The next morning dawned with excellent weather; again the weather forecast was a day off. We were all beat and concerned about avalanche conditions that might result from the new snow. We carefully made our way back to Paradise and drove home.

Fred is not the name of the person I partnered with on this climb; I do not recall the person's name and would change it for this account if I did. He later apologized, but his behavior in an emergency was such that I never climbed with him again.

In this picture we are taking a rest on our trek back to Paradise. Our tracks down a potential avalanche slope can be made out behind my head (I'm the one with no hat). The snow where we stopped must be wind-packed since we are not sinking in.

Had I not started making tea and then realized why the stove would not work, it is quite likely we would have perished. In a 2012 incident under similar circumstances in the same area, four people were lost in a storm. Three bodies were found six months later and the fourth body was never found, suggesting that victim's body may be in a crevasse.