We asked the students of the Centaurus CAP Outdoor Class a classic icebreaker question when we circled up at 8am in the school parking lot before our winter field dau to Caribou Ranch Open Space near Nederland: What superpower do you want to have? Volar (flying) was a popular choice. Invisibility, mind control (mwahaha) and breathing under water all came up. An original one, the ability to pull objects out of pictures, was an interesting idea we all considered. Then we loaded up our vehicles and went on our merry way.

It wasn’t until late afternoon that I thought of the best superpower to have that day. The students had stomped their way down the trail through thick snow glittering in the sun. As a group, they’d worked together to pile snow as high as the tallest person, flinging snow in thirty second team bursts. After waiting for the snow to settle while we ate, we hollowed out an epic quinzhee that fit all fourteen people inside. Passersby on the trail below admired the structure and smiled at the students shrieking with laughter and playing in the snow.

Here is the superpower I want: I want everyone to feel the joy I feel being a part of this. I want the students to feel deeply the connection to nature and the elements. I want the world to see how people from entirely different backgrounds, a girl from a farm in Guatemala and a girl from suburban Boulder County, can break language and cultural barriers and roll down a mountain of snow together. I want the power to bring the world together in joy and laughter as one on Mother Earth.

Written by Centaurus CAP Instructor Erin Angel

See more photos from the trip here!

CAP at Centaurus High School is made possible in part by a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) through the Nature Kids/Jovenes de la Naturaleza program. Click here to learn more!