101 Things

I met Eric when he posted some pictures of himself climbing something awesome years and years ago, and I said I wanted to learn to do that too. And so for all these years, Eric has been trying to convince me to take a mountaineering class, but this year was the first year I had both the time and the money to do it, as this mountaineering class was rather expensive on both counts. (My current status of dating Eric may have made the class somewhat more compelling this year, too. Admittedly.) Anyway, Eric took the class years ago, and told me it was a life-changing experience for him. At the time, I thought oh, that’s an endearing bit of hyperbole, okay.

BUT HE WAS RIGHT.


Somehow I had the good fortune to be assigned to a team of some of the most fun people I have ever met in my life, and for the past three months, I have spent nearly every single weekend climbing some mountain or another and terrifying my mother with subsequent pictures of her beloved only daughter rappelling off cliffs and avoiding avalanches and hanging in crevasses.


I had exactly three weekends off from the class since it started in February, which I spent snowmobiling in Montana, climbing a mountain anyway, and camping on a beach in California. Adventure adventure adventure!



Spring has been so exciting, but my apartment has not been cleaned properly in three months, I’ve lost twelve pounds, my knees ache in an increasingly worrisome way, and I’ve barely seen any friends who are not also mountain-climbing friends.


My two goals were to complete the whole class without: 1) crying or 2) pooping in a bag, and I am proud to say that I did neither.





THING #2: DONE (9/101)