Conscious again, I feel it in my toes. Numbness for once. I reach out of my sleeping bag cautiously, carefully not to seep out precious heat. Touching surely rosy cheeks and rubbing my nose to bring back warm blood. I slip out of the bag with rubbed eyes, don woolen socks and make my way to the drivers seat of my car. Frost cakes the windows. It’s winter in the Upper Peninsula.
This year has been one of taking sacrifices. Living in a 2 door honda civic for months on end to work has been one. Away from a real home, missing friends, missing family, missing food, missing my love, have been a few more. Some benefits are the solitude and climbing the Upper Peninsula Provides. As my work season comes to a close, I’ve put more thought into what this future winter entails. Throughout the past months I began refining my TRS setup, by lightening, by simplifying, by learning. Gaining a heavy amount of mileage in the routes gifted to the UP, I’ve found the confidence and knowledge I sorely lacked. To extinguish past poor gear choices, I spread weekly lackluster checks thin to revitalize my systems. For this winter won’t be grand excursions (failures) or feet dippings but rather a brutal training. Now familiar with the ice the midwest has to offer, I plan to stay up north for the winter for weeks on end. Beginning January(2025) the idea is to ice climb almost daily in the Pictured Rocks area or cragging at the Winona ice park. Honing in on technique and enduring long term cold conditions. Practicing until the dates for the ice festivals in those areas to come along so I could be ready to lead. As well as testing different clothing systems and ice tools/pick profiles. Now, all is left is to hope for a cold and bitter winter.