Kalle & Will Do Shetland

Its been a while since I posted anything.  This summer has been awesome so far, and hopefully it will just get better.  I spent the first month of the summer doing some hardcore training, starting out in Bend where I put in a fair amount of time skiing in the rain and slush with Isaac, then moving on to the more hospitable climes of Idaho with a big college crew in Sun Valley.  The training was great, but I have been carrying some nagging injuries which meant mostly mountain biking training.  In terms of hardships though, having to go mountain biking for a few hours a day is pretty minimal.  After one of the more miserable experiences of my life, getting my wisdom teeth removed, I flew to the Shetland Islands, due north of Scotland.  On the way there I rendezvoused with Kalle in Dublin and we were inseparable from then on.  Turns out its not very sunny on Shetland in July.  We were mostly measuring rocks on a very windy cliff edge most of the time, but we made time for working out every day, doing some running, rollerskiing on single lane roads, and strength.   Haggis is also way better than expected by the way.  Confirmed over the course of three haggis dinners.

As the blistering summit of Rona's Hill, Shetland's highest point at 450 meters high.

Kalle on top of the world

 We had to be in the field by 8 every morning, so that meant an extremely early wakeup time of 5:30, eased by the long daylight hours this far north.  At least the few times the sun came out.  This trip is the first time since elementary school that I have had a bedtime before 9 for more than one day in a row.

Rollerskiing our last day, wanted to show off my new high-vis shorts

 Most of our time, however, was spent as follows.  Kalle and I getting candid photos taken of us striking dramatic geology poses along the coastline.

The only non-dramatic one.  Us measuring in Mt-Ste Anne-like cold temps.

Dramatic geology pose #1

Dramatic geology pose #2

Dramatic geology pose #3

Dramatic geology pose #4

Dramatic geology pose #5

And that's it!  I'm staying in a lovely B & B for the night, then off to Trondheim where I will be studying away for the fall.  I am going to see incoming freshman Hans in Trondheim and also the alpiners Victor and Sarah who are also studying abroad there.  Until next time...

Dramatic sea arch, geologists for scale