CDT40
3ed June Saturday
11 miles
One slip and it’s a long ride down
Two big climbs for today, so it’s going to be low mileage.
Each day the sun has been kind to us, it’s relaxing sitting in the sun thawing the cold frozen feet after hours of pushing through hard and soft snow.
Ken taking the lead and going knee deep
We have just passed a section on the mountain where we traversed along on a 45 degree angle, above us was the mountain with jagged rocks layered with thick snow and below, well, it went a long way down, the snow was too soft for crampons so I followed Ken using his footprints as a path. I dared not look down as that would freeze me, it was bad enough when we passed a large rock and Ken told me to walk around it and stay away from it, as the snow was very soft as Ken found out sinking up to his waist. But naturally I headed for the rock and stayed there for a few minutes not willing to continue, but then I knew I had keep going and with my nerves under control I carried on with one foot at a time and only looking down when the angle of the hill become less.
Great views
The highest point was just under 12,700 feet and not long after that we found a spot to camp which wasn’t the best of places as we were exposed but at 6 o’clock and very tired bodies it had to do. 12,400 feet where we camp hoping that the weather will continue to be positive during the night.
This is looking South this is where we have come from, we passed through all those mountains and it has been a challenge both physically and mentally.
What great flowers along the way