My Alaskan Adventure: Day 2

Me during my climb of Flattop in Anchorage, AK!

Today I was up bright and early....around 7:00am. Matt met Joe and I at the house, we had cream of wheat for breakfast, and then off we went on our adventure to climb Flattop! It was a cold morning, probably around zero degrees or so. We started our hike/climb, realizing after a short while that it would have been a good idea to have brought our cramp-ons. The snow had been frozen over so it was slick, and made it hard to climb, but we kept on truckin. When we arrived in what they call the saddle (which I guess is the last place to rest before ascending to the top of Flattop) we decided to head back down from that spot because my toes were starting to become numb from not having proper boots for that kind of temperature. Now, we did not just come down any old way, we came down by way of Glissading. Glissading is pretty much sliding on your butt, and using your ski-pole as a brake and for steering. With the snow being so icy, we were flying. Once we reached a point to stop glissading, we had to make our own trail to get back to the main trail. This is when I had a slight scare, Matt had jumped ahead of us to where he was out of sight, and I was in front of Joe. We were on a steep side of the mountain, and we had to make our own foot holds in the iced over snow. At one steeper point I slipped, and went about 5 ft. before I could really dig in with my ski-pole to stop me from falling all the way down the mountain side! It was a bit frightening for a split second, but with Joe's help I was back on my feet and headed to safer ground.

After reaching the car we headed to get Joe's mom for lunch, and the four of us went to a Chinese buffet. Then back home and in the bed I went to take a nap. After napping, I cleaned up and we all went to La Mex (pretty much like Monterrey's). We had dinner with Joe's parents and a couple looking to take their positions for Send International. They were great entertainment and we had some great stories floating around the table. Once finished, Joe and I headed to see his friend Heath, who came with us to search for the Northern Lights. What a tiring adventure. These two characters kept me up till 3 a.m.! But after all of the crazy running around to try to get the best view of them, we finally did and it was great! We saw its outer edge, which is kinda like a white fog in the sky, but it dances! Anyway, once we were home, I crashed. So we will see what fun today as in store!