Finally at about 10:30 AM we reached the top of the headwall (did I mention that we expected to be on the summit at 10:30?). We weren't sure what was beyond this little chute, but photos and route descriptions told us that the hard part was over. I was hesitant to start celebrations because my altimeter only read 13,300 (4050 m.), we should still have 800 feet (~ 250 m.) of climbing to do. I wasn't excited about the prospects.

Original Comments

Maneuvering through this notch was made that much more difficult by the fact that most of the surface was sheer ice! At one point I slipped on the ice, and as I was bringing my axe up to arrest, it ripped out part of the material on my ski pants at the left knee. I was lucky that I didn't take out my knee with it!!
-- SPoonen, 7/17/02