13 mi

Getting up early in the morning really makes such a difference out here in terms of your footing/stability/safety, however it might have effected our route finding abilities. Long story short went up too high on pass to avoid some steep traversing down to a plateau, and ended up glissading down a huge, even steeper slope. It went from making my palms sweat looking down the chosen "safest chute," to us each plunge stepping down, almost skiing before slipping onto our butts and breaking our ice axes, also known as self arresting. Gofar got it especially bad, when he dropped his phone and it tumbled hundreds of feet down the slope, which we found unbroken, but after he realized he lost a micro spike off his left foot.

Wings and Gofar were having trouble with the last traverse of the day, cut footsteps for them with my micro spikes. Traversing is like throwing a frisbee. You need to choose the right trajectory along the steep slope, not too steep, similar to the long arch of a frisbee throw, to your destination. Also known as where the trail emerges from the snow once again.