No Woman Left behind.

For a moment, I thought I wasn’t going to make it.

Fighting against every obstacle known to woman: the wind, the snow, the whiteout blizzard, the exhaustion weighing my legs down, the hunger, the cold, the depletion of my energy as we trudged on across this frozen lake, the only thing that kept me going were my friends.

Cause there we were, out in the middle of this damn lake fighting our way to Portage Glacier.

And there I was, lagging behind, deliriously wandering off-path and wondering if I was going to make it.

See, I don’t have the best luck with winter hikes.

In fact, this is my third attempt at hiking out to a glacier during the winter, and the third time I haven’t been able to make it to my destination.

Then again, it’s not really about the destination now, is it?

It’s about the journey.

And this? It was exactly that.

(well, and dining at Jack Sprats afterward)

When I think about it, about how we were out there for most of the day averaging one mile an hour plodding through the snow across the magnificent frozen expanse, I don’t remember Portage Glacier at the end.

Oh no. What I remember best is the the company I was with.

The crew that helped guide me back on track when I became disoriented by the endless stretch of white. The same friends that drank out of the flask with me and brought along a bottle of bubbles to celebrate with, and who encouraged the others that we were only “five minutes away!”

That’s what I’ll remember: that crew.

And in all honesty, how ordinary would this experience have been had there not been this challenging blizzard to hike through?

Pretty darn ordinary.

So yeah, while I wondered for a brief moment if I was going to make it out alive, I also knew that the friends I was with just wouldn’t leave “no woman behind!”

And here I am.