Yesterday I worked, relaxed, slept some. Lunch was meat and cheese sandwich followed by peanut butter sandwich. Around 5, 5:30 or so, Swaffie, John, Allen, Kanako, Brenna and I went up to check out this abandoned mine not far from our hotel. The hike was... less than pleasant. A lot of two steps forward, one step back (maybe more like one to one) because of the snow and ice. I followed others' footsteps where I could, where the snow was icier they made good holds. I did a fair bit of it on all fours too, punching holds in and then using them for my feet as I ascended. Felt like a yeti or a polar bear. So I finally got up there and more or less rolled onto the wooden walkway, lost track of the other guys and followed their footprints up onto the roofs of the buildings and around. We found a door in and most everyone was there and went to explore the inside of this mine.

It was pretty awesome, people left chalk up there and there were names everywhere. I signed as “Tim “The Yeti” Luttermoser,” next to John's with “Hiram College Baby!” and “Biomes '10”. Someone apparently had a birthday party up there (we later found out from our host that someone hosted a movie up there in December once, which to me is absurd). Lots of old machinery and stuff. I did slip and fall on an ice slick going into one room, but otherwise we were alright. There were these two rooms that were completely dark, pretty creepy to go in. The orange light from my camera didn't help much, and according to Allen people doing camera flashes behind him was even creepier. We hung out in there for a while, exploring and all that. Lost track of John and Swaffie, eventually the rest of us were ready to go, I had to track them down and get the group photo done real quick and then we left. We all slid a fair bit of the way back down, it was faster than walking.

We got back in the middle of dinner, had pasta, sauce with bacon, and some vegetables. Dessert was absolutely delicious berries and what little ice cream was left over. John and Swaffie showed up late, but people saved them plates. I fooled around with a puzzle Nate had while Nate told Becky and someone else about kissing another guy, which of course they were inordinately fascinated with. Chilled in my room, had trouble falling asleep (it was still twilight well after 11 PM) finally fell asleep, woke up, showered, forgot my towel, fetched a towel, and here I am. Breakfast starts soon, dog-sledding today!

Monday, March 29th, roughly 7:40-7:50 AM local time