Back in the whirlwind...

Came back to Seattle and had a week off, and I'm not really sure where it went.  Getting over jetlag (perfectly 12 1/2 hours off!), catching up with friends after four months away, a bit of exercise and trying to organize all of my gear... suddenly a week is gone and it's time to work again.

I headed down to Bend, OR, historically home of beautiful spring weather in the nearby climbing area of Smith Rock, for a three-day recertification.  Every two years our Wilderness First Responder first aid has to be renewed, involving discussions of frostbite, fractures, altitude, and anything else you could have trouble with in the backcountry.  I got to pretend to have asthma, a spontaneous pneumothorax, and a broken shoulder for practice over those three days.  And it wasn't nice weather - it snowed on us all three days!

Back to Seattle for guide training/orientation with Alpine Ascents.  We headed up to El Dorado, had two days of decent weather, then four straight days of full-on storm.  Sideways snow, drifts building up around the tents - it was fun.  On the last morning, two tents collapsed as we packed up and headed down, glad to be leaving the mountains for now.

Today was nice in Seattle, thankfully.  I'm not quite sure I'm excited to be heading back up into the snow tomorrow, but it's time to start working.  My rib muscles are feeling good, almost entirely healed, and I'm looking forward to the season.  Back in a week!