Volunteer Blurb

2010-12-16 16:26:42.000 – Sue And Mike Zlogar,  Summit Volunteers

Undercast

Another week finishes on the summit for Mike and me; as always Brian, Ryan, Mike and soon to be returning to Seattle the summit’s awesome intern Erica, were fabulous crew mates to serve with on the Good Ship Rockpile. We were also blessed to have with us for the second half of the shift Mike Conroy who was happy to employ Mike Zlogar to help put up the ceiling tiles in the crew living spaces. Due to the confined nature of the deck below, the atmosphere remained fairly untarnished by blue air as they renewed their geometry skills cutting trapezoids and the like for the tiles that didn’t quite get the memo on perfect rectangles.

Weather-wise it was fairly sedate and consistent, fog and rain and snow. The joy of shoveling reached a new high for the public works department up here. A combined precip of 8 inches of snow saturated with 4 inches of water equivalent made for a scene right out of the landing of Noah’s ark post flood. Shovels of all sizes, ordinary rock tools, ice picks and good old fashioned muscle made for fun mornings of aerobic activity. The entrance trench freshly dug for water removal, our good friend Mike Pelchat (that would be Mike #4 on this sift) arrived with the snowcat and rearranged some of the really fine mini-mountains at the mouth of the entrance we had left for him to reposition.

Mike and I prepared meals and treats that will not see their reincarnation at home because we would put on 20 lbs in a week if we did; but boy was it fun having the opportunity to create and share in the joy of eating and fellowship, calories be damned!

Our last day of weather was worth waiting for and having spent so much time inside we were all a bit sun deprived. We piled outside and like Alaskans after a long night we were positively giddy with the joy of a breath taking undercast , blue, blue skies above, that odd looking yellow star in the sky and rime ice art everywhere the eye could see and up here that was everywhere!!!

Thanks to all who made this time high in the sky our perfect Christmas gift. Marty and the crew wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season.

Sue And Mike Zlogar,  Summit Volunteers