May 5

Tuesday marked the first day of classes after an awesome expedition and was, by comparison, a bit dull. In order to enliven the day, our activity was not a just walk around Turquoise Lake; oh no, it was in fact an adventure. We crossed glaciers, climbed mountains, and found polar bear dens. Our adventure ended as all adventures should: by saving a tree. We salvaged a desperate tree that was brusquely uprooted by a wild snowplow and brought the tree back in the van. We dug a whole in the rocky soil between the two paths to our cabins and planted and watered our precious tree. We named him Manyard Godfrey after the Tenth Mountain Division member hoping that the tree too would grow strong and protect America. Aside from our adventures and saving trees, in English we continued our discussion of A River Runs Through It and began writing our essays analyzing a passage from the novella. Advanced French discussed the various stereotypes held by Americans and French about each other. For science class on Wednesday, we loaded up the vans and headed to Reed’s extreme eco-friendly house. This interesting complex of south facing small buildings was completely off the grid and self-powered through a wind turbine and solar panels. The house sported a passively sun-heated hot tub, a composting toilet, and round-house walls that absorb and retain heat from the sun. Reed’s effort to have almost no impact on the environment was both impressive and inspiring.

Come Thursday, everyone was falling back into the feel of being back at school. We woke up early to run the Fish Hatchery loop for AMX – the Fun Run is only a few weeks away! Classes continued as normal. In the afternoon, some of us went to the elementary school with Karl and help tutor the 3rd graders of Lake County. On Friday our activity was Whisper Lite Iron Chef with Chris. We went into the rations room and got all of the necessary ingredients for our secret backcountry recipes. From there we split into teams and got cookin'. Within an hour we were all snacking on some amazing desserts cooked in backcountry style. Before dinner, a group relaxed and worked out some energy on the climbing wall. That night we all had study hall like usual and then went to bed early in preparation for the SAT's the next day.

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to eat the most important breakfast of our lives (or so we're told). Most of us were going to take the SAT that morning. We drove to Salida and took the test. It was surprisingly much less stressful than we expected. After the test we had some time walk around Salida and eat lunch. We appreciated the warm weather and green grass that is still hiding under some snow in Leadville. That night, we participated in a variety of different activities including rock climbing, a dance party, watching Into the Wild, and playing music in Who's hall. We all had a blast and were in no way burdened by the usual stress of post-SAT testing.

On Sunday a bunch of us went skiing – in May! But it was not any skiing, it was extreme skiing. It is hard to be more extreme than Ski Cooper, but Arapahoe Basin was at least 3 times as extreme. We destroyed the radical moguls, we surfed the avalanches, and we hucked the cliffs. Maybe not really the avalanches and cliffs, but it was pretty intense skiing. To make the day even better, we all dressed up in neon or other ridiculous outfits. One group of intense skiers ventured out to conquer the gnarly East Wall (the hardest run on the mountain). Because of the holiday, there was live music and delicious food. Over all it was a choice day. We came back to a warm dinner and settled in for study hall to prepared for another week of the RMS.

By: Lulu Oakes, Haley Preston, Joe Coplan, and Wiley Duchin

Upper Photo: Students re-energize on the climbing wall.

Lower Photos: Lauren, Matt, and Charlotte brought out their most exciting colors for skiing.