS course (backpacking) came in and invaded our peace an...

October 2nd Our group leads first today, our first day without any guidance from the mountain gurus, and we start it off with a steep descent over long, slick grasses to a ravine crossing. Everything goes smoothly and Nate's patiently and kindly waiting for me to follow. Surprisingly, all of the other guys seem to be reigning in their usual speed-racer tactic of hiking as well.Our pace and the fact that we stayed together for the most part contributed to the awes...

September 29th Finally! Our first layover day in 7 days and it was /well/ deserved! Today we added to our knowledge of snow pro and made anchors with pickets and ice axes. Our other classes were on ice climbing (though we didn't get to go) and leadership / a review of the previous, outrageous day.September 30th "My first glimpse of grass and I've left the world of white behind me. After a comparatively easy day, we reached the rocks and then the alpine meado...

Before you dive in, I wanted to say thanks to all you loyal readers and the support you've shown on the message board and in email, I miss you all and am looking forward to my return! Now buckle up, cause this is a long one with a lot of excitement... September 26th We got to sleep in till 9, but packs were soon on again as I volunteered to lead the day solo. My biggest challenge was getting everyone filled up with water before heading out to break trail and s...

September 25th Our packs are all on again with camp all packed up and we're off on the trail ready to crest Kaphne Cal pass. This time, with a new twist... We get to our cache that we set up the day before and actually plan to carry EVERYTHING up and over. If you didn't have an idea before of what our cache is like, it's basically another half pack full in weight. So to try and pull my own and help out the team, I took an extra food bag and a half, as well as a t...