I want to start by saying I have never been that cold in my entire life.

Today, we went on a seven hour hike. Having not been in Utah before, I asked plenty of blokes what to wear and how to best prepare. When we all met in the lobby, seeing all the guys in jackets, beanies, gloves and five or six layers of clothing I thought 'they're kidding themselves', because they'd all mentioned that last year, it got really hot on the hikes and they all ended up stripping half of their gear off and had to lug it around with them.

Then I saw Will Sierakowski just wearing shorts so I thought okay, I'll wear a 2XU long sleeve compression top and a Kangaroos training shirt over the top of that with some compression tights and my Brooks trail shoes with woolly explorer socks.

When we walked out the door, it was alright - windy and cold, but I thought it would definitely warm up in about an hour. I was happy with what I had chosen to wear.

But I was wrong. The higher we went, the colder it got and the wind chill factor must have been well below zero. Being from Ballarat I thought I've experienced intense cold before but I'll admit, I felt like crying because it was that cold today - it was icy!
Nothing went well for me - even my CamelBak (a backpack that has a large water bladder inside) failed me. The drinking tube froze up and I couldn't suck any water out. Luckily Michael Firrito gave me a suck out of his - so Spud's got my germs now and I've got his. He was probably the most appropriately dressed person on that hike actually. He had this big brown weather-proof jacket on, tights, gloves and a beanie. I thought he was going to be way too hot but I quickly became jealous of just how rugged up he was once we got going.

Every step we took, I knew we were getting further away from where all my warm gear was. I looked around and could tell a few other boys were in a world of hurt, just like me. I tried to feed off that knowing I wasn't the only one struggling.

The first hour and a half of the hike we were pretty much going uphill. We eventually got to the top of a peak called Bald Mountain and the wind was just coming at us from all angles. It was snowing and visibility had dropped to under 50 metres. My hands were absolutely freezing. The gloves are good but your fingertips feel like they're about to snap off.

On a few occasions our trail took us across roads and some cars went by. I just remember thinking how amazing it would be if they pulled over and let me jump in for some warmth. I mentioned to a few of those around me that I'd pay the drivers $200 for five minutes in the car with the heating on.

Earlier, I had offered Cam Delaney $200 for his jacket, but he didn't take it. I also offered Spud $200 for his, despite the fact it is brown and unfashionable - that's how desperate I was.

Weather aside, we also had the altitude to deal with. The higher you go, the harder it is to breathe. When you try and suck those deep breaths in, you don't feel as though you're getting any oxygen into your system. Even back at the Montage resort, you wake up in the morning and head to breakfast, bounce up a small flight of stairs and then five metres later, you feel like your chest is going to cave in. It's like some sort of anxiety attack or strange health episode.

Going up those climbs today, you definitely try and draw in the big ones but it doesn't feel like it's doing much at all. The hammys and calves are burning and then the quads start straining on the way down because you're trying to slow up a bit. Your legs certainly take a hammering, but it's more your lungs and the fact your chest feels like it's about to explode.

I feel for the boys because I only had to do the first half of the hike which was basically three hours involving 14 kilometres of walking. The club doesn't want me to push it too hard with my recent history of foot problems. So along with a few others, I finished a little earlier.

I have to be sensible and just work my way into things over here. We still have two or three hikes to go, so there's no point developing soreness in my feet by going out too hard too early. It's only October and we are still months away from playing footy.

But while the boys were still out hiking, we weren't back in our rooms sipping hot chocolate or anything. We had to complete a tough cross-training program. It was a one hour and 15 minute bike ride in the gym and a 45 minute swim.

So now we'll see how we all pull up tomorrow and we should be right to go on another hike again in a couple of days.

North Melbourne staff and players will be tweeting from Utah. Search the hashtag #utahroos or visit twitter.com/northkangaroos for updates.

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