Here's my Mountaineering Report with a bit of detail so you can ask your children about specific activities.

Monday (3/15/10):

We arrived at Lone Pine our usual time which is around 5 PM, and after dinner and gassing up we drove as high up on the approach road as possible.  This year we had twice as much snow as I have ever seen in 13 years of doing the Whitney Mountaineering journey!  Usually we can park about 2 miles from Base Camp but this year we were 5 miles away (by GPS).  After equipment disbursement and repacking, we began our first event at 8 PM: the night hike.  After 2 hours, we had gone about 2 difficult miles and some students were dealing with the heavy pack, the darkness and the uncertainty of hiking up a dark canyon.  We stopped for the night on a buttress overlooking the Owens Valley and the White Mountains but our attention was on the magnificent star show.  Over half the students slept outside, watching the stars through the night, on this beautifully clear and, thankfully, windless night.

Tuesday (3/16/10):

Between 6 and 7 AM students woke to an incredible red-orange horizon sunrise with a panoramic and breathtaking view of Owens Valley.  After a quick breakfast, we continued another 3 miles up to our Base Camp at Whitney Portal.  Our second event was learning how to set up a snow campsite, complete with "dead-man" anchors and front door steps.  After lunch, "Snow School" began with our "Survival Shelter Workshop".  After learning about survival shelter pragmatics (minimal energy output) and various designs, the students broke into groups to find optimal locations for our shelter building contest!  After about 90 minutes, we all inspect the various shelters and the instructors evaluate and grade them on the basis of design criteria and survivability.  We had 5 shelters and students were deciding weather or not to sleep in them that night (temperature got down to about 24F).

Wednesday (3/17/10):

"Snow School" continues this morning with our Ice Axe and Crampon Hike up the side of the Portal canyon.  There is a stream and waterfall along side our route as we hike up the steep and deeply snow covered walls.  After about an hour straight up, we come to a flat area with a great view of the canyon walls, as we catch our breaths from our exhilarating ascent.  As always, the climb down is harder as we learn how to apply ice axes and crampons in a safe and effective manner. This afternoon, we completed the "Avalanche Seminar", a four part instructional event: snow pit/snow pack evaluation; avalanche beacon discovery race; avalanche conditions, formation, travel strategies, location probabilities, avalanche probe line and rescue shovel team formation and practice. Late in the afternoon, several students completed our best ever "Snow Dome" shelter.  This required and intense amount of shovel work by a variety of students and resulted in a large dome cave which some students slept in Wed and Thurs night.

Thursday (3/18/10):

Perhaps our most exciting event, the Ice Axe Arrest workshop teaches students how to safely stop their fall/slide down the mountain.  First we build a snow slide, slick it out with many repetitions and then using our slippery outer clothing, slide down in various positions while practicing how to stop safely.  As you can imagine, with 8th graders, this is nothing but fun! In the afternoon, the group went on the "High Point Hike", going up the Mt. Whitney trail as high as possible in the allotted time.  Due to the record snow depth, the group went about 2.5 miles up and past the first snow field. This year, students and instructors using 5 pairs of snow shoes packed down the trail which significantly improved travel and prevented "post holing". As the students returned from the hike, the mountain bestowed a beautiful 2 hour snowfall (only about .5 inch accumulation) which continued during dinner.  This night we had several hours of howling winds, swirling around the canyon and through the trees, gusting between 30 and 40 MPH!

Friday (3/19/10):

Our last event is a 5 mile "Spring Break Hike", with full pack, to the vans. Then we sorted and packed equipment and blissfully changed into cotton clothing after a week of high-tech wicking plastic next to our skin.  Then a long drive home with thoughts of parents and break time fun.

Of course, we could not have done this fantastic trip without all the parents help during our 9 Fridays.  Also essential was a wonderful Mom that the girls could go to in Sheila Argentine, a great Dad the boys could look up to in Kail Wathne and the person closest to all the students in spirit, energy and "coolness", Megan O'Meara.

As we were packing up the vans, I pulled one student aside and talked about their challenges and how they pushed through them on this journey of the mind and body.  This thirteen year old said to me,

"I did this.  Now I know I can do anything".

That just about says it all for me...

See you soon,

Victor