August 23

The start of RMS 19 finally arrived on Monday. The energetic, enthusiastic people that make up RMS 19 made long plane rides and the wait at the airport worthwhile. As we made our two-and-a-half-hour drive into Leadville, we were all smiles. We chatted away and blasted songs as we pulled into HMI. Full of anticipation, everyone unloaded the vans while still trying to adapt to the cooler temperatures and altitude. After many greetings and welcomes by the HMI staff, it was time for a delicious dinner of pork, potatoes, and broccoli. After the long day, we made room on our beds by rearranging our half-unpacked stuff for a good nights sleep.

7:00 AM wake up call! We played five-ball soccer” for morning exercise (also known as AMX). It did not matter who had played soccer previously and who had not as the game was a great success and fun for everyone. After a delicious breakfast, the Head of School and other staff did a lot of talking at us (as Molly calls it). This included Molly and the other faculty describing the whole routine of HMI, the expectations and rules of the RMS, and our classes and responsibilities for the semester. On Tuesday afternoon, we visited math, science, and English classes. Cooper assigned us a field study for the expedition, and we will read “Walking” by Thoreau for English class. Next, we met with Ben and Cooper, the teachers of Practices and Principles, or just P&P. P&P is the wilderness and leadership class at HMI, and Ben and Cooper introduced the concept of Expedition Behavior and how to translate positive attitudes into group success. After dinner, Molly and the students gathered around the campfire to “burn” our fears and our expectations for the semester, leaving us all with a blank slate to fill with our own experiences.

On Wednesday morning, we again had AMX at 7:25. At 7:23, our first alarms went off. Luckily, the whole cabin made it in time to take a brisk walk to the beaver ponds at the end of the road and return for a breakfast of French toast and fruit (which was delicious, as always). Then we were introduced to our chores, which were actually not bad at all. Cleaning the bathrooms, surprisingly, is probably one of the easiest and quickest jobs. After chores, the history classes met, and then Ben and Christina gave us our first tests of the semester! As we sweated through placement tests in Spanish and French, we realized the high expectations teachers have for us here. We had a community meeting in the yurt that Molly opened by 15 minutes of silence. During the meeting, we talked about shaping our RMS experience, and, most importantly, ate lunch.

After community meeting, the entire RMS community divided into their expedition group to begin expedition prep. Each group has one expedition leader, one or two other faculty instructors, and one apprentice. We learned that we would be traveling to either the San Juan Mountains or the Collegiate Peaks of Colorado, where we will backpack for the next two weeks. The afternoon began with a creative name game to break the ice for our upcoming adventure. As our groups feature students with both lots and no camping experience, faculty led us through an introduction to group gear. Our groups spent the rest of the afternoon rationing food for the 13-day trip. Although only a day had passed with our new teams, the enthusiastic spirit each person exhibited showed in the cooperation between group members. After a dinner of chicken sandwiches, spaghetti, and veggie pizza, we went on a walk to Turquoise Lake before enjoying a card/Twister/dance party until 9:40. We had cabin meetings with our Cabin Heads (one of the apprentices) and then turned out the lights for the night.

Thursday rolled around all too quickly. We played Extreme Knockout during AMX, which involves basketball, not boxing. Next was a big breakfast of pancakes, sausage, cereal, bananas, and melon. Again, we split into our expedition groups to rotate through classes, including the basics of outdoor hygiene, cooking, and tarp set-up. As the day progressed, the anticipation for the start of our trip heightened. After lunch, we got a tutorial on how to pack our backpacks and spent time mastering our own packing techniques. As our last day of prep has come to a close, bags are packed, morale is high, and RMS 19 could not be more excited to head out to the backcountry.

By: Caroline Buck, Matt Ford, and Lily Fender