We agreed, though I'm not sure that VSO was committed to it, to try the alternate route up Fern's Nipple. By alternate, I don't mean another trail, but full-on, backcountry route finding. It took us more than three hours to get to the top (reach the teat, ahem). (I'm adding a second image, below, to illustrate the summit climb.)
At that point, I was seriously worried that we wouldn't be able to make it back to the Chev before dark. Fortunately, EDO saved the day by finding the tourist route and leading us down. Six to seven miles across 3,200 vertical feet of rugged backcountry in six hours. We reached the truck by 5:30p. I was impressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment