Adventure Spirit climbers Bobby & John got a little bit of all three of these things this past week (plus Bobby almost got an "almost-fall from a tree into a river experience"--but that's another story—ask him about it!). After some warm temps and a huge melt-off, winter came in strong for round two last week and we headed up for a Winter Northern Presidential Traverse with wind chill warnings and -30-40F in the forecast. Day one up there was pretty much “the golfball” with visibility of only a few hundred yards, but day two awarded our efforts with all the beauty the Presidents can muster. By our third day, the ice had formed nicely in the valleys and we went for it on Willey's Slide. Both John & Bobby took to frozen water like fish take to the liquid form, smoothly scaling all 800' of ice on Willey's. With that training under their belt, they were ready to combine ice, alpine, and rock—and there's no better venue for that than Shoestring Gully. The fresh ice in Shoestring Gully was a pleasure and the rocks up high had frozen solidly back into place. These guys were all smiles all the way, loving the athleticism of ice and the finesse of mixed climbing. We rounded out the final day with a climb up Elephants Head Gully by Crawford Notch. The steep stuff challenged these fellows, but they seem to enjoy a challenge. And I have a feeling these guys will be looking for greater challenges in the winter season to come!