Snow Day with SOLE

Oh, the places you can go on a wet day in March! There was snow aplenty on the ground and more snow dropping from the skies onto the hills above the Schweitzer Mountain Resort fire station yesterday. 

A perfect day for a bunch of junior hydrologists to to learn their craft with shovels and snow kits, along with many experiencing their very first time trudging up and down the mountain trails on snow shoes. 

"I love it when that many have never been on snow shoes before," Selkirk Outdoor Leadership Education (SOLE) founder and instructor Dennison Webb said as he turned the program over to his colleague Eliza Cox. 

"That means you're doing something you've never done before," he added. 

And so, after the class of fifth graders from Farmin-Stidwell Elementary learned about the preliminaries, such as taking care of yourself, demonstrating respect and care for others, the resources and all-things Schweitzer, they filed outdoors to strap on their snow shoes. 

The class split up into two groups, and each instructor led the way up the snowy hillside for some outdoor education about flora, fauna and snow pack. 

As a chaperone almost six times older than the students, I learned a few things too. First off, I learned that a waterproof coat would have been nice.  

That snow was wet.  I had expected it to be flaky and feathery, so leaving the waterproof coats at home----mistake No. 1.  I also learned really quickly and one more time among many to charge up the camera batteries before heading on a photo outing.

My Canon refused to shoot after about two pictures. Thankfully, I had brought the pocket camera. 

I also learned that eating snow for hydration is not nearly as effective as drinking water from a container.  

Turns out melting that snow inside our mouths causes the body to work harder, so eating white snow (no other colors) is still okay, but it's not going to fulfill one's hydration needs as much as good ol' water. 

When those fingers and toes get cold, just do a shakedown routine, starting with the fingers and working down to the toes. That was kinda fun, only I hadn't removed my snowshoes when that lesson was taught, so only my fingers benefitted.

Eliza who moved here recently from Colorado served as instructor for our group.  She's a natural with a great sense of humor and fun. Plus, she has a lifetime of outdoor experience to share.  

The ultimate task for yesterday involved studying the snow pack, determining temperatures and hardness, for example, at different levels. That's where the shovels and snow kits came in.  

Pits had already been started alongside the trail, so students spent a little time fine tuning them with the shovels before doing the scientific experiments. 

At that point, I had two concerns: my wet coat and my bladder.  Figuring it would be best to limit wet clothing to my coat, I left the group and tromped on down the trail on my Red Feathers, taking care not to stumble and fall into a big heap. 

You see I also learned that it's warmer in the snow if you get down on your knees rather than sitting down.  I did not try that because 10-year-olds don't have to worry about how the heck they're gonna get back up-----60 something's do. 

So, I spared the group of having to pick up an abominable snow mass in the middle of their trail back to the fire station.  

Didn't stumble once.  Stayed upright and made it to the car without incident.  By that time, my coat was ready to audition for soggy mountain gang.  

As always, I enjoyed my time with the students, teachers and chaperones, but I took advantage of being old and pathetic and left early. 

Later, my sister Laurie sent me a text wondering if I'd thawed out.  Seems that staying that extra hour or two in that wet snow chilled her to the bone.  She had finally thawed out about 7 p.m. last night. 

As for the students, she said they never noticed the wet and cold, and I'm thinking that's pretty normal. 

Twas a great day on the mountain, and I have a feeling a bunch of 10-year-olds went home last night with new outlooks and maybe some wonderful inspiration about the bounty and fun of the great outdoors. 

Thanks, fifth graders and adults for a fun experience.  Next time I accompany the group for such an experience, if it's raining down below, I'll take a water proof coat for the experience on the mountain. 

Great job, as usual, SOLE!

Happy Wednesday.  Enjoy the photos.