Waking up the next day was like waking up in my bed at home. I wasn't welcomed by the freezing ass bitter cold like I did the previous weekend. This time, I woke up to a beautiful sun peeking in the entrance of our snow cave. I was excited that I wasn't going to be shivering for the bulk of my morning. I got out of my sleeping bag and it was very warm inside the quinzhee. It was so warm that I noticed a layer of ice had formed on the inside wall of the quinzhee. This meant that it was so warm inside the previous night, that the snow softened and refroze into ice. Because of this, It was a joy getting dressed for the day.
When I crawled out of my quinzhee I greeted the warm refreshing sun. Everyone was already up before I was, and they had already started making breakfast. The smell of cooking made me extremely hungry!
I hurried over to my backpack and grabbed some eggs and bacon and we had a nice little kitchen fiesta going on. It was such a cool site seeing everyone cooking in the middle of the back country. I have never had so much fun cooking in a long time. It was essential that we got a good morning meal because we were going to be out of camp for the entire day on an exploration mission. So we took our time making a fantastic breakfast meal before we took off.
Around 10 am, we had packed our day packs, strapped on our snow shoes and head off into the hills. Our first mission was to get to higher grounds to catch an incredible view. On the way we learned about different animal tracks that we saw in the snow. We tried to identify the tracks but it was very hard. Our teacher Pete was an expert on the subject and taught us everything about snow tracks. On the way we also learned about different tree species and plant species. It was an information packed day that was for sure.
When we reached the summit of the mountain we were on, we decided to stop and grab some lunch. I had some PP&J. While eating
lunch, we were soaking up the warm sun rays while enjoying the marvelous view the entire Steamboat valley. We even were able to see Haans Peak across the valley. I had to get a picture of me with the peak in the background for this is a legendary peak. While we were up there, our teacher gave us a lesson on how to properly read a map. CMC doesn't believe in using GPS systems because those don't teach you anything! So we spent a good 30 minutes going over everything about map reading. I am still trying to learn the magical art of map reading. 
After we had plotted our way off the peak, we made our way into some trees that were away from the breeze. It was time for Jareds fire starting presentation. One big aspect of Snow Orientation is the ability to survive in a severe survival situation. With that being said, we needed to know how to start a fire with nothing but flint. I thought it would be impossible but Jared made it look really easy. He had the thing going within minutes of setting things up. I was extremely impressed. Even to this day I havn't perfected my fire starting skills.
When we got back we had a ton of daylight to spare so we built a kicker into some fresh snow. It was a lot of fun. Check out the video and pictures below.
When the sun went down, it began to get very cold. We had another kitchen fiesta and everyone cooked a fantastic meal once again. After dinner we used our fire starting skills to get a campfire going at base camp. This was the best night of the trip. By that point, everyone had gotten over the shitty feelings of camping in the winter. Everyone had their systems down perfectly and there was no better way to celebrate over a nice group campfire. This gave us a very good opportunity to dry our clothing by the fire. I dried everything from my jacket to my boots. Boy was it a great way to kick off the final night. Going to sleep was extremely easy.
Waking up the next morning was once again very pleasant. I was kind of upset to know that this would be our last day camping in the wild however I was eager to get back home. We went over one final lesson and we learned about avalanches in the back country. We built a mote and learned the dynamics of snow and everything that can cause an avalanche. We tested the snow after that. My body was aching and extremely sore. Our instructor told us that we had to completely destroy our camp because of their leave no trace policy. So we began destroying our quinzhees and kitchen areas. It was depressing, but we had to do it. Once everything was taken care of, we took off back to the car.
Driving home gave me a lot of time to think about things. I had learned so much over those 2 weekends. I learned that humans really only need the bare essentials to survive. I also learned that humans can do incredibly amazing things if they just put their minds to it. We were challenged mentally and physically but the entire group ended up on top in the end. It was a marvelous experience. I would highly recommend taking Snow Orientation for everyone!
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