Nights 350-352 - 13 nights to go!

Hi and welcome back!

Monday night: 8 degrees
Tuesday morning: 23 degrees
Tuesday night: 16 degrees
Wednesday morning: 24 degrees
Wednesday night: 25 degrees
Thursday morning: 14 degrees

Snow on Tuesday

On Monday night, it was not actually 8 degrees.  I think it was actually more like 18.  When I went out to the tent, the watch that I use to record temperatures was on the ground, and it's usually hung from the gear loft.  The ground is a lot colder, so I think that gave me an inaccurate temperature.

We got about 2" of snow on Tuesday.  In places now, the snow is almost a foot deep.

Bouldering

Today we went to New York City to see the Radio City Christmas show.  We had quite a bit of time to kill, so while my mom took my little brother and sister to FAO Schwarz, dad and I decided to spend some time in Central Park.  I'm not a big fan of the city, and this way it was like we weren't really there.

There were a lot of rocks in the park that were big enough to boulder on, so that's exactly what I did!

Some places where I tried to climb had a lot of snow on the rock, and I had to brush it off.  I didn't bring gloves, so my hands got really cold and stiff.  I had to try a few different places to find one I could climb all the way.

On Top!

The other day my dad was visiting a client in New Hampshire, and he wound up talking to someone there about my blog.  He was telling her about the Royal Arches climb, and she said that her younger brother is actually a climber who has done a lot of routes in Yosemite.  She said maybe I had heard of him--his name is MARK HUDON.

If you have been reading my blog, you'll know that we first talked to Mark last spring, and I actually met him when I was in Yosemite with the Smileys.  I couldn't believe that my dad has worked with Mark's sister for a few years, and we never knew the connection. And if you read his comment from the other day, he said he was born in Manchester and learned to ice climb at Cathedral Ledge, so now it all makes sense!

Mark said he is going to sleep out on the 31st in honor of my last night in the tent, and he suggested that I try to get other people to do the same thing.  If you're interested in doing the same thing, leave a comment and tell us where you live.  I'll be sure to mention everyone who sleeps out on the last night, and if you send a picture, I'll post it!

Thanks for reading!