I started to think it was time to give up and head back down the mountain. In addition to being low on energy, we were nearing our pre-arranged turnaround time for the hike. Also, just sliding a little downslope at would have pushed me further away from my goal of making the summit.Īt the same time, backtracking to find the proper route also meant investing precious energy I wanted to conserve. The rocks above weren’t large but big enough that I wouldn’t want them to slide toward me. In my exhausted state I decided I didn’t want to cross the slope at that point. While I was safe behind the boulder, the rock and the scree above and below slowly slid out from under my foot.įor several seconds the material moved past my feet like a tiny, dry river trickling downhill. I stuck my lead foot out from behind the safety of the boulder to test the ground. Ahead of me the terrain was loose scree surrounding some larger rocks, which I thought could serve as stepping stones to more solid ground.
Somewhere around 12,900 feet I stopped on the downhill side of a boulder about the size of a washing machine.
Boundary peak full#
With that in mind, I took careful steps, testing the terrain before setting my full weight on the scree.
I’d already kicked loose a few rocks and watched as they tumbled down the slope below me. Just below Boundary Peak, elevation 13,140 feet, I was running out of gas after spending the prior three hours slogging up loose, steep terrain. We were tantalizingly close to the highest point in Nevada when my morale was at its lowest.
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