Mamai

     One cool thing I (Leif) have been able to be part of here, is going on hiking trips as a way to reach out, build relationships, create great opportunities for conversations and get people our of their everyday life in the city and out into nature.  This year we decided to try something new.  Typically we have gone on trips in April to some of the larger mountains in Buryatia.  These trips take at least four days so people have to take time off of work or studies, and are physically more challenging than many people want to do.  This year we went to a place called Mamai, and were able to leave Friday after work and get home Sunday night.  This allowed people to come without missing work.  The hike, though still physically challenging, was easier than the longer alpine hikes we have done.  This allowed us to bring four people who had never been on a hike like this.  All told, we gathered a good group of 12 people and one dog that was about half and half people from the church and people we have met through our English club.

      Sasha and Zhenya here are two guys who I have worked with in planning hiking trips over the years.  It was nice that we were all able to go and see this new hiking place together.  Another advantage of this new place is that there are many places to go back country skiing and snowboarding.  Both Sasha and Zhenya took advantage of that.  It sounded fun to me, but I'm not an experienced skier or snowboarder, so I took the role of making sure everyone that was just hiking made it down safely.

     

     We hiked in to a cabin late on Friday night, and then on Saturday our whole group set out together for a hike up one of the many nearby peaks.    

     As we made our way up the clouds started to gather and visibility became worse, but thankfully not so bad that the trail was lost.  It was just a bummer that the view was hindered.

     One thing I like about hikes like this is that you see people really working as a team to encourage and help each other.  The snow was deep so it created a challenge.

Here is most of the group celebrating making it to the peak we climbed to on Saturday.

     One fun thing for me, was to have Lisa with us.  She is one of our kids' teachers, and really felt like she needed a challenge outside of what she normally does.  She did a great job and we enjoyed some good conversations that don't always get to happen around the busyness of a normal school day.  Afterward Lisa shared about some lessons God taught her through the challenge of the hike.  This is another thing I love about these hikes, God uses them to teach us things about Himself and about us.

     This is on the way back down and as you can see the clouds started to clear a little bit so that we could see the view.  I also like this picture, because right about this time Lisa was sliding down the hill with the joy and exuberance of a preschooler :).   

     The cabin was also something that made this hike different from other ones I've gone on.  We all chipped in a rented the cabin instead of staying in tents.  Though it was very rustic, it felt luxurious in comparison, and it allowed us a good place to play games and enjoy good conversations in the mornings and evenings.  On Saturday evening we even used the nearby banya (sauna), and after getting nice and hot in the sauna we dunked in the mountain stream that was flowing.  Where we live near Ulan-Ude it was still too cold for streams to be flowing, but Mamai is closer to Lake Baikal and the temperatures there don't get quite as cold and it is much more wet, so it was fun that the stream was flowing.

     Here is a picture in front of the cabin.  There were two loft areas above the table where we slept.  It was my first time in this area, so I was surprised to find out that there were many of these cabins. I found out they are often used in the winter months by people from both Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude getting out to ski and snowmobile.  

      On Sunday morning half of us decided to hike up another ridge.  It was really snowing hard that morning, so our hope for a view was low, but the scenery was beautiful nonetheless.

I liked this hike more than the one Saturday because we walked through trees for more of the time.

As you can see the snow kept falling hard on us the whole way up.  

     I loved seeing the way the snow piled up deep on different rocks and trees as we went up and down on that day.  On the way up we went up switchbacks, but on the way down we cut through the deep snow and went more or less straight down.

 

     

   I really liked the way the snow stuck to and piled up on a few tall stumps like this.  This one reminded me of a snowy lollipop. 

      

     Here we are at the top of the ridge on Sunday.  As you can see, the snow and wind made it so that we couldn't just sit there and enjoy the view, but it was a beautiful place anyhow.  More important than the views and mountains during this weekend, were the many great conversations that we had.  Many of us had opportunities to not only have friendly conversations, but to also share about our faith in our Lord Jesus.  Having time away from everyday life often gives opportunities for these kinds of conversations, and we are thankful that we can continue to share life with these friends.  I'm already looking forward to the next opportunity God gives me to go out on a hike like this again.