Off the Ice!

And so once again I find myself in the unfrozen world.  It never seems to amaze me.  All at once, I feel like I’ve been freed - transplanted to a new world, and I guess I have.  The warm breeze, the song of the birds, the stars and clouds.  It is a different world, and I like it. 

Leaving the Ice is always a very intense time.  The good memories of the season, the upcoming freedoms, hopes and dreams and the saying goodbye to friends all make for a wild time.  136 days on the Ice this time around.  Some amazing places, some wonderful people and some wild experiences.  It is too hard to put it all into words, into thoughts.  But I slept like a dream, those first nights feeling like I was barely breathing in the night air as if I didn't need as much oxygen as I needed down south.  My body is starting to recover from the south and I am enjoying freedoms not had in four and half months.  Released from waking up at 6:30 every morning, from three meals a day at specific times, from set recreational ski/run loops, from a set schedule of work, from a set group of people.  Onwards.  After a week in Australia visiting friends and family, I am now home!  Here are a few of my favorites from the season.  Thanks for reading!  (Coming up this summer is a NOLS Alaska mountaineering course with Naval Academy students.)