Blog #3: Exploring the White Mountains

During this past week we went on our White Mountain Intensive, which has put into perspective what it will take for us to truly be ready for the three legs of our coming expedition: the Green Mountains, the Uapishka Mountains in Quebec, and from Lake Champlain down the Hudson River to New York City. Everybody has been focusing on their big jobs and developing their techniques for how they organize their particular knowledge base in a way that fits with our group.

            We had a visiting teacher from Vermont named Roger Haydock who taught us about the geological composition of the land around us, and the ways in which changes in the geological structure millions of years ago impact the political, economic, and social environment today. He shared with us fantastically colored maps, some showing the topography of the land and others showing the origin of bedrock as it slowly swirled and glommed onto pieces of our continent.

Roger had the most beautiful maps, conveying more information than we could possibly take in at once

On the day that we were departing for the White Mountains, we spent the morning with Perkins Elementary School. We played games all together and then each of us was matched with a group of 3-4 of the young students, who would not only join us for a fun morning completing tasks around the Kroka campus, but would also become our pen pals for the duration of the semester. It was a blast getting to know each other and though we were sorry to see them drive away on their big yellow bus, we knew we’d see them again in spring when we arrived back to basecamp. I know that we are all looking forward to seeing how everyone has grown when we reconvene several months from now.

Having fun collecting water

Learning how to use knives safely to make our lunch

Stacking wood got a little wild!

            In the afternoon, after waving goodbye to our pen pals, we finished our big job preparation tasks, packed our personal belongings, and loaded up in the van to set off to our first destination, an AirBnB called Pinestead Farm Lodge in Franconia, NH. We arrived late and got right to sleep in order to be as rested as we could be for an early morning the next day.

            We had an alpine start, which entailed waking up at 4am and being out the door A-S-A-P so that we could meet the sun as it rose above the horizon. When we arrived at Mt. Lafayette we donned our headlamps and began the trek up to the crest shrouded by darkness. After walking for an hour only knowing the world as it could be seen from the light of our headlamps, the slight luminescence of the sun pulled back the layer of the night and replaced it with a light gray hue. As the sun rose so did we, and reaching our halfway point at the summit we saw the sky painted in pink and purple brushstrokes.

            At the summit we were met with a panoramic view. Entranced by the beauty of the world around us and humbled by the vastness of it all, we were guided in an exercise involving two stones. One represented the weight we wanted to leave behind and the other was a touchstone for a commitment we made moving forward. Leaving our stones on a cairn we ventured onward, slipping down to the saddles and pushing up to the peaks.

            Continuing on Franconia Ridge we found our way towards Mt. Liberty, which would be where our trail down would split off. At the head of the path we found ourselves trudging in knee-deep snow. It was hilarious until we realized how far we had to go and how increasingly likely it was that the snow would only get deeper. Spending hours focusing on picking one foot up, finding stable ground, and repeating that action so that we wouldn’t end up stuck to our armpits in snow was physically draining, but our spirits were so high from the clear and pleasant morning that it did not dampen our spirits. We were filled with song and laughter throughout the whole experience and somehow found any spare moment we could to throw a snowball or two.

            When we reached the trail junction near the summit of Mt. Liberty we breathed a sigh of relief at the packed path ahead of us. To fully lean into the inevitability of us slipping and sliding on the steep incline, we slid down the slopes on our butts. You could hear the laughter echoing through the hills as we came careening down the hill, barely making the turns in time. Our butts were so sore by the end of it! But I know, given the chance, we would do it all again.

            On our last day of the trip we had an intentional conversation about gender and non-violent communication. In these discussions we talked about cultivating a strong group culture and how we can practice healthy communication techniques. We also talked about what kind of stereotypes and negative cultures we had potentially been feeding into, so that we could learn what we want to foster in our group and what we want to prune out.  A truly open and authentic way of being is hard to sustain but after this conversation we have committed to holding each other to our highest selves so that we can be of integrity in every situation that we face. 

More to come as we go on!

-Zaboski

This Perkins student one can certainly throw a fastball!

Learning how to fly

Is it spring...?  Skate skiing on an unseasonable warm day

Racing on backcountry skis

Celebrating a great day with Perkins Elementary School