Yosemite?

WAY Back on Jan 1 Nick convinced Dave, Rach, Matthias, Maria, Joe, (my brother, sister, and cousins) and one of Ria's college friends to hike half dome. Nick has wanted to see Yosemite in the snow probably since the first time he went there. For obvious reasons, at least to me, that hasn't really been a possibility for us. This year he left the kids and I at home and headed out on his expedition. Sorry I didn't blog about it earlier I forgot and I hate to leave something undocumented... It's fun to look back at your blog and see all that you did the previous year so here is this LATE post.

I view of Half dome in the snow

These brave hikers didn't really know what to expect. I am pretty sure if they had at least my sister wouldn't have kept hiking. They spent a couple hours hiking through snow knee deep and at times waste deep. As night time approached they decided they weren't going to be able to "summit" half dome because the cable were barried so they turned around so they didn't' get stuck in the snow in the dark. My sister said I should be proud of Nick for being responsible. He was sent out on this excursion with strict instructions not to do anything stupid that lead to his death, like jumping off half dome to see what his air hang time would be. That is kind of a joke but not really... My sister said she made it her personal responsibility to make sure he didn't die. Thanks Rach!!! I am proud of him though, because if you know him, you know how much he HATES not to conquer what he set out to do so it really does show that he was being smart and considerate of everyone even though he was dying to attempt to reach the top.They did have the pride of knowing they had made it farther up half dome then any other hikers this winter. Way to go. I am sure in a few months, maybe years, Rach will look back and have fond memories. I think right now the difficulty still out ways the fun. She called me at one point during their hike and she was so tired she was giggling. It was funny. If you have ever been on an adventure hike with Nick you know things don't always go 100% smoothly. This time they lost the trail on the way back and didn't get back till after dark. That really isn't that bad considering. And to give him credit he was prepared with a headlamp.Here is the group at the top of Vernal fallsIn the valleyHalf dome in the middle of the night. You can see the stars to the left. I think it is a cool picture.Yosemite fallsThe group Nick had a blast doing what one of the things he loves best. We missed him while he was gone and he missed us so I am not sure he would do it again but I think he had a great experience. Plus I am not sure if he could convince the group to go for round 2.