The most elevation we've done in one trip... Yup, that explains a lot!!!

Where do I begin... I guess the beginning would be the best place to start... This is what the thermometer read on the way to Mount Washington on Sunday.

Yes, that says, '-10 degrees F'. It started off cold, but the sun was shining so at least I knew that there was a chance that it could warm up. 

We decided to skin up Mount Washington with BPJ (a regular adventurer with us) and the one that is called "The Rog". The Rog is a frequent contributor to TimeForTuckerman. He is a legend that Nate and Bryan have been wishing to hike with for at least a year. So we were hiking with a legend... The night before, we had decided that we were going to hike up the Cog Railway side, hit the summit, go over to the east side and ride the snow fields. Then we would hike back over the top and go back down along the Cog railway. 

I always go last and I let the boys go. I was hanging with them pretty well. Nate and Bryan stopped to shed a layer and I kept up with The Rog. There are three convenient points along the Cog to kind of rest. The first part is at the mile point at the water tank. At that point, I was feeling the thirst so I stopped to drink some water. Nate and Bryan caught up with me and passed me. It was all over after that!! Nate stopped to wait for me and I was hoping that Bryan and The Rog would stop at the next convenient point which is where you have to go under the railway and keep climbing. They did not... I kept climbing, but I was slowing down. I had lots and lots of time to think about what was going wrong and I decided that I needed to come up with some better eating habits. On Saturday, I had a bowl of cereal, some cheese and crackers for lunch and a sandwich for dinner. For breakfast Sunday morning, I had a bagel with cream cheese. I'm pretty sure that is enough food to sustain the average person but on this day, I wasn't doing average work.  The next place to stop is under Jacob's ladder. They kept going... It gets really steep and scratchy above Jacob's Ladder. Nate was hanging with me, but testosterone is a powerful drug and the boy's drive to win is much higher than my will to keep up. He got a little ahead of me and I got caught in a bad section where I couldn't get an edge and I had a little panic moment. I freaked out and the cupcake took a hold of me and I told him to go ahead and leave me here. He was smart enough to realize that I did not mean that at all and he stayed with me. I think he figured out that I was a little nervous and went behind me on the sketchy parts from that point on. 

This is from above Jacob's Ladder looking back at Bretton Woods. It was a gorgeous day!!! 

We kept skinning around the Cog most of the time on it. That was a little sketchy. I had to really think about where my foot was and I didn't want to look down (I am slighty afraid of heights) but I had to look down in order to figure out where to put my foot. I'm pretty sure I was the only one thinking that much.... Finally, we got to the point that we could just skin across the ice/snow/fields away from the Cog towards the observation deck. 

So after a struggle and some more tears, Nate and I made it to the top. Yes, The Rog and Bryan were waiting for us and we were kindly informed that they had been waiting at least 15 minutes... yeah... I know... I'm slow... I struggled with that fact for 2 hours and 45 minutes... It's ok. At least they got a rest. 

So, we got our stuff ready and headed for the snowfields. I watched the boys go down the snowfields and it looked amazing! I got my board on and I hit the powder. It was amazing!!! It was sooooo worth the hike and sooo worth feeling like a sloth!!! 

The boys skidaddled up for a second run and I decided that I better get some food in the system so I ate a cliff bar and watched the boys boot their way back up. They made it back up to the top of the powder and I finished my cliff bar and got the phone out to take some videos. 

First The Rog with the Oakley and the Scout trailing behind him!! 

Next the Nater Potater and the dogs were already at the bottom so he got lucky and didn't have to get barked at the whole time. 

And finally The Bryan who has a good dog who just follows behind without barking. 

Here are some stills from Nate's video: 

And some stills from BPJ's video: 

I did make it back up to the top and after a little rest, the boys made it back up too. Nate convinced me to do another lap and that I didn't have to go all the way to the bottom. Here is the video Bryan took of me and Nate. Yes, my dogs annoy me too!!

This must be Nate on the second run with Wildcat in the distance!! 

Nate cheesing it up after his third run! 

Me giving double mitten shakas to BPJ. 

I haven't quite figured out the Connect.Garmin.com and The training Center, but the Training Center said I descended 4,753 feet and it's the highest amount and that was the hardest climb ever so I'm going to have to say that's the amount. Unfortunately, Nate has done a lot more than that so he will achieve the goal before I do but I'm still going to say that we are at my amount (b/c I always write these blogs and I'm a brat!). We were at 27,335 so now we are at 32,088feet!! HOLY YIPPERS!! We passed the 30k mark!!! That means we have 67,892 to go!!! Next week, I'm going to eat better and hopefully, I won't be as gassed on the way up as this week!! Thank you boys for being so patient and waiting for me!!!!