On the White line

Are those Blue Mountains? Nope, they are the Whites!

Friday morning dawned sunny and calm, gorgeous weather for a small contingent of the GRP women to go climb some tall peaks.  A biathlete and two rowers set out from the COC and headed for the hills to OD on exercise (in skier language OD stands for over-distance, or in other words an extremely long workout that is usually more than four hours).  Olympic biathlete Suz asked for company on her workout and Sonshine and I volunteered to hit up the mountains with her, although we were concerned about not being able to keep up!  The Center has been a little lonely lately, with most rowers on vacation still and most of the skier women training in Lake Placid this week.  The day was a great example of some good ol’ inter-team bonding, doing what we do most days: exercising.  The planned five hour excursion turned into more than six hours and included some crazy terrain.  We went uphill and down and even underground, so to speak.

Trail stop signs? “Stop.  The area ahead has the worst weather in America.  Many have died there from exposure even in the summer.  Turn back now if the weather is bad.  White Mountain National Forest”

Summit of Mt. Adams! They aren’t visible in the photo, but there were swarms of insects here and we made a quick getaway after this picture!

Following Geologist Sonshine and the quartz-topped granite cairns downhill.

Yeah, see that steep ridge in the background? We just came directly down that! 1,000+ vertical feet, 1 hour climbing down/butt-sliding!

Going down the Great Gully trail.

Heading to the Subway (not the urban kind, but rather a trail that sometimes disappears underground)!

Where’s Sonshine?

This blog post was a team effort.  Photo credits to Susan Dunklee and Elizabeth Sonshine.