Fun in the Freeze

For many years the youth of our ward have participated in a post-Christmas snow activity up in mountains behind Pike's Peak, a wilderness area called The Crags.  The young men have been camping in the cold for several years.  Then, a few years back, one of the more hard-core of the young women decided she'd like to be included in the camp out portion of the activity, and so it was.  The first year, the girls camped in tents in the snow-covered campground as well as the boys.  When they discovered their exhalations during the night had frozen into a massive layer of ice inside their tent, the wise young women decided that the next year, budget allowing, they would sleep in the cabins-for-rent located at the nearby Mennonite camp.  For two years the youth did this, the boys camped outside and the YW rented cabins.  This year the budget did not allow for the cabin rental.  By popular vote, the girls decided to go for the day, and then head home after dinner.  I had told them that if more than 50% of them wanted to stay, I would stay with them, so you can imagine my relief at the outcome of the vote!  Much to the dismay of the young men president, who isn't a huge fan of camping in the cold, the boys decided to stay and camp.

The Friday following Christmas, the day of the annual snow activity had arrived.  It was COLD.  Colder than last year, and I remember wondering last year if I would ever be warm again.  Fortunately, with that experience behind me, this year I knew I would eventually warm up again, I just hoped I would be warm again with all my fingers and toes still attached!  Only 7 young women braved the cold, and only one other YW leader aside from myself; there were 11 young men, and seven YM leaders.  The snow wasn't as abundant as last year, when we were wading through a couple of feet, but there was still plenty for snow fun and snow freeze.  But let's not dwell on the snowy coldness, as long as we all kept moving we had a blast!  And the best part was that it was Zac's first winter camp out, and I got to be there with him for some of it.

We arrived just before 10am.  The boys set up camp and we had lunch.  We were too sedentary during this time, and after eating I had to take my boots off and rub feeling back into my toes.  Too much standing around!  Following lunch we went sledding and my feet weren't cold again until we stopped moving for dinner.  After sledding we hiked up to the top of The Crags.  It was 4 miles round-trip in the snow and some of the youth had a hard time getting up and down, but it was beautiful, stunning, breathtaking!  Well worth the wintry hike, in my opinion.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died just after sledding and my phone battery died in the middle of taking a beautiful panoramic shot of the view from the top of the mountain and didn't save the photo before dying, so no shots from the top.  Dang!  We had a great devotional up there on the peak about staying on-route, and then hiked back down.

The sun had set and it was ZERO degrees, 32 degrees below freeze point, when we got back to the trailhead at the end of the hike.  Zac's boots were wet and without the work of hiking he, and many other youth, got VERY cold when we got back to camp and he was having a hard time warming back up.  We should have all changed to dry clothing as soon as we arrived back at camp instead of waiting until after the young women left following dinner.  When it was time for me to go home, Zac was really cold and sad, his toes were frozen and his hands were icy, and my mother-heart was breaking.  I wanted to tuck him in my pocket and run with him to the car.  But as much as he wanted to go, he wanted to stay, so I gave him a hug and a big kiss and said goodnight.  As I walked away I saw one of the young men leaders taking him into the warming tent that had a portable heater in it and I knew he'd be OK.

On the drive home, blasting the hot air from the car vents, allowing our toes and fingers to thaw one by one, we ladies rejoiced in the fact that we were headed home to warm showers and central heating.  One of my Beehives commented, "The young women just aren't tough like the young men are."  And I said, "No, we are all tough.  We could do it, stay up there and sleep in the freezing cold if we had to, if it was necessary, and we'd be OK.  We are just smarter than that and if we can go home and be warm, we will choose the wiser course." 

The next day Zac came home smiling, even though the night had plunged to 20 below zero before dawn.  Once he had changed and climbed into his sleeping bag he was warm enough all night.  He said of the event, "It was the worst thing I've ever done while I was in the middle of it, but now that it's over it's one of the best things I've ever done!  I'll have stories to tell for years!"  And that is just about the best way to sum up any hard thing we have to do...which is exactly why we do these kinds of crazy, difficult things.

The Beehives and Miamaids: Olivia, Camille, Brittany and Marianne

Putting up the Deacon tent!  Zac's there in the striped hat.

Snow volleyball

Zac and his best buddy, Grant

Wait for us!  We want a ride too!  Heading to sledding!

Laurels: Wendy, Jessie (who moved to CO from FL two weeks before this cold activity!) and Sam

The sledding hill got a little bare and muddy!

Up the mountain we go!

Winter aspens

Ethan, Zac and Grant resting for a few minutes.  It's amazing how much the difficulty level rises when you add snow to the hike.

The Crags wilderness area is just glorious!

You can see the top of the mountain just up past the trees.  Our final stop to rest before the top!

100 yards to go until the summit!  Camera battery--peace, out.