the Big Rocks are calling and I must go by Audrey C. '24
MITOC winter school!!
I thought about writing about walking on Big Rocks in the cold after this up goer five thing ended, since I wish nothing but to use normal words again. But then I thought that I may never get to call “Big Rock walking” well, Big Rock walking again, so I might as well… What I’m having a hard time saying through words can be said through my Big Rock pictures, which speak for themselves. The Big Rocks have a lot to say, just not through the words that you and I use.
(ft. the Presidential Range)
I am not the ice girl with long white hair. The cold bothers me. The cold, and the way the sun disappears by four bothers me a lot actually. So I try to turn to the thing that usually does a good job of making me happy — touching living green things.
There are green living things right outside my house, even if they are no longer quite green from being covered by soft ice. But if I can get myself out of the house and into the cold, I might as well go further. The Big Rocks are calling. They hold the promise of skies with no end, soft ice touched only by the wind, and of course, more green living things than my heart could ever wish for.
But to answer the call of the Big Rocks, I must make the cold bother me less. It’s nice that this school has a
group of people01
the MIT Outing Club runs Winter School every IAP to teach people how to enjoy winter outdoor sports (hiking, mountaineering, ice climbing, xc skiing, backcountry skiing) safely! Winter sports have a really high barrier of entry because of all the gear and knowledge needed to simply not die, so it's nice to have a club where experienced people lead trips and gear can be rented cheaply. To encourage more undergrads to take part (it's disproportionally grad students and Real Adults with Fancy Jobs), they actually waive rental and gas fees for undergrads :)
who know everything about how to not die in the Big Rocks when it’s really really cold out. Bring lots of clothes. Eat. Drink water. If water isn’t coming out of your bottom, then you’re not drinking enough water. Listen to the Big Rocks when they tell you through the words of high winds, white-outs, or setting skies that maybe you should head home. I am glad that there are people who understand the Big Rocks leading trips for people like me who want to learn.
I got to answer the call of the Big Rocks three times this past month. We would get up way before the sun rose to drive to the White Big Rocks, a group of Big Rocks one state over. Some people say they’re called the White Big Rocks because they are made of rocks that are white. Other say it’s because their tops are covered in ice.
At this time of the year, soft white ice covers every-thing. I have never seen this much soft ice before in my life. It falls from the sky not quickly like rain, but as if it’s taking its sweet time. It is beautiful.
Walking through soft ice is quite different from walking on normal ground, especially if there’s a heavy layer of soft ice that just fell from the sky the night before. It’s like climbing stairs where each step may or may not fall out from under you, and if they do you find yourself past knee deep in soft ice. The first time I went to the Big Rocks, I didn’t bring the things that cover your shoes to stop soft ice from getting into them, so my feet covers quickly got wet. And when anything gets wet, it gets cold. Cold feet are never happy feet.
But even though getting up a Big Rock while falling through soft ice every other step was hard, the rest of me was very happy. When you’re knee deep in soft ice, everything else — my worries about school, life, and things that I usually think about when I’m not on a Big Rock — seem less deep. Sometimes it really isn’t that deep. You just lift your foot out and take another step and you’ll ask for large shoes made for walking in soft ice next time. At the same time, maybe it is that deep. Lifting yourself out of soft ice gets tiring fast.
The second time I went up to the White Big Rocks was way colder than the first. Soft ice fell from the sky and onto my face covers, quickly forming cold hard ice. My nose ran water that became ice before it fell out of my nose. My fingers hurt if I took them out of my hand covers for more than a few seconds. But I’m glad to have felt such cold up in the Big Rocks, as the cold in the city doesn’t feel as bad anymore.
We walked up most of the way before deciding to turn back without reaching the top. It would only get colder and darker if we went for the top. The Big Rocks were telling us to go home and so we listened. It’s okay to not reach the top. The part you did climb still means a lot. Besides, what good does reaching the top do if you don’t make it back to the bottom?
And then as if to say sorry for the cold, the White Big Rocks gave us a perfect day for my third trip there. By the time we really got moving, I didn’t have to wear my jackets or hand covers because it was so warm. You actually want to take covers off when you’re starting to feel warm. When you get too warm, water leaves your body and makes you cold.
I have never seen anything quite like what I saw at the top of this Big Rock. The tops of Big Rocks rose over a cover of air-water, as if we’ve stepped into another layer of this world.
Goodbye Big Rocks for now. It will be harder to see you once school starts again, but I do hope to be back soon.
- the MIT Outing Club runs Winter School every IAP to teach people how to enjoy winter outdoor sports (hiking, mountaineering, ice climbing, xc skiing, backcountry skiing) safely! Winter sports have a really high barrier of entry because of all the gear and knowledge needed to simply not die, so it's nice to have a club where experienced people lead trips and gear can be rented cheaply. To encourage more undergrads to take part (it's disproportionally grad students and Real Adults with Fancy Jobs), they actually waive rental and gas fees for undergrads :) back to text ↑