This past weekend Jason, Forrest, Rebecca, and Gregg headed out to the Madison mountain range in SW Montana for a shakedown (practice) trek.  We covered roughly 25 miles and had a great ski tour in the majestic Madison Range.  Temperatures were in the 30s during the day and the 10s at night.  All of our gear was stellar, we are going to be making a few small changes after the weekend, but are all feeling good about the expedition.  This was the first time that the four of us have all skied together so we are very happy with how things went.  Our team is strong and feeling ready to head to cold Mongolia.  

On Saturday we hiked well after dark as finding water was a bit of a challenge.  On Sunday, we headed back home relatively early.  How nice it is to have a fire and warm house to go to after a ski tour.  This will not be the case in Mongolia.  I was taken with the thought of day in and day out being out in the elements.   We are planning on 30 straight days out there and the constant cold, wet, and lack of ease will certainly wear on all of us.  As a team we will rely on one another to get through the struggles.  After this weekend, there is no doubt we have the right team for the project.  STOKED!    — Gregg