Castor and Pollux

Tomorrow I will be summiting Pollux - one of two peaks, the twin pair being Castor and Pollux which are situated just slightly northeast of the Matterhorn. While the weather promises to be great for climbing in the first part of the morning, several challenges remain before us. The ascent begins with snow climb, transitions to a rock climb and climaxes with  what the guides promise will be an "epic" ice climb.

Required Tools:
Climbing helmet
Climbing harness
Climbing Boots (different from climbing shoes and/or hiking boots)
1 Ice Axe
1 Pair of Crampons
Warm clothing (applied in layers to accommodate various temperature changes throughout the day)

Three Swiss guides, myself, and two other teachers will be leading 9 students from our start in Zermatt (which rests @ 1620 meters) all the way to the Pollux summit (which rests @ 4091 meters) in what we hope is less than 6 hours, as the weather is supposed to drastically shift in the afternoon to conditions which are less than optimal. :(

HOPEfully these kiddos won't drag their feet and we make the ascent without any trouble.

http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/TES1532.php

http://www.ueliraz.ch/2009/oberrothorn.htm

***According to Greek Mythology, the twins Castor and Pollux shared the same mother, Leda, but had different fathers: Pollux (the peak on the right) was a descendant of Zeus; Castor (the peak on the left) was the son of Tyndareus.  As a result, Pollux was immortal, but Castor was not. As myth has it, when Castor died, Pollux pleaded with Zeus to allow him to share his immortality with his twin so that they might stay together; the result is what we know as the Gemini constellation.

("Castor and Pollux." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_and_Pollux>.)

Hut Overnights/Weekend Travels (continued)

Hut Overnights/Weekend Travels

Since the last post, we had some more class, outdoor activities, and two overnight trips to other cities in Switzerland. We divided the kids into two groups, strong and weak hikers, and then all headed out to Bern to start hikes into different Cantons ("states," if you will) within Switzerland with various mountain passes.

My group traveled from Bern to Lenk where we started our 6 mile hike to the overnight "hut"/barn. We traveled by bus and train, then hiked most of friday afternoon. Shortly after arriving we at dinner and two of the other teachers and I read the Mark Twain's "Ascent of the Riffelberg." The next morning we ate breakfast, then headed out on a 16 mile trek through the Riwal (sp?) pass down to Montana (pronounced Mon-tah-nah) Switzerland where we ate dinner and then caught a train back to Zermatt (because you can only access Zermatt via train or donkey... no cars allowed).

We then resumed a "normal" week again and are now preparing for our Weekend Adventure Trips. These include: Wet Gorging, Alphubel (a helicopter ascent and then some ice climbing), a bike ride through several of the other Cantons, another Hut Overnight at the Monta Rosa Hut (brand new last year...woot!), and the Breithorn Ridge Climb (a different Breithorn ascent from the last one, described as a"strenuous ice climb along the narrow Breithorn ridge, facing the Matterhorn) ... to which I have been assigned as presiding faculty member, haha. SUPER psyched and hope to have lots of pictures, assuming I'm not clinging to the ice for dear life... :/

Below are pictures from the Weekend Trip to Bern, Link, and Montana, as well as some more pictures from my weekly hikes:

Off the deep end ???

So we've started to settle in and are trying to find some sort of routine, though that 's proved to be quite the challenge. We've been teaching for 9 consecutive days and hiking/climbing 7 of those.

My "normal" schedule consists of the following:
6 am - wake up and pack my backpacks (both school and hiking) for the day's lessons/activities
7 am - breakfast; usually consists of granola, yogurt, and bread with peanut butter and honey/jam. Wish we had more options, but that's what they're serving, so I do what I can to pack as much in as possible to start the day off full.
7:50 - morning meeting. We discuss the day's events/activities, learn a Word of the Day in German (because Zermatt speaks Schweizerdeutsch, High German, some French and a bit of Italian), and discuss the weather - the weather determines whether or not we'll be out in the alps, hiking and climbing, or down in town playing soccer in the rain or board games.
8 am to 11:20 - Classes, periods 1-4. We each teach 4 classes (I'm teaching French 1 through French 4), one study hall, and have a planning period (which is 6 full periods for the students). However, the classes are broken up into a set of 4 and 2 by activities period.
11:20 - We depart for our activities. Each day is numbered 1-4, designating which group is doing what activity. For me specifically, I lead a short hike (~ 3.5 hours) with 4 kids on Day 1, have a solo hike/time to myself on Day 2 (WAHOO!), lead a long hike (~ 4-4.5 hours) with 4-6 kids on Day 3, then co-lead rock climbing with roughly 10-12 kids (for ~4.5 hours) on Day 4.
4:30 to 6:10 - Classes, periods 5-6. Luckily I proctor a study hall during period 5, then have my planning period 6th.
6:15 - Dinner
7:15 to 9:45 - Study hall, which we all proctor/use for lesson planning, grading, etc.
9:45 to 10:15 - The kids prepare for bed, and the teachers on duty (duty rotates every three days) go room to room at 10:15 to conduct room inspections and to check for lights out.
Afterward we usually finish any grading/lesson plans, try to socialize a bit to relax from the long day, and put ourselves to bed around 11:30/midnight.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: While this all sounds rather normal, the tricky part comes in when each day the schedule of classes rotates so that none of the afternoon classes remain always after activity period. The first day we started ran classes 1-6. The second day, however, started with 6, then 1-5. The third day started with 5, then 1-4. And so on and so forth. So not only are the activities changing on a daily basis, but so are the schedule of classes. Additionally, our hiking groups change every week, as do our dinner table seatings. And to make things just a tad crazier, we throw in trips on the "weekends" (which can actually take place on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday ... as they did this past Monday/Tuesday) to hike in the mountains and stay in overnight huts, travel to France, Italy, other parts of Switzerland, and so on.

All in all, it's been amazingly wonderful, and everyone is getting along rather swimmingly, but I have to admit, I. Am. EXHAUSTED!

Below are some pictures of my "long hike" day, and of the overnight trip we just took, staying between two peaks in the alps! Hotel du Trift is the hut that we stayed in for one night, and it is nestled between two peaks that are just a few miles outside of town. Once the sun disappeared behind the peaks we gathered around tables outside, wrapped in blankets and sipping hot chocolate, to listen to the story of the first ascent of the Matterhorn. It was SUPER chilly, but definitely worth it!

*** Sorry the pictures are all jumbled and awkwardly aligned. I'm having trouble working with the blog program. It doesn't want to cooperate. :(

Proof that I'm actually living this ridiculously awesome life... haha

Photo from my "day off"/solo hike !