A new trip begins, so it's time to take that first step: buy a bunch of crappy food! Enough cheap & light calories to get me through 5 days in the snow.

Once that was packed in with the rest of my gear (the weather is looking favorable, so I was able to leave my hardcore gear at home), it was time to head to the train station.

Once there, I met up with Krissy & Johannes, right on time for our train.

... only to find out the train was delayed by more than an hour. So we did the rational thing and picked up some beers and went to go hang out in the sun.

It was also good to get used to these boots since I'm gonna be wearing them nonstop for the next five days, climbing around mountains and whatnot.

The train finally showed up so it was time to awkwardly pile on the crowded train with my backpack, skis, and poles .. along with everyone else doing the same thing.

But still, four and a half hours later, we arrived in Ustaoset, where we were going to begin our trek. Half of the group had arrived earlier in the day and set up camp, and met us back at the station to show us how to get there. So off we went, across the frozen lake!

It was super pretty .. and pretty cold. Brr.

After struggling with the skins on my skis, we got to camp which was freezing cold. I brushed my teeth and then went straight to bed.

I felt some big blisters forming on my heels so I put some moleskin on -- let's see how this works out.