Today started off with a climb from Haystack Mountain (where I camped) to Parkview peak – 2000 feet up in 4 miles.  This was no biggie but the wind was blowing and it was quite cold.  Leto, Moosh, and Sunshine were a ways behind me.  As we climbed higher the weather deteriorated and the wind became insane.  It blew us around and made it difficult to look up and see where we were going.  I eventually made it to the shack on top and went inside to warm myself.  The other three joined me in about 15 minutes.  We visited and ate and I started to leave.  I was trying to figure out which ridge to take down when I saw Gaucho coming up, so I waited for my friend.  We talked a bit but it was so cold and windy and we could see rain headed our way, so I said goodbye and started down the exit ridge.

After heading down the ridge for a quarter mile something made me turn around. I could see Moosh and Sunshine still at the hut waving their arms wildly.  I waved back but they kept doing it. I kept going down and turned around again. They were still waving. That’s odd, I thought.  I turned around and took a step toward them and Moosh raised his arms like a touchdown.  It was then I realized I was on the wrong ridge.  They saved me from a terrible mistake.  This was the second time they have saved me from messing up, but this was a big one.  Taking a wrong ridge down can quickly lead you far astray.

I climbed back up and we all descended the correct ridge.  The wind became even worse and started shooting ice crystals at us that felt like needles.  We descended as quickly as possible.

All day we dodged rainstorms and dealt with the wind and some serious elevation changes. We eventually became separated. Darkness was approaching and I still needed water. The next water source was higher and farther than I realized, but I kept going – ascending to the clouds at 11,000 feet. It started lightly hailing as I setup my tent near a beautiful wide spring that comes out of the ground in a dozen places before coalescing into a creek just below me. I’m just to the west of Ruby Mountain. It is still hailing and my fingers are frozen so I’m going to stop here.