Mountaineering 101

We took the girls sledding today on a hill close to our house. It is not an entirely safe hill due to the fact that at the very bottom there is a road. Luckily the primary steep section is at the top, and then there is a rather large mostly flat section in the middle and then another dip down to the road further on. We had the girls paired up with one of us adults so that if we got going too fast we could just spill off the sled and not go over that last ridge.

I spent quite a bit of time explaining to Sierra how it is the same exact action that you take for a self arrest when you are mountain climbing. After we did it a couple of times she asked if she could ride alone on the sled. We positioned ourselves below to catch her if need be, but she came down like a pro and self-arrested off the sled without any hesitation (and let me tell you, that kid really got moving down the hill!)

I guess as soon as she can do that with an ice ax, we're off to Mount Adams. Woo hoo! I think Evelyn was a bit concerned that we all kept pitching ourselves off the sled and face planting in the snow because every time we did it, she would come running down the hill shouting, "I'll help you, I'll save you!" and then help us stand up and brush the snow off. So when we head off for our Mount Adams trek Evelyn will already have our search and rescue team all set up. :-)