During the hour we spent at the summit I learned why you need to make such an early start. The snow was much softer at 8 than it was at 7. Our gorilla steps proved their worth as we sunk with each step. The crust we had on the assent no longer supported weight. Had we been climbing still, we would have expended more energy and taken way more time. We might not have summitted.
Posted by johnclimbsrainier
at 11:11 AM PDT