Winter camping in Wisconsin

Two of my good friends and I have been talking about camping for a couple of months now. I bought a two person tent in November, and wanted to use it. We decided that winter would be a great time to test the tents (and ourselves) against the elements.

We ended up using two tents. The first one was a two person backpacking tent. This was the one I recently purchased, but hadn't gotten the chance to use. The other tent was a little bigger, and could hold 3 people. It was pretty old, but it worked for us. We probably could have all fit into the 3 person tent and slept comfortably, but I really wanted to try out my new tent.

The first thing we did after setting up the tents was put some padding down so we weren't sleeping right on top of snow. I believe this helped us significantly. We then threw our sleeping bags in there and crawled in. The temperature was somewhere in the single digits, so we made sure to dress warmly. I had long underwear on underneath some sweatpants, and had 2 longsleeve shirts on underneath the sleeping bag, in addition to a warm pear of socks.

In my tent, there were two of us, in the other tent, one of my friends stayed solo. I found it nice to have someone to talk to, distracting us from the noises outside, one of which was a nearby owl. I fell asleep pretty quick, but woke up twice during the night. The first time, I was cold. I had somehow came out of my sleeping bag a little, and my back was touching the cold tent. I moved around for a bit and eventually fell back asleep. The next time I woke up, there was no turning back, as the sunlight was shining, and I could hear the ice auger of some nearby fishermen.

It was a fun experience to spend the night outside in the winter. I would be willing to do it again, but would like to get a smaller sleeping pad. Not sure if I'll do it again this winter, but maybe next year.

Broomball season in review

I recently completed my final broomball game. It was a fun sport to try, though I was surprised at how competitive it was.

Our team ended with a record of 2-4-1, though I wasn't there for the tie game. Every game was a decently fair match except for the final game, where we were blown out by a team that didn't belong in the "D" league. While we weren't the most organized team, most people on our team had some prior experience.

Here are some of my personal stats: 0 goals, 0 assists, 4 shots on goal, and my redeeming one, 0 goals allowed as goalie. I only spent about 3 minutes of one game as goalie, though, so don't be too impressed! In addition, I also spent two minutes in the penatly box for high-sticking.

Some of my teammates were easy going, but I found many of the people on the ice (both on my team and other teams) to take this goofy sport much more seriously than I did. We had referees, so I suppose that set the tone. I was surprised to see some people arguing with referees, though. I laughed when I saw this happening.

It was fun to be involved in a team sport, especially in the winter, but I am definitely more successful at individual sports. I'm pretty good at finding ways to stay active during any season, so I doubt I'll join another broomball team.

Indoor Rock Climbing

This winter, I've been able to get outside quite a bit despite the cold weather. One of the things I'm most excited about, though, is indoor rock climbing. The sport is completely new to me, so I have a lot to learn, but I've quickly realized it can provide for a challenging workout.

Indoor rock climbing is a little bit more complicated than going out for a run, but there are only a couple of things you need. A pair of climbing shoes (they are super tight on your feet) and a harness are all you need at the place that I go, as they have several ropes set up to auto-belay you. This means you don't need anyone to be holding the other end of the rope as a machine does it.  As time goes on, I will definitely have one of my friends belay me (and I will belay them), but for the two times I've gone, we have all used the auto-belay ropes.

When we are on the wall, there are many routes marked and rated. This provides for one of the best challenges, as you have to be careful where you put your hands and your feet. There is also the option to just climb right up the wall without paying much attention to how each hold is marked, but I don't think I will be able to notice any improvement if I do it that way.

After going up the wall a few times, the tips of my fingers begin to hurt. It becomes harder to grip onto the holds, and the routes up the wall that I'm able to complete become fewer and fewer. My forearms feel very tired, and I'm ready to sit down. This tells me it was a pretty good workout. I hope to continue climbing, and eventually get to the skill level where I can do some outdoor climbing.

Cold run

I've been doing a pretty good job of getting outside this winter, and when I saw a clear sky, I wanted to go on a run. I looked up the temperature: somewhere between -5 and 5 degrees fahrenheit. I'd never ran more miles than degrees it was outside, but that changed after a 5.5 mile run.
Fortunately, the sun was out and the wind was pretty light. I ran a familiar route on Summit ave in St Paul. The route is pretty flat and goes past some historic homes. I had to be careful of ice and snow, but that's to be expected. I felt really strong, and probably would gone further had the route not been an out and back. I certainly wouldn't have felt as good if I hadn't prepared, though. I was wearing warm socks, spandex, windpants, two long sleeve shirts, a lightweight running jacket, a hat, gloves, and a headband over my neck. A sharp contrast from many of my runs last summer where I went shirtless with shorts. Yes, I am looking forward to warmer weather, but I still want to have a few more winter adventures.

Duluth in the winter

I must admit, Duluth (I guess anywhere in Minnesota) isnt the first place you think of visiting in the winter. I made a trip up there last weekend, and enjoyed the time.

When we arrived, we grabbed a bite to eat, and then headed out to Park Point. Park Point is a long sandbar on Lake Superior. The only way you get there by car is to cross the aerial lift bridge from Canal Park. We crossed the bridge, and made our way to the park. When we got there, we put on our snowshoes and began to walk down the beach. There were large ice formations and it was entertaining to see the water crash up against the ice.

There was a very cold wind as we walked down the beach, so we left after about an hour. Once we made our way back to Canal Park we got some coffee to warm us up a bit. We walked around for a bit, and decided to go to head up the hill to Enger Tower.

The trip to Enger Tower was a bit of an adventure. Many roads in Duluth are quite steep, and the ones we took to get to Enger Tower certainly were. There was some snow on the road, so that made for an interesting drive in addition to the great views from Skyline drive. We parked on the road into Enger Park and walked up to the Tower. At first I wasn't sure if the tower would actually be open, but it was. We made our way up the tower and took several pictures of the wonderful view.

The sun set and we called it a night after a successful day in Duluth.

Walking to work: not an adventure, but a lifestyle

I moved in October to an apartment located about half a mile from where I work. There is a bus stop near my aparment, but I've never actually rode the bus in to work as I would rather walk than sit in the cold waiting for a bus to arrive. With all of the snow that has fallen, it has actually been a bit interesting. I've worn snowpants and boots into the office a couple times, but for now the sidewalks are decent.

I find that walking to work is much less stressful than driving as well. When you walk to work, traffic isn't something for you to worry about. In addition to the obvious cost savings, you get to start your day on a good note. For many people this isn't possible, as not all businesses are near enough residential areas to walk to, but if you can walk to work, I definitely recommend it!

Skiing into the New Year

2011! It feels pretty good to be starting a new year. This year I'm committing to staying active (not a resolution, but a general way of life). On that note, I went skiing for the first time in many years.

The last time I went cross country skiing I was in middle school, and even though I've been through many winters since then, I haven't had too big of an urge to go until about a year ago when I helped out with a ski race. Seeing the athletes made me want to give it a try, but alas, I didn't get out until today.

I didn't want to make a financial commitment, so I was able to borrow some skis and boots, and went out on a public trail in the suburbs with a friend. She hadn't skied in years either, so it was a great opportunity for us to both practice our skills on some old skis.

Very quickly after we started, I could feel a burn in my triceps. I tried to work on my form a bit, and for some of the time I tried to not use the poles, though I found that to be hard as well. Soon, we saw a class of young children, so we stopped and went off to the side of the trail. We didn't want to fall down near them!

In total we probably skied for a mile or two. The terrain was varied, so we could really notice when we were going up or going down a hill. We never really learned how to stop well, but lucky for us, we didn't have any bad falls. I guess we know what to work on the next time we go, which I hope will be soon.