The end will never come

You would think that after spending 24 hours a day with my cabinhopping group that we would be thoroughly sick of each other, but you would be surprised. After getting back to my dorm, packing up and taking a shower, and climbing a few problems at the gym, I immediately sent out a text - I just couldn't resist. Deciding that we weren't quite ready to drop a bunch of money in town, we picked up some pizza dough, toppings and some of New England's best cider for another great night of camaraderie. I know that breaks are important, but to be honest, I'm getting quite comfortable at school. On the other hand, the slopes beckon!

50 ways...

To get your money's worth out of your Chaos hat on a camping trip.

Keep warm, especially on cold nights, as it can be pulled all the way down.



Pull it over your eyes to take a nap.
To open the wood stove with.



Flip the pancake pan.
Eat the pancake off of.
Sit on while eating lunch.
protect your hands during an impromptu snowball fight.
Look generally awesome!

damn

That's all I could utter, Seriously; after spending a term at Dartmouth getting used to the gloomy overcast weather. Coming over the ridge of Mt Mousilake to see a completely bluebird sky in both directions was a pretty big open mouth - stopped in my tracks moment. Not only that, but I quickly turned my face to the sun and really tried to enjoy its warmth. Growing up in Colorado, it was easy to take the sun for granted, but as I mentioned when the sun comes out on campus, all studying is pretty much off for the day. Being on top of Mt Mousilake made it feel that much stronger.



With the help of some serious singing, everything from Jay Z to working on the railroad, we powered up mousilake by 11 and gave ourselves plenty of time to enjoy the summit. After a long lunch lying in the sun, we reluctantly continued on our route toward the end of the trail. Much more relaxed (and in shape!) than at the beginning of the trip, it was hard to leave the sun, but another fun night in a cabin lay ahead.

Big Bad mt mist

Just the name itself says it all: MT MIST. It has an aura about it, one of a daunting trek with treacherous ridge lines and stream crossings. It suggests that it is shrouded in mystery and that only the keenest of hikers can find it.



Well, only the keenest of hikers do find it, the sign at least. It isn't because the summit is too dangerous to reach, but because if you aren't paying attention, you might just walk past it. Since the hardest part of our hike was such a funny peak along the AT, we had the chance of sleeping in and joking around. On the trail, we crafted a story (one that I dare say does not need repeating), by going down the line and adding a word. Somehow, the story went from two cannibal goats (they ate wool socks), to porn star slugs. How the two are related, we will never know.

Bedtime?

Was it just last week that I was staying up late stressing over finals? Today, in anticipation of a long steep day of conquering Mt Cube, we got up early from the tent, ate a quick breakfast of peanut butter and tortilla, which I may never eat again and hit the trail. Surprising even support crew, we arrived to our next checkpoint at 3:00, well before sundown. Chowing down on some delicious chili, we made quick work of a few quarts of the stew. After refueling our supplies and dropping our trash, no one could help but yawn. It may have been only 6PM, but after a full day of hiking over ice, 9 college kids passed out by their own volition. Isn't that a scary thought!

The sweat lodge

What was supposed to be our coldest night camping along our 40 mile trek turned into an at first pleasant then uncomfortable surprise. Support crew had equipped our army surplus tent with a stove the could have heated an entire house. Within an hour of our arrival, the stove was red hot. Patrick cooking up some snacks and within ten minutes the tent was about 100 degrees. As you can imagine, with the shape of the tent, no one wanted to stand up. For cooking duties, we pulled straws determining who would do the honors of standing over the stove.



In the middle of the night, with temperatures still in the tropical region, one cabinhopper summed it up, "I knew that this was going to be a trip where I would unwind from finals, but I didn't know that a cleanse was part of it as well!"

Hop!

After finals, instead of going home like a normal person, I decided to go cabinhopping, the Dartmouth outing club's winter hiking and camping trip. The trip looked like it was stacked to be a blast, and sure enough it was. Four summits, ten miles of hiking each day, and enough ice to keep everyone on their toes was a blast and I had the chance to meet a new group of people that I might have never met. We started off in the skiway parking lot.



We hiked to the summit of Smarts, Cube, and Mist, then conquered Mousalake with a combination of grit and, of course, singing every tune that popped into our heads.



Between hikes, we got to know each other over good food, ghost stories, and plenty of card games. I couldn't have asked for a better stress buster after an intense finals week!

But officer...

It was Saturday night after finals were over. My school buddies and I had already watched a movie, eaten, and anything else we could think of, but weren't quite ready to go to bed yet. Options in Hanover are pretty one dimensional from frat basements to frat basements, but we thought of a way better idea: buildering. Buildering is just what it sounds like - bouldering on buildings. We chose the chapel on campus because it was made of granite, which obviously is very rocklike. All was going well in traversing the walls until safety and security arrived. It wasn't as if we were climbing onto the roof or defacing the building, but apparently a sober alternative on a Saturday night wasn't buildering in their books. After holding straight faces and getting a good talking to, we started to walk away when one of the officers called us back. He thought that we should get involved with the outdoor programs at school.

If only he knew!