Today was my first official conditioning hike as part of BCEP, the Basic Climbing program I'm taking as part of Mazamas, that I've talked about elsewhere on the blog. We did a bit over 7 miles out and back along Hardy Ridge in the gorge. It was a lot of fun and I learned some cool new rope techniques, including how to travel as a rope team for glacier traverses and a little more about knot tying and other climbing skills. It was a beautiful hike and an awesome time but it was COLD! It rained on us consistently, but the coolest part was about halfway through the hike it started to hail! It hail/sleeted for over an hour - big pieces of hail, too, about the size of a Nerds candy. It was kind of a crazy - but crazy awesome - day and I can't wait for more!
