At sunrise, I stopped briefly to take a few photos and check the elevation. We had climbed 1,500 feet, and I tried not to think too hard on the fact that this meant we were only about one quarter of the way up the pass.
The ridge comprised solid, trustworthy granite with plenty of features to climb and was pure fun class 3 climbing!
As I started down Bishop Pass I could hardly believe what I was seeing — the lakes which we had so hurriedly passed in the morning glum were now illuminated by the sun in various shades of blue and green!
If the rock were a little more solid this would have made for some fun climbing! Instead it was a bit too stressful to be pure fun.
The early bird might get the worm, but the lazy bird gets the trail all to himself!
This is far and away both the largest and the most experienced group of people I’ve ever hiked with. I don’t imagine I will have to worry about the group slowing me down much during this trip!